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If you're thinking of trying Mastodon, I would recommend joining an interest-specific or locality-specific server rather than one of the general purpose servers

If you're thinking of trying Mastodon, I would recommend joining an interest-specific or locality-specific server rather than one of the general purpose servers, because the local community is likely to be stronger and more engaged. You can always jump ship later if you find it's not your thing Some examples: - https://fosstodon.org https://fosstodon.org for FOSS - https://infosec.exchange https://infosec.exchange for infosec - https://sfba.social https://sfba.social for the bay area There's a map of locality-specific instances here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094

minimaxir 4y ago
https://sigmoid.social/ https://sigmoid.social/ for AI/machine learning.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  It was cool seeing https://mathstodon.xyz/ https://mathstodon.xyz/ on the HN front page recently. I really like the idea of different organizations running their own instances. You don't need an overbearing, exhaustive and centralized system of verification for journalists when something like WAPO or NY Times can run an instance for their employees, much like how email works. Edit: A lot of journalists just learned about the value of owning their distribution platform now too lol
jghn 4y ago
This assumes one cares about the local community aspect of Mastodon. Granted many people do in which case your advice is spot on. But if you're just looking for a pure Twitter replacement, it doesn't matter. In fact you might be better off on one of the big players as they're probably less likely to be fly-by-night.
- standardUser 4y ago
  It would be nice if new users were simply assigned a big, generic server (like in many MMOs) and then later had the option to seek out and find a niche server. The vast, vast majority of new users wouldn't know or care either way.
  - rsynnott 4y ago
    That's more or less what _happens_; people join mastodon.social and then move.
    - OctopusLupid 4y ago
      I can confirm this is what I did. I started on mastodon.social, then eventually moved to a smaller instance when I got jealous of their local timeline. Then I'm now hosting my own server in the closet.
- lapcat 4y ago
  > In fact you might be better off on one of the big players as they're probably less likely to be fly-by-night. The biggest advantage of a big instance like mastodon.social is that account discovery and following are much easier when the accounts are on the same instance of you. Otherwise, you have to do a lot of copy and paste into search fields.
defrost 4y ago
Of possible interest to some: > Please consider joining @mastodon.acm.org, a community for #computing researchers & practitioners to connect & exchange ideas with each other, whether you are an ACM member or not. https://mastodon.acm.org/invite/FbXaxAHg https://mastodon.acm.org/invite/FbXaxAHg
scrollaway 4y ago
Im very surprised that, among techies, there aren't more people running their own instance as a solo user, so that they can own the entire username including the domain name. It's what I did for myself (Follow me! @jerome@leclan.ch), following Simon Willison's post: https://til.simonwillison.net/mastodon/custom-domain-mastodon https://til.simonwillison.net/mastodon/custom-domain-mastodo...
- lapcat 4y ago
  "Notice: due to the recent influx of traffic, new subscriptions are closed." https://masto.host/ https://masto.host/ "hi! there's been a huge wave of new members and new instances recently, and that's a Lot of work. i am tired and especially won't be very available in the next months for health reasons, so i won't be accepting new instances for a while." https://fedi.monster/ https://fedi.monster/ "Due to overwhelming demand, registrations are currently closed." https://cloudplane.org/ https://cloudplane.org/
  - scrollaway 4y ago
    A lot of users on these are opening up public instances, rather than their own. I don't see a huge amount of "host mastodon for yourself on your own domain" people. I went this route (via https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/mastodon https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/mastodon - I would have used masto.host otherwise). Im keeping an eye on Takahe (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33731739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33731739) as hosting mastodon is kind of expensive, for the type of use I make of it.
- isodev 4y ago
  I too self host my instance. I opted to use Pleroma (https://pleroma.social/ https://pleroma.social/) for a backend to interact with the fediverse because of the easier setup and lower hosting requirements. It’s been working for a few years now and (luckily) I never had major incidents. It’s very refreshing to be in full control of one’s data (compared to the centralised experience with other socials like Twitter and Facebook).
j1elo 4y ago
Last time I looked into Mastodon (a couple years ago), I found a small, specific community that piqued my interest. Months later, the owner of the instance lost interest and closed it. In the end I never registered, but, what would have happened if I did and started to use it in my day to day? Would I wake up one day to find out that I no longer have a Mastodon account? I feel the response might be something akin to "what would happen if you have a fastmail account and then fastmail closes?". If that's the case, I see absolutely no reason to choose a small instance, just for the sake of reliability and trust in its continued operation.
- scrollaway 4y ago
  I agree with you. Mastodon does make it easier to migrate between users. ActivityPub (or is it Mastodon-specific?) has something built in to broadcast account migration announcements, supports account aliases, carry followers over, etc. It's better than email in that regard.
- DeLopSpot 4y ago
  This is an issue addressed by the Mastodon Server Covenant: https://joinmastodon.org/covenant https://joinmastodon.org/covenant The Covenant includes a commitment from server admins to give users at least 3 months of advance warning in case of shutting down
  - hoppoy 4y ago
    That's an agreement with no teeth, they can just shut it down without warning, and then what do you do.
    - DeLopSpot 4y ago
      If this is very important to you, then you should find a server admin that you trust, such as a friend or a fellow industry professional. You can also use a paid instance like https://cloudisland.nz/ https://cloudisland.nz/ or set up your own using a hosted service like masto.host
- 4y ago
kornhole 4y ago
Fosstodon was just banned from Twitter too, but that should not stop you from joining it. It looks like Twitter will be playing a game of whack a mole as we launch more instances.

minimaxir 4y ago

https://sigmoid.social/ https://sigmoid.social/ for AI/machine learning.

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
It was cool seeing https://mathstodon.xyz/ https://mathstodon.xyz/ on the HN front page recently. I really like the idea of different organizations running their own instances. You don't need an overbearing, exhaustive and centralized system of verification for journalists when something like WAPO or NY Times can run an instance for their employees, much like how email works. Edit: A lot of journalists just learned about the value of owning their distribution platform now too lol

jghn 4y ago

This assumes one cares about the local community aspect of Mastodon. Granted many people do in which case your advice is spot on. But if you're just looking for a pure Twitter replacement, it doesn't matter. In fact you might be better off on one of the big players as they're probably less likely to be fly-by-night.

standardUser 4y ago
It would be nice if new users were simply assigned a big, generic server (like in many MMOs) and then later had the option to seek out and find a niche server. The vast, vast majority of new users wouldn't know or care either way.
- rsynnott 4y ago
  That's more or less what _happens_; people join mastodon.social and then move.
  - OctopusLupid 4y ago
    I can confirm this is what I did. I started on mastodon.social, then eventually moved to a smaller instance when I got jealous of their local timeline. Then I'm now hosting my own server in the closet.
lapcat 4y ago
> In fact you might be better off on one of the big players as they're probably less likely to be fly-by-night. The biggest advantage of a big instance like mastodon.social is that account discovery and following are much easier when the accounts are on the same instance of you. Otherwise, you have to do a lot of copy and paste into search fields.

defrost 4y ago

Of possible interest to some: > Please consider joining @mastodon.acm.org, a community for #computing researchers & practitioners to connect & exchange ideas with each other, whether you are an ACM member or not. https://mastodon.acm.org/invite/FbXaxAHg https://mastodon.acm.org/invite/FbXaxAHg

scrollaway 4y ago

Im very surprised that, among techies, there aren't more people running their own instance as a solo user, so that they can own the entire username including the domain name. It's what I did for myself (Follow me! @jerome@leclan.ch), following Simon Willison's post: https://til.simonwillison.net/mastodon/custom-domain-mastodon https://til.simonwillison.net/mastodon/custom-domain-mastodo...

lapcat 4y ago
"Notice: due to the recent influx of traffic, new subscriptions are closed." https://masto.host/ https://masto.host/ "hi! there's been a huge wave of new members and new instances recently, and that's a Lot of work. i am tired and especially won't be very available in the next months for health reasons, so i won't be accepting new instances for a while." https://fedi.monster/ https://fedi.monster/ "Due to overwhelming demand, registrations are currently closed." https://cloudplane.org/ https://cloudplane.org/
- scrollaway 4y ago
  A lot of users on these are opening up public instances, rather than their own. I don't see a huge amount of "host mastodon for yourself on your own domain" people. I went this route (via https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/mastodon https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/mastodon - I would have used masto.host otherwise). Im keeping an eye on Takahe (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33731739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33731739) as hosting mastodon is kind of expensive, for the type of use I make of it.
isodev 4y ago
I too self host my instance. I opted to use Pleroma (https://pleroma.social/ https://pleroma.social/) for a backend to interact with the fediverse because of the easier setup and lower hosting requirements. It’s been working for a few years now and (luckily) I never had major incidents. It’s very refreshing to be in full control of one’s data (compared to the centralised experience with other socials like Twitter and Facebook).

j1elo 4y ago

Last time I looked into Mastodon (a couple years ago), I found a small, specific community that piqued my interest. Months later, the owner of the instance lost interest and closed it. In the end I never registered, but, what would have happened if I did and started to use it in my day to day? Would I wake up one day to find out that I no longer have a Mastodon account? I feel the response might be something akin to "what would happen if you have a fastmail account and then fastmail closes?". If that's the case, I see absolutely no reason to choose a small instance, just for the sake of reliability and trust in its continued operation.

scrollaway 4y ago
I agree with you. Mastodon does make it easier to migrate between users. ActivityPub (or is it Mastodon-specific?) has something built in to broadcast account migration announcements, supports account aliases, carry followers over, etc. It's better than email in that regard.
DeLopSpot 4y ago
This is an issue addressed by the Mastodon Server Covenant: https://joinmastodon.org/covenant https://joinmastodon.org/covenant The Covenant includes a commitment from server admins to give users at least 3 months of advance warning in case of shutting down
- hoppoy 4y ago
  That's an agreement with no teeth, they can just shut it down without warning, and then what do you do.
  - DeLopSpot 4y ago
    If this is very important to you, then you should find a server admin that you trust, such as a friend or a fellow industry professional. You can also use a paid instance like https://cloudisland.nz/ https://cloudisland.nz/ or set up your own using a hosted service like masto.host
4y ago

kornhole 4y ago

Fosstodon was just banned from Twitter too, but that should not stop you from joining it. It looks like Twitter will be playing a game of whack a mole as we launch more instances.