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Tildeverse is a loose association of public access *nix systems set up facilitating learning and socializing. It naturally overlaps with, but is distinct from SDF and The Circumlunar Universe.
All Tildes provide a free shell account - a great thing in itself. Disk quota and available programs vary depending on the system but many offer more than enough for most users. And if a particular utility one wants is missing, the admins, usually quick to respond, are open to user suggested additions.
The majority of Tildes provide Web, Gopher, and Gemini hosting. They also provide an email account that is sometimes restricted to the internal network.
Besides the host of services for the users, The Tildeverse offers many great services such as file shearing (null pointers), news service, etc. to anyone without the need for registration.
The core purpose of the Tiles is creating a community of enthusiast that share a similar hobby. Some of the Tildes can be very specific (for example, a system dedicated to science-fiction for the shared universe) but a lot of them are general-purpose system for *nix and Small Internet enthusiast. Naturally, The Tildeverse community is full of tech savvy people who are often keen to help and teach. The admins are also very friendly and helpful, as is to be expected of people engaged in pro bono work. Like SDF and Circumlunar Universe, The Tildeverse tries to emulate the UNIX environment of Bell Labs Denis Ritchie spoke of:
“[What we wanted to preserve was] not just a good environment in which to do programming, but a system around which a fellowship could form. We knew from experience that the essence of communal computing, as supplied by remote-access, time-shared machines, is not just to type programs into a terminal instead of a keypunch, but to encourage close communication.”
Friendly and helpful when it comes to things technical, the Tildeverse community has a vocal left-leaning section that is often intolerant and rude towards even the mainstream conservatives (who are merely outdated liberals themselves), let alone towards the true conservatives and traditionalists. And it is not only politics that incites the discussion via IRC (the main channel for communication within The Tildeverse) to turn impolite and immature.
Yes. Despite the inevitable encounter of vulgarity and infantilism here-and-there, The Tildeverse is a great place for learning and experimenting - a good example of what the non-commercial internet (and The Small Internet) should be.