@zenkat

The last time I moved, my needs for a new server were:

- Regularly updates the Mastodon software
- Has a character limit of more than 1,000 for posts.

@juergen_hubert But those are features, and relatively minor ones at that. Where does community fit in? Does my server affect who I see and interact with? That's the biggest determinant of my fedi experience.

I've migrated my #Mastodon account twice. It was not a very complex process, and took me less than half an hour each time. And I took almost all of my followers with me automatically.

And if you are on Mastodon.social, I recommend that you should consider migrating your account, too. I don't have anything personally against that instance, mind you. But it is _bad_ for the #Fediverse if there is any instance that has become "too big to block". If the moderators struggle with keeping out bad actors - and I've heard that there is a problem with that over there - then admins of other instances have to face the difficult choice of either tolerating an instance with bad actors, or cutting off their own users from a huge chunk of the people they are connected with.

And each instance has their own safety needs. I mean, I wouldn't want the strict enforcement of, say, Mastodon.art for my own instance, but I understand and can appreciate why their admins act as they do.

If you want to see the dangers of a "top-heavy" Fediverse, just look to #Bluesky . In theory, they are a federated system. But in practice, the vast majority of all users are concentrated on one system with one set of moderators so that their moderation sets the tone for Bluesky in its entirety - and their users have little choices but to accept that.

On the Fediverse, we have the chance to avoid that. And the more spread out the user base is, the better will the moderation be - it keeps everyone honest if users can easily leave to a different instance with better moderation.

Transferring your Mastodon account to another server | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

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@zenkat

Well, thematic fits are great, too - my previous instance, thefolklore.cafe, was excellent for my primary theme (i.e. German folklore).

Alas, the instance is stuck at a perpetual Mastodon v4.1.2, and the admin made clear that he was not able to find the time to do anything about that. So I figured it was time to move.

@juergen_hubert I've been thinking of migrating, and would like my new instance to allow a bit bigger files with my posts, as .social only allows up to 99mB, and that's not a lot.
To make my choice, do you know where can I research these kinds of specifications of other instances?

@juergen_hubert Can you talk more about how the "thematic" connection affects the content you see, or the connections you make?

I'm on sfba.social. AFAICT, that has little bearing on what I see in my feeds day-to-day. Would my life be any different on furry.engineer or freeradical.zone?

I always kinda felt like server instances should have a bit of the flavor of a subreddit, connecting you to like-minded folks, but maybe that's just not how it works?

(Not trying to be a pest here, this is something I've never quite understood about Mastodon and you seem like someone who knows what's up. Happy to read docs if you point me in the right direction. Thx!)

@juergen_hubert This part of the Fediverse has always confused me.

I get the system-wide benefits of a decentralization, and preventing any one node from becoming too big.

But in practical terms, what does it matter for me (as an end-user) what node I'm on? I still follow who I follow, I still block bots & assholes, I still see what I see.

So why migrate?

Closely-related question ... If I do migrate, why choose one node over another? In practical terms, how does it affect what I see day-to-day?

@zenkat @juergen_hubert One big reason to migrate is that a lot of (especially smaller) instances have a lot of local-only posts. This especially makes sense for a region/city-focused instance for announcing local events.

Different instances also end up having VERY different moderation policies, often for ideological reasons. Different folks may have very differing ideas about what constitutes bigotry & abusive posting, or have divergent opinions on certain issues (like Israel/Palestine, etc).

@sidereal @zenkat @juergen_hubert
Another reason could be that other fediverse software, like e.g. misskey, calckey, iceshrimp, friendica, hubzilla, gotosocial, ... offer much more functionality than mastodon.

Mastodon - in its standard settings - offers only 500 characters to write.
One can only post 4 images per post - and only see 4 images from others, even if they are able to post 10 or 15 pics in one post.

I, here on this iceshrimp-instance, have 3000 chars, can post 10 or more pics, can create polls with 10 selection fields, have an internal cloud storage, can create pages, and much more.

So, depending on what you're looking for as a software, it can make a real difference if you use mastodon as a software or any other to publish your thoughts here.

@fasnix @sidereal @zenkat

Is it possible to migrate your Mastodon followers with you to one of these services - and back again?

Because that ability is what makes an inter-Mastodon-migration so painless.

@juergen_hubert @sidereal @zenkat My followings - who I follow - yes.

Didn't test the "and back" part, as I never looked back after my migrations.