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Do you want to create your own Wiki? You might want to try some of these options:
(All of these are free and open source)
@mediawiki - The software used by Wikipedia
@TiddlyWiki - Personal wiki stored in a single HTML file
@FeatherWiki - Lightweight software for making wikis, notebooks, databases in a single file
@bookstack - Easy-to-use simple wiki & documentation software
@xwikiorg - Wiki software aimed at businesses, libre alternative to Confluence
Mastodon server admins have a variety of different options for communicating with their members:
- Server announcements and emails reaching all your server's members
- Non-urgent server news just for those who want to follow such updates
- Official warnings sent to specific members who have broken a server rule
- Non-moderation DMs sent to specific members
All of these options are covered in the "Communicating with your members" guide:
https://fedi.tips/how-mastodon-admins-can-communicate-with-their-servers-members
If you're a Mastodon server admin, you can control whether or not your members can invite people to join. However, this setting is a bit hidden and not in an obvious place:
1. Go to Preferences > Administration > Roles > Default Permissions, tick or untick the box marked "Invite Users"
2. Click "Save Changes"
To cancel existing invitations:
1. Go to Preferences > Moderation > Invites
2. Click "Deactivate" to deactivate a particular invitation, or "Deactivate All" for all of them
Mastodon servers can optionally be run in "limited federation mode", also known as "allowlist mode" or "isolated mode".
In that mode the server doesn't communicate at all with any other servers, unless the admin has specifically added a server to their "allowlist".
Isolated servers are much safer but less busy, and generally created by admins who want to make a private network rather than be part of a larger social network. More info at:
If you're wanting to run your own Fediverse server but it seems too difficult, you might want to use a managed hosting service. They do all the technical stuff for you behind the scenes, as well as the actual hosting itself.
For example here are some Fediverse managed hosting providers:
- https://cloud68.co/managed-hosting.html
- https://fedihost.co
- https://masto.host
- https://weingaertner-it.de/?lang=en
- https://communick.com
- https://writefreely.host
Fedi admins, you may want to defederate mastodon.cloud
There's a scammer registered on mastodon.cloud who is currently spamming people all over the Fediverse (https://digipres.club/@timixretroplays/116400799417215833).
Mastodon.cloud seems to be an unmoderated instance with open registration. It hasn't responded to multiple previous abuse reports (https://social.growyourown.services/@FediTips/115027459008099476).
The admin of mastodon.cloud hasn't posted since February 2023 and its server software is very out of date.
@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.
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.
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
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
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
