It's much easier and cheaper than you think to start your own Mastodon server:
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It's much easier and cheaper than you think to start your own Mastodon server:
- You don't need to be a tech nerd and you don't need any hardware. You can use a "managed hosting" service which does all the hosting and techy stuff for you behind the scenes.
- You don't need to be rich, managed hosting starts from around 5 to 10 euros per month including everything.
I've done a non-technical step-by-step guide to creating your own Mastodon server at:
https://growyourown.services/making-your-own-mastodon-server-in-10-steps@homegrown Can I move my existing account? I selfhost a Matrix server already but I though hosting your own Mastodon server had significant downsides in terms of visibility of posts and replies
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@homegrown Can I move my existing account? I selfhost a Matrix server already but I though hosting your own Mastodon server had significant downsides in terms of visibility of posts and replies
Visibility of posts, yes but replies aren't as much of an issue since 4.5 introduced "fetch all replies"
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@homegrown Can I move my existing account? I selfhost a Matrix server already but I though hosting your own Mastodon server had significant downsides in terms of visibility of posts and replies
@TimothyRoes @homegrown afaik there's still not a robust migration mechanism, but if your server has enough processing power you can connect to a relay and it'll help your personal instance see more posts.
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@homegrown Can I move my existing account? I selfhost a Matrix server already but I though hosting your own Mastodon server had significant downsides in terms of visibility of posts and replies
@timothyroes@mastodon.social If you get yourself connected to some good relays, it doesn't take too long for the content you expect to see to start flowing in and for your posts to become visible to others. It can be a slow start but my followers on other instances see my posts just fine, and whenever I use common hashtags they seem to go out to enough people.
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Visibility of posts, yes but replies aren't as much of an issue since 4.5 introduced "fetch all replies"
Yes you can move your existing account: https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/
And yup, the fetch all replies thing since Mastodon 4.5 makes life much easier for smaller servers. Every reply for every thread is fetched, no matter how small your server is. (Of course moderation blocks in either direction would override the fetching.)
I've tried to put together ways of getting more of the Fedi visible on your server at https://fedi.tips/using-relays-to-quickly-expand-a-servers-view-of-the-fediverse
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It's much easier and cheaper than you think to start your own Mastodon server:
- You don't need to be a tech nerd and you don't need any hardware. You can use a "managed hosting" service which does all the hosting and techy stuff for you behind the scenes.
- You don't need to be rich, managed hosting starts from around 5 to 10 euros per month including everything.
I've done a non-technical step-by-step guide to creating your own Mastodon server at:
https://growyourown.services/making-your-own-mastodon-server-in-10-steps@homegrown Mastodon is switching to location based sign-up.
If people starting hosting from the own dsl, then Mastodon could end up being a civic infrastructure.
Important is how to create a DMZ behind a modem.
Not sure how it works in the U.S. in the E.U. you often get one. And then you can also buy one yourself.
Probably a recommendation combo of router and small server setup could end up creating a civic infrastructure.
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@homegrown Mastodon is switching to location based sign-up.
If people starting hosting from the own dsl, then Mastodon could end up being a civic infrastructure.
Important is how to create a DMZ behind a modem.
Not sure how it works in the U.S. in the E.U. you often get one. And then you can also buy one yourself.
Probably a recommendation combo of router and small server setup could end up creating a civic infrastructure.
@homegrown @spdrnl It is?
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@drwho @homegrown Close? I read it as geared more towards managed hosting.
It is a good write up.
Missing the modem an DMZ part. I am also not sure how accurate IP addresses are these days.
I am not in the U.S., and would not know the sweet spot.
Putting it out as an idea.
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@homegrown Mastodon is switching to location based sign-up.
If people starting hosting from the own dsl, then Mastodon could end up being a civic infrastructure.
Important is how to create a DMZ behind a modem.
Not sure how it works in the U.S. in the E.U. you often get one. And then you can also buy one yourself.
Probably a recommendation combo of router and small server setup could end up creating a civic infrastructure.
This article is mainly aimed at non-technical people using managed hosting
Also the signup changes are just for the default suggestion, they're not changing how the full official listing is compiled. It also doesn't affect servers not on the list or on alternative lists such as https://fedi.garden
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This article is mainly aimed at non-technical people using managed hosting
Also the signup changes are just for the default suggestion, they're not changing how the full official listing is compiled. It also doesn't affect servers not on the list or on alternative lists such as https://fedi.garden
@homegrown Thank you for that information. Still it could work!
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Yes you can move your existing account: https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/
And yup, the fetch all replies thing since Mastodon 4.5 makes life much easier for smaller servers. Every reply for every thread is fetched, no matter how small your server is. (Of course moderation blocks in either direction would override the fetching.)
I've tried to put together ways of getting more of the Fedi visible on your server at https://fedi.tips/using-relays-to-quickly-expand-a-servers-view-of-the-fediverse
@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes thank you for your writing on Fedi.tips, very nice!
One caveat, which you mention in the post but might be worth calling out: you can't migrate an account's posts currently, and that IMHO amounts to a "no" answer to "can I move my account". Mastodon has redefined moves to only be about followers and followed but I believe that doesn't quite make sense for general users and we should not normalize this definition.
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It's much easier and cheaper than you think to start your own Mastodon server:
- You don't need to be a tech nerd and you don't need any hardware. You can use a "managed hosting" service which does all the hosting and techy stuff for you behind the scenes.
- You don't need to be rich, managed hosting starts from around 5 to 10 euros per month including everything.
I've done a non-technical step-by-step guide to creating your own Mastodon server at:
https://growyourown.services/making-your-own-mastodon-server-in-10-steps@homegrown it's not that cheap though. I run a niche instance for Esperanto speakers through managed hosting, and as the user base grew, so did the costs. Nowadays it's about 40€ a month.
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@homegrown it's not that cheap though. I run a niche instance for Esperanto speakers through managed hosting, and as the user base grew, so did the costs. Nowadays it's about 40€ a month.
Yup, I should have been clearer: it's cheap to start is my point
If you run a public instance and grow then yes the costs do go up (though the costs-per-user go substantially down).
Also a lot of people still think you need to buy an actual physical server or data centre and spend thousands setting it up, and that's definitely not the case.
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@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes thank you for your writing on Fedi.tips, very nice!
One caveat, which you mention in the post but might be worth calling out: you can't migrate an account's posts currently, and that IMHO amounts to a "no" answer to "can I move my account". Mastodon has redefined moves to only be about followers and followed but I believe that doesn't quite make sense for general users and we should not normalize this definition.
@flancian @gbargoud @TimothyRoes
I don't think it is accurate to say "no" because that implies you have to start from scratch on a totally new account with zero followers.
The Fediverse is the only place you can move from one independent infrastructure to another while keeping your followers and follows. There's nowhere else that lets you do this, and I think it deserves to be highlighted instead of hidden or downplayed.
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@flancian @gbargoud @TimothyRoes
I don't think it is accurate to say "no" because that implies you have to start from scratch on a totally new account with zero followers.
The Fediverse is the only place you can move from one independent infrastructure to another while keeping your followers and follows. There's nowhere else that lets you do this, and I think it deserves to be highlighted instead of hidden or downplayed.
@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes yes, good point; don't get me wrong, social graph portability is great and totally worth calling out and promoting. It's just that I believe people might be surprised by the fact their posts don't move with their account (I've heard this before).
Also of course it might be worth pointing out that Fediverse != Mastodon. TIL that not only GoToSocial but also Mitra actually support importing posts (hope to try this soon): https://mitra.social/objects/019c522d-bada-fa6c-7cb2-2edb32ae38d8
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@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes yes, good point; don't get me wrong, social graph portability is great and totally worth calling out and promoting. It's just that I believe people might be surprised by the fact their posts don't move with their account (I've heard this before).
Also of course it might be worth pointing out that Fediverse != Mastodon. TIL that not only GoToSocial but also Mitra actually support importing posts (hope to try this soon): https://mitra.social/objects/019c522d-bada-fa6c-7cb2-2edb32ae38d8
@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes also yesterday I learnt about LOLA and I hope it eventually gets wide adoption:
In #Flancia we'll meet (@flancian@social.coop)
Relevant here: #LOLA > LOLA is a proposal for server-to-server account migration that would allow users to move between ActivityPub servers while retaining both their posts and their social graph. Unlike the current Move activity that only migrates followers, LOLA would enable full content portability. (...) > LOLA, the proposal to improve account portability, is a clear example of this challenge. Already in fall 2024, Lisa Dusseault, the author of the proposal, said that the specification was ready for developers to start testing implementations. The main bottleneck since then has been getting organisations like Mastodon interested in actually building it. https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fediverse-report-148-on-protocol-governance/
social.coop (social.coop)
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@homegrown @gbargoud @TimothyRoes also yesterday I learnt about LOLA and I hope it eventually gets wide adoption:
In #Flancia we'll meet (@flancian@social.coop)
Relevant here: #LOLA > LOLA is a proposal for server-to-server account migration that would allow users to move between ActivityPub servers while retaining both their posts and their social graph. Unlike the current Move activity that only migrates followers, LOLA would enable full content portability. (...) > LOLA, the proposal to improve account portability, is a clear example of this challenge. Already in fall 2024, Lisa Dusseault, the author of the proposal, said that the specification was ready for developers to start testing implementations. The main bottleneck since then has been getting organisations like Mastodon interested in actually building it. https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fediverse-report-148-on-protocol-governance/
social.coop (social.coop)
@flancian @homegrown @TimothyRoes
There is also at least one effort to add that support in to mastodon (in a portable way that would also allow moving posts between different fediverse services) but i think it's quite far out because of the ambition.
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@flancian @homegrown @TimothyRoes
There is also at least one effort to add that support in to mastodon (in a portable way that would also allow moving posts between different fediverse services) but i think it's quite far out because of the ambition.
@flancian @homegrown @TimothyRoes
Oh right LOLA is what the proposal I saw was merged into because like all the best ideas multiple people came up with it independently at around the same time
