Erin M. May, PhDLooking into moving instances now that astrodon.social is up and running.
Looks like I can move my followers, but is it true that I can't move my posts? Will they disappear from this account? I hate to lose all my threads 😩
ranjit@_astronoMay I suppose you could boost the heads of your favorite threads onto your new account...
Ephemerality 🏳️⚧️ 
@_astronoMay they’ll stick around unless you also delete the account
markpanning@violet @_astronoMay But if you don't delete the account, it could confuse people about which account to follow... I still have to work my way around this decentralized fediverse thing...
@markpanning @_astronoMay the option to migrate marks the account and puts up a redirect to the new one
Col@markpanning @violet @_astronoMay
Usually there's a notification to users that the account has moved servers, on the profile page I believe.
Usually there's a notification to users that the account has moved servers, on the profile page I believe.
flesh roots 
🍕@The_Colbobs
@markpanning @violet @_astronoMay
And if you want extra redundancy, make a post set to "followers only" that says where you post now, and pin it. Mastodon moves follows when it detects a move but other sites (Pleroma, Misskey, maybe Pixelated) don't know to do that.
@markpanning @violet @_astronoMay
And if you want extra redundancy, make a post set to "followers only" that says where you post now, and pin it. Mastodon moves follows when it detects a move but other sites (Pleroma, Misskey, maybe Pixelated) don't know to do that.
Veterinärtheologe@_astronoMay Toots should stay on the old account as far as I know. But I am not 100 % sure, never migrated my account.
Лафиэль Элентари@_astronoMay
Messages will remain on the old account, only followers will be transferred.
Posts transfers are not supported :(
Messages will remain on the old account, only followers will be transferred.
Posts transfers are not supported :(
SmittyHalibut@_astronoMay unfortunately, that was my experience when I migrated from mark@ to smitty@. Social web migrated, but post history did not.
Wiredfire 
@smitty but post history remains on the instance you were on originally so they’re not lost, just slightly disconnected.
@wiredfire when you connect to the old server, doesn’t it just forward you to the new host?
@smitty It does exactly that, but the posts remain for posterity. For example, I moved from mastodon.social and you can still see my posts there:
Ruth [☕️ 👩🏻💻📚✍🏻🧵🪡🍵]@_astronoMay you can set up your account to kind of forward to the new one. This won't move your posts, but you can leave up this older account while mostly not worrying folks will follow you here.
Also I would download all your posts in an archive and maybe you can recreate a few threads over time... it'll be different, but they might feel relevant again!
Setting the redirect would be in https://mastodon.online/settings/migration
Wilhelm Fitzpatrick@_astronoMay old posts will stay where they are and be accessible as long as your old instance remains on line.
Peter Mount@_astronoMay Had to double check, it should include all posts
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/06/how-to-migrate-from-one-server-to-another/
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.
Daniel Howard 🌻@peter @_astronoMay batch processes these days may be delayed because servers are seeing more traffic, which is to say maybe your old posts will still come over but not for some days possibly.
@dannyman @_astronoMay true but then you wouldn't get even your existing followers if you request a backup as that part would also be held up.
finite;crystal 🖤💎@_astronoMay Your old content will stay right where it's at on this account and your followers will be transferred to your new account. Your old profile will be deactivated and have a note pointing people to your new account.
Scott Williams 🐧@_astronoMay This is honestly the biggest reason I haven't switched to something like @fosstodon or oldbytes.space. I have been here for years with over 2,000 posts here already. I think at this point, if I move, it will be back to my own server and I might see if I can import my old posts back from the json export if I do.
Michael Downey 
@_astronoMay Post import currently being discussed/considered:
Bangwin@_astronoMay That's what happened when I move to other instances......:-(
Noah Liebman@_astronoMay they won’t disappear from your current account; your current account sticks around with a notice that you’ve moved elsewhere. but I personally also find it frustrating that you can’t move posts :(
Parsingphase@_astronoMay I moved my account to a personal server yesterday - here's what it looks like on the "old" location: https://mastodon.social/@parsingphase - content is preserved but not copied over. I guess you could do a pinned post / bio link on the new account saying "older content here"?
Allusion@_astronoMay In addition to what other people are saying, if you move you'll still have access to your old content on m.s as if you were another user. You can read, boost, and reply to public and unlisted toots. You'll lose all access to private toots, so you probably still want to request an archive, first.
@_astronoMay PS "Astrodon" is an excellent server name.
Gustavo 🎮🔭🇵🇷@_astronoMay My two cents. Switching instances will only affect the tail end of your username, and your local TL. However, your local TL is composed as well of the people/interests you follow, so you can still follow all #Astrodon people from your current instance. It not like a fb group where you’ll really miss out on stuff posted there if you don’t belong to it. In my case, I’ll just make sure to follow all #Astrodon people I find. I switched instances once and it’s not worth it. YMMV ✌️
Thomas Connor@astromecanik @_astronoMay As a counter-point: if the hate-filled trolls that populate bird site start making their way over, a larger server will have a harder time dealing with the issue. Obviously they'll deny federation with hate.nazis, but maybe take a second to cut off from justasking.questions. With a smaller server and a tighter policies, it's easier to protect the community.
@thomasconnor @_astronoMay I agree with you 100%. From a *new user* standpoint, by all means, if you like #astronomy related fields, go to an instance such as #astrodon. It makes for a “friendly” local tl. If you’re an established user like the OP, with lots of content already published and directly tied to their current account, then it’s a bit of a hassle to switch. Hassle, of course, is subjective, so while I may not consider it worth it, others may think otherwise.
Michael Zingale@_astronoMay I'm waiting to see if it takes off or if some other community will emerge.
Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven@_astronoMay "Your toots will not be moved, due to technical limitations."
Leonieke Aalders@_astronoMay you can request an archive, which will include posts and media (just requested one myself as I've moved to my own intance)
The Doctor@_astronoMay No, they'll still be there. You can also export and re-import them into your new account.
William W@drwho @_astronoMay you can export and import posts?? is that mastodon-wide? I couldn't figure out how when I first moved instance
@silico_biomancer @_astronoMay Yeah, I did it when I moved to hackers.town. To get a dump of your stuff:
Preferences -> Import and Export -> Data Export -> Request Your Archive
glitch.soc (which hackers.town runs) does not seem to have an option for re-importing your posts, only your follows, lists, and suchlike. This (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/981) makes the point that the possibility of abuse (forged or otherwise edited posts) is a considerable one. All things consider, denizens of the Fediverse seem to prefer not having a potential avenue of abuse here.
However, you can set up an account migration:
Preferences -> Account -> Account Settings -> Create an account alias
And on the old site:
Preferences -> Account -> Account Settings -> Move to a different account
That sets up a redirect on your old account that says "I've moved here," which helps the follow/followed account list function as expected.
@drwho @_astronoMay ah, yeah it was the import I was hoping for. Alas
@silico_biomancer @_astronoMay Thinking about it a little, it should be possible to write a utility that grinds through the CSV of exported posts and re-posts them, one at a time to the new instance's API. Thing about that is, the local timeline will go bonkers because you'd be flooding it.
How much stuff do you want to save?
@drwho @_astronoMay not enough to want to flood the TL
@_astronoMay You leave your legacy behind, but it's still there -- see my quick stint on the big one -- https://mastodon.social/@ThomasConnor
Sandzwerg@_astronoMay you can't move them, but they will still be on the old account
Jon Winston
Astrojas@_astronoMay i too want to move into the astrodon. How do you do that? Do you delete your account and start over or is there a special option for that?
I believe the options are under
Preferences -> Account Settings
I think you make an account at the new instance first then use those options to migrate.
still aetios anyway@_astronoMay some others have also replied, but here are my two cents (I have lost count how many times I've moved accounts).
- you don't have to close this account. You can mark your account as moved, and still read all the old posts. See for instance my (first? second?) old account: https://elekk.xyz/@aetios
-importing your followed accounts is dead easy
-Mastodon also redirects your followers quite well, other fedi softwares lag a little behind or simply don't implement follow redirection, so in my experience it's best to create a notice post, pin it, and boost/re-boost it several times over the course of a week. (this is probably the most annoying part. in my experience though people tend to re-follow very well, and those that don't generally didn't interact much anyway)
-as others have noted though, you can follow everyone around the fediverse (with the exeption of instance blocks but they are fairly rare) so you don't *need* to move if you want to follow the action.
-that said, the platform thrives when people decentralise, and you are on the biggest instance. :)
-finally due to the sometimes fallible nature of fedration you might miss *some* of the action if you're not on the same instance. I think between the two mastodon instances that are affected here though it will be exceedingly rare though.
-bonus: astrodon.social won't become slow if something happens with twitter again
See you around, love to see all the initiatives pop up left and right in this activity surge.
- you don't have to close this account. You can mark your account as moved, and still read all the old posts. See for instance my (first? second?) old account: https://elekk.xyz/@aetios
-importing your followed accounts is dead easy
-Mastodon also redirects your followers quite well, other fedi softwares lag a little behind or simply don't implement follow redirection, so in my experience it's best to create a notice post, pin it, and boost/re-boost it several times over the course of a week. (this is probably the most annoying part. in my experience though people tend to re-follow very well, and those that don't generally didn't interact much anyway)
-as others have noted though, you can follow everyone around the fediverse (with the exeption of instance blocks but they are fairly rare) so you don't *need* to move if you want to follow the action.
-that said, the platform thrives when people decentralise, and you are on the biggest instance. :)
-finally due to the sometimes fallible nature of fedration you might miss *some* of the action if you're not on the same instance. I think between the two mastodon instances that are affected here though it will be exceedingly rare though.
-bonus: astrodon.social won't become slow if something happens with twitter again
See you around, love to see all the initiatives pop up left and right in this activity surge.
aetios [MOVED] (@[email protected])
3.33K Posts, 30 Following, 55 Followers · [moved to @[email protected]]