In late 2016, the fediverse was reeling under the onslaught of the first two major waves of people leaving Titter for our shores. So in April 2017, in an attempt to put the fediverse into a bit of a historical context for these newbies, I published a blog piece. Aiming for a breezy, vaguely shitposty tone, that would make it entertaining to read, as well as somewhat informative. I don’t know whether to be pleased or embarrassed that this blog piece continues to get linked on the fediverse ever...
As Strypey acknowledges, there’s a lot he didn’t know about at the time and left out. Before Mastodon: GNU Social and other early fediverses includes a lot of that.