FAQ
Q: What is Lawstodon.org?
A: Lawstodon.org is a tool and directory for discovering and verifying attorneys, lawyers, legal academics and other jurists on Mastodon and other federated social media platforms.
Q: Who qualifies for listing and verification?
A: Working and retired attorneys, lawyers, legal academics and other jurists, and others who are clearly law-related professionals. If you're wondering if you qualify, send us a message.
Q: What are the requirements:
A: To be eligible for verification, an account must meet specific criteria. First, it must be authentic and belong to a real individual or organization. Second, the account should be complete, with a profile picture, header image, bio, and a minimum number of posts. Third, the account must not distribute intentionally false or misleading information and must comply with the community guidelines of the platform to which it belongs. These guidelines prohibit hate speech, spamming, or any other inappropriate behavior.
Q: I am a lawyer and want to get listed and verified, but I don't have a Mastodon account.
A: Joining Mastodon is quick, easy and free. There are several communities for the legal community. This project is part of the broader umbrella of services run by the administrators and moderators of esq.social. Other instances for legal professionals can be found at: legal.social, appellate.social, and mastodon.lawprofs.org
You may also search for other non-legal communities at: https://joinmastodon.org/servers
Q: Who is developing Lawstodon.org?
A: Lawstodon is run and administered by Andrew Leahey as part of the larger project that is the esq.social Mastodon instance. Lawstodon is based on code that is a project of the Fourth Estate® and Honeytree Technologies.
Q: How did I get added to the tool? Where did the original data for the tool come from?
A: The original seed data was sourced from the public data sources including but not limited to:
- Published public instance endpoint data, and
the #LawFedi: Lawyers and Legal Academics on Mastodon
Q: How can I request removal.
A: While are coding a secure removal tool, in the meantime you can request permanent removal by sending a DM to @andrew@esq.social or an email to andrew@leahey.org.
A: While are coding a secure removal tool, in the meantime you can request permanent removal by sending a DM to @andrew@esq.social or an email to andrew@leahey.org.
Q: What is the purpose of Lawstodon.org?
A: The purpose of Lawstodon.org is to help attorneys, lawyers, legal academics and other jurists link their Mastodon account to a verified profile, promoting transparency and trust on the platform. It also assists readers in discovering and following verified lawyers, on Mastodon, boosting discoverability and traffic.
A: The purpose of Lawstodon.org is to help attorneys, lawyers, legal academics and other jurists link their Mastodon account to a verified profile, promoting transparency and trust on the platform. It also assists readers in discovering and following verified lawyers, on Mastodon, boosting discoverability and traffic.
Q: What are the benefits of linking my Mastodon account to a Lawstodon.org profile?
A: By linking your Mastodon account to a Lawstodon.org profile, you can establish your credibility, legitimacy, and responsibility, promoting transparency and trust on the platform. You also obtain a profile that can be shared and used on resumes.
Q: Why do you need me to connect my Mastodon (fediverse) account?
A: We need Read-only Access to verify your Mastodon account and Follows, Write-Only access is optional for easy following on Lawstodon.org. We won't post, change your info, or make modifications. You can revoke permissions anytime.
Q: Is Lawstodon.org available for use?
A: Yes, Lawstodon.org is available for use, but it is a beta application in its very early stages, so expect bugs, changes, and occasional breakages.
Q: What is the next version of Lawstodon.org?
A: The next version of Lawstodon.org, currently in development, will focus on addressing challenges in federated social media and improving the discoverability and usefulness of news content and articles.
Q: How can I contact the team behind Lawstodon.org?
A: For updates, feature suggestions, or complaints, you can follow @andrew@esq.social
Q: Is there a cost to use the service or get verified as a journalist?
A: Access to the site and tool is free. There is currently no cost to get verified, however we do ask that you make a monetary contribution to Newsie (the instance run by the developer, @Jeff@newsie.social) and support ongoing costs and development if you have the means through other methods, which will be shared in the future.
Q: I am attorneys, lawyers, legal academics, judge. How can I get listed?
A: You can request to be added by clicking the "Suggest New Listing" button at the top of the page.
Q: Is the source code for the Lawstodon.org application available?
A: Honeytree will make a basic version of the code available as the Mastodon Finder in a couple of weeks.