Noëlle the 8-Bit🏳️🌈🎄
Mastodon tip: You can reply to your own toots. This won't put your username in the toot, but it /will/ mark your reply as part of a conversation.
Among other things, this makes it easier for others to follow what you're saying, if you're posting multiple toots in succession; all they have to do is click one toot and it'll expand the whole conversation thread.
Also, you can reply to a post and remove the usernames from it. This keeps the post threaded in the conversation but makes it NOT a reply to the OP, which means it won't show up in their mentions but WILL show up in your timeline for people who don't follow the OP.
This is useful for when you've boosted something and want to comment on it; your comment will appear to all of your followers even if they don't follow the OP.
Bonus: you can re-add the OP's username at the end to mention them!
A quirk to be aware of:
If you reply to someone else's toot without mentioning the author, you'll also need to boost yours afterwards if you want it to be delivered to your followers.
@noelle THat's what I was trying to say with my other message. @daggertooth
@daggertooth ...huh. I did not know that; I thought they got delivered to the public timeline. Good to know!