Shouty personApr 25, 2022
Terry Hancock

The most daunting thing for me about joining Mastodon/Fediverse was picking an instance.

Having joined one, a RL metaphor emerges for me: "it's like picking an apartment building."

You need to evaluate the management. Do they respect tenant rights? Is the desk clerk skeevy?

Do you want to live in a big impersonal complex? Or a little boarding house, where people share a lot and have house parties? You can even be a "home owner" and run your own instance (pay the bills, fix the plumbing).

Apr 24, 2022 at 3:41pmWeb
Show threadTerry HancockApr 24, 2022

I have started using this metaphor when recommending friends to use it.

The metaphor extends to the available feeds:

'Home': chat w/ my friends circle, including neighbors and visitors you invited in.

'Local': building party, hang w/ neighbors.

'Federated': take a walk down the street, see weird stuff, chat w/ random strangers, but keep your guard up.

Of course, it's not a perfect match, but I think it quickly conveys the social experience and trade-offs between different instances.

Show threadTerry HancockApr 25, 2022

Wow. This blew up. I guess this random late-night musing struck a cord with many people at just the right moment.  

Wish I could edit the inconsistent 1st/2nd person line. Oops.

I hear than a true edit feature is coming, but I guess we're not running it yet on Mastodon.art.

Also, I hadn't heard about the most recent Twitter news when I wrote it. I HAVE been trying to get more people to join Fediverse, as it's a lot more fun for me than Facebook or Twitter.

Show thread(((o))) Acoustic MirrorApr 24, 2022
@TerryHancock Hm, yeah, that's why I moved from mastodon.social to post.lurk.org. #lurk was better aligned with my interests, but now I also have very different 'Local' and 'Federated' TLs, and I'm enjoying this a lot. (Aside from all the other great things about the #fedi, of course.)
Show threadBaessando por ai!Apr 28, 2022
@acousticmirror nice. Did you move your all your data as well??
Show thread(((o))) Acoustic MirrorApr 28, 2022
@pbaesse Affirmative 🍍.
.
Show threadBaessando por ai!Apr 28, 2022
@acousticmirror nice. I think I'm going to move mine!
Show threadKyle SchroederApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock This is a cool way to imagine it. Reminds me of Geocities imagining websites as physical locations in a large neighborhood.
Show threadan exclamation of mild dismayApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock Also, if your needs change, you can move to a new building/new instance!
Show threadUrusanApr 26, 2022

@TerryHancock Something I think many people overlook both in real homeownership and self-hosting is that you can hire people to do work for you.

Landlords often talk up the rental model by saying "we'll manage the property for you" but you can own your property and still not have to manage it. You can hire people to do maintenance, repairs, yard care, or even hire a property manager if you can't attend to those details yourself.

Why not for self-hosting too?

Show threadDaveApr 26, 2022
@TerryHancock It also matches the situation when you move between instances:
- you need to tell everyone your new address
- you start with a new, empty apartment (a.k.a. you need to fill your timeline anew)
Show threadnarF 🎲May 1, 2022
@TerryHancock I feel like this should be added to the Mastodon Onboarding! It's so accurate and easy to understand!! @Gargron
Show threadTekknovatorApr 24, 2022
@TerryHancock To good neighbourhood then 😃
Show threadRicardusApr 25, 2022

@TerryHancock My choice was easy. I was already a part of a bunch of thriving internet communities, and one of them started an instance. BOOM. Easy peazy.

They had actually been running GnuSocial before that, but when Masto came out they dropped GunSocial in favor of Masto.

Show threaddorApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock this is a great metaphor! I especially like it because it emphasizes the great value of federated services, you get to choose your community. And that community is made up of people, including people who are working to supply this space.
Show threadLuis BM✨Apr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock Didn't think about it but damn you are correct
Show threadlexicon devilApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock this is legit such a good metaphor! like i feel like this should be added to new user guides. it makes the whole concept way more digestible.
Show threadmoved to fedi.dysphoric.spaceApr 25, 2022

@TerryHancock when I first joined fedi, I ended up on an instance where one could only post the letter "E"

It took me more than a year before trying again

Show threadLuna Dragofelis ΘΔ 🏳️‍⚧️Apr 25, 2022
@dysphoricunicorn @TerryHancock what lmfao?
Show threadmoved to fedi.dysphoric.spaceApr 25, 2022
@LunaDragofelis @TerryHancock I think it was dolphin themed or something, it was a long time ago
Show threadjay 🌺Apr 25, 2022
@dysphoricunicorn I also saw one where you _couldn't_ use the letter 'e'.
Show threadarkywarkyApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock I like my management (hai @kescher )
Show threadjmchorApr 26, 2022
@arcade @TerryHancock @kescher my instance manager is the only manager I like in my life (maybe that they mainly live on a tiny screen factors into that) @selea
Show threadcharlagApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock damn that's probably the best analogy I've seen so far (also "home owner" is on spot)
Show thread𝗔rtilect𝗭edApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock I was originally on mastodon.social, and after a thing happened, I decided I wanted to transfer to a new instance. It ended up being extremely easy. To further the analogy you started, there's no leases. You can move out and in to a new instance whenever you want, if you don't like the management. I love that about Mastodon 😁
Show threadDougApr 25, 2022
@artilectzed @TerryHancock how do you manage the change of id? Don’t you lose all of your followers? Or is there the equivalent of a forwarding address from the old server?
Show thread𝗔rtilect𝗭edApr 25, 2022

@dougc @TerryHancock Your old profile can stay online, if you wish. IIRC, mine had a link to my new account.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/06/how-to-migrate-from-one-server-to-another/

How to migrate from one server to another

With the sad news that KNZK was shutting down we thought it might be useful for people to have a refresher on the features that Mastodon has built in that make moving instances easy and painless. Backing up Your Data Data export If you are moving to a new instance the first thing you will want to do is to get a backup of all of your data. Thankfully this process is painless with the Data Export tab under the “Import and Export” page.

Show threadTerry HancockApr 25, 2022

@dougc @artilectzed

There's a system for automatic forwarding. I haven't actually used it yet, but I understand that at least "followers" and "following" go with it.

Show threadGunChleocApr 28, 2022
@dougc @artilectzed @TerryHancock Go to Settings -> Account and you will finde the functions for migrating your account on the bottom. You can then redirect your followers. I can't give you more detail though because I've never done it. Official documentation is at https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/
Moving or leaving accounts - Mastodon documentation

Take your information and do what you want with it.

Show threadCheshireApr 25, 2022
@TerryHancock I… just picked one with a neat name.
Show threadTurboDumpster16Apr 26, 2022
@TerryHancock reminds of usenet in a modern setting 
Show threadFiXatoApr 26, 2022
@TerryHancock
while it's not a bad analogy, I'd replace "RL" with "offline" instead.
Using "Real Life" as a term to contrast online media gives the imho harmful connotation that online interactions aren't part of real life; obviously this isn't true as there are real people with real feelings on either side of the connection.
Show threadColin WmdApr 28, 2022
@TerryHancock @S3cr3ts1m0n this thread might be what you need
Show threadS3cr3ts1m0nApr 28, 2022
@colinwmd @TerryHancock the app doesn't seem to have local or federated.. Just Home. I may be doing something wrong though?
Show threadColin WmdApr 28, 2022
@S3cr3ts1m0n @TerryHancock not sure, Tusky does, although for my server their currently deactivated to stop the slowdowns
Show threadBaessando por ai!Apr 28, 2022
@TerryHancock can I easily move among instances with my whole data??
Show threadSaphire LatticeMay 1, 2022

@TerryHancock not just "pay the bills", you end up having to make sure your communications are connected and that your waste is taken care of...

... And then there's a completely hardcore variant where you do it all yourself by building the software x'3 Not recommended but it is.. interesting