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I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What ha

I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What happens if you want to participate on another instance? Can I reply to comments on other instances?

MayeulC 9y ago
Just like email addresses, you can have multiple ones, and speak with everyone else (AFAIK). What changes is that you also have a timeline (like a mailing list that goes in a folder) for your local instance, and one for the instances it federated with. As far as I know, a lot of people have different accounts for their different centers of interest.
- Mithaldu 9y ago
  That comparison doesn't map gracefully though, given that people don't "subscribe passively" to a single email account, and email users don't (outside of mailing lists) generally broadcast.
dielan 9y ago
Nothing is stopping you from making a new account but there is no account migration. Assuming you and your instance admin arent bad people (as in, your old account isnt deleted or banned) you can make a new account and put a link to your old one in your about me section of your profile. Everyone you see on the public timeline is on a server that contains at least one person someone om your server follows. Thats how servers get to know each other. If you go seek out and follow someone on madeupname.social and youre the first to do so them you have caused new federation! Its a good thing. Interract with as many people as you care to and your instance will benefit. This isnt like Reddit where subs will ban you for contributing in any way to subs they dont like. Its just not like that
ohtwenty 9y ago
So yeah, you can talk with other instances. And if you want to migrate you should be able to download am your stuff and migrate follower lists etc
- ColinWright 9y ago
  Currently you can download the list of people you follow, but have no way to migrate the people who follow you. If you're simply moving then you can leave a forwarding address, but that's currently the best you can do. People are actively working on it to ensure that people can move across instances smoothly, but it's not yet there.
  - ohtwenty 9y ago
    oh? i thought you could migrate followers already. I haven't used it, tbh, quite happy with my instance.
    - ColinWright 9y ago
      Person Person X on instance I (X@I) follows Person Y on instance J (Y@J), and Person Y moves to instance K (Y@J->Y@K), there is currently no automatic way to have X@I start following Y@K. Y@J can announce they're moving and say where they're going, but there's no automated process. Several have been proposed, all (so far) can be horrendously abused. So far, X@I has to see the notification and follow Y@K manually.
ColinWright 9y ago
I wrote a thing[0] about Mastodon a while ago. Currently there is no way to migrate an account, but that's being worked on actively, and progress is being made. You can already export your data, and who you follow, block, or mute. Ideas are being discussed as to how your followers can follow you when you move, but that's tricky given the entire concept of federation. This is explained on the page I wrote[0], but if anyone on your instance follows person X on another instance, toots from person X turn up on the federated timeline on your instance, you can have a chance to see those toots. Similarly, if someone on your instance boosts a toot, it turns up on your instance, so you can see it and decide whether or not you want to remote follow that person. This the network of connections grows, albeit slowly. And yes, you can comment on threads on other instances. Hope that helps. You can always join an instance with a throwaway account, try it out, and if migration does come to life, migrate. If not, start afresh on the instance of choice with a new account. Come find me here: https://mathstodon.xyz/@ColinTheMathmo https://mathstodon.xyz/@ColinTheMathmo [0] http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_20180403 http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_...
- gvurrdon 9y ago
  Useful information, thanks. I've followed your account, though I'm finding it hard to get into using Mastodon. A means to show the oldest unread Toots first, and to sync this across devices/web, might be helpful.
  - ColinWright 9y ago
    The thing to do is ask about these things on Mastodon - people might answer, features like this might already be in the works. I tend to just open up the browser interface and scroll down will I don't recognise things, then read upwards. I've wondered about writing a took to do that, the idea being that if I do so and find it useful then I can offer it to others, and then if it becomes popular then it might get integrated into the code. It is, after all, open source. My problem is that I can't see how the interface would work. "Displayed" is not the same as "have read", and if i's been a while then it might be along way back. It's things like this that let to the "Things you might have missed" feature in Twitter. Does Mastodon need something similar? Personally, I prefer it as it is, but I can see how others might want something different.

MayeulC 9y ago

Just like email addresses, you can have multiple ones, and speak with everyone else (AFAIK). What changes is that you also have a timeline (like a mailing list that goes in a folder) for your local instance, and one for the instances it federated with. As far as I know, a lot of people have different accounts for their different centers of interest.

Mithaldu 9y ago
That comparison doesn't map gracefully though, given that people don't "subscribe passively" to a single email account, and email users don't (outside of mailing lists) generally broadcast.

dielan 9y ago

Nothing is stopping you from making a new account but there is no account migration. Assuming you and your instance admin arent bad people (as in, your old account isnt deleted or banned) you can make a new account and put a link to your old one in your about me section of your profile. Everyone you see on the public timeline is on a server that contains at least one person someone om your server follows. Thats how servers get to know each other. If you go seek out and follow someone on madeupname.social and youre the first to do so them you have caused new federation! Its a good thing. Interract with as many people as you care to and your instance will benefit. This isnt like Reddit where subs will ban you for contributing in any way to subs they dont like. Its just not like that

ohtwenty 9y ago

So yeah, you can talk with other instances. And if you want to migrate you should be able to download am your stuff and migrate follower lists etc

ColinWright 9y ago
Currently you can download the list of people you follow, but have no way to migrate the people who follow you. If you're simply moving then you can leave a forwarding address, but that's currently the best you can do. People are actively working on it to ensure that people can move across instances smoothly, but it's not yet there.
- ohtwenty 9y ago
  oh? i thought you could migrate followers already. I haven't used it, tbh, quite happy with my instance.
  - ColinWright 9y ago
    Person Person X on instance I (X@I) follows Person Y on instance J (Y@J), and Person Y moves to instance K (Y@J->Y@K), there is currently no automatic way to have X@I start following Y@K. Y@J can announce they're moving and say where they're going, but there's no automated process. Several have been proposed, all (so far) can be horrendously abused. So far, X@I has to see the notification and follow Y@K manually.

ColinWright 9y ago

I wrote a thing[0] about Mastodon a while ago. Currently there is no way to migrate an account, but that's being worked on actively, and progress is being made. You can already export your data, and who you follow, block, or mute. Ideas are being discussed as to how your followers can follow you when you move, but that's tricky given the entire concept of federation. This is explained on the page I wrote[0], but if anyone on your instance follows person X on another instance, toots from person X turn up on the federated timeline on your instance, you can have a chance to see those toots. Similarly, if someone on your instance boosts a toot, it turns up on your instance, so you can see it and decide whether or not you want to remote follow that person. This the network of connections grows, albeit slowly. And yes, you can comment on threads on other instances. Hope that helps. You can always join an instance with a throwaway account, try it out, and if migration does come to life, migrate. If not, start afresh on the instance of choice with a new account. Come find me here: https://mathstodon.xyz/@ColinTheMathmo https://mathstodon.xyz/@ColinTheMathmo [0] http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_20180403 http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_...

gvurrdon 9y ago
Useful information, thanks. I've followed your account, though I'm finding it hard to get into using Mastodon. A means to show the oldest unread Toots first, and to sync this across devices/web, might be helpful.
- ColinWright 9y ago
  The thing to do is ask about these things on Mastodon - people might answer, features like this might already be in the works. I tend to just open up the browser interface and scroll down will I don't recognise things, then read upwards. I've wondered about writing a took to do that, the idea being that if I do so and find it useful then I can offer it to others, and then if it becomes popular then it might get integrated into the code. It is, after all, open source. My problem is that I can't see how the interface would work. "Displayed" is not the same as "have read", and if i's been a while then it might be along way back. It's things like this that let to the "Things you might have missed" feature in Twitter. Does Mastodon need something similar? Personally, I prefer it as it is, but I can see how others might want something different.