I use both, but honestly, some mastodon users can’t help but be outright patronising and hostile to newcomers.
The whole “we don’t do that here” vibe clearly puts folk off. Weirdly, it isn’t the long term users that do that, bug more recent converts.
Why do you think that is?
Not viruses as such, at least according to the inventor of the term, rather they are already part of our inheritable structure, our DNA (so to speak) seeking new ways to be inherited.
We are our memes.