Dr. Casey FieslerNov 5, 2022

I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly: If you switch Mastodon instances, it's easy to transfer your network/follows over (I did this), but NOT your content. Is this right? If you change instances you can't move your toots to the new one?

This makes the "don't be held hostage by a platform!" benefit less compelling doesn't it? Like what if someone just doesn't pay the bill for your instance? All your content's gone?

Am I missing something?

Show threadChiaChatter
@cfiesler Maybe :) Corporate-owned social platforms feel like a safe place to store our posts...in reality that's not always the case of course. You have the option of exporting your toots here every week; you know the saying, "if you want something done right, do it yourself"...it's safer to be in charge of our stuff than to entrust others, in general, and this is no different. HTH!
Nov 5, 2022 at 5:32pmWeb
Show threadBastian Blankenburg 🤝 🛡Nov 5, 2022
@ChiaChatter @cfiesler Well, with most corp platforms we at least know that they have an incentive to not arbitrarily shut stuff down (except if it's one of their non-core side projects, like many of Google). Because it's their business.
While most people don"t know anything about the folks running any of the Mastodon instances. And while (most of) them volunteering might seem great at first, that probably increases the chance that they'll stop doing so eventually.
Show threadChiaChatterNov 5, 2022
@databu @cfiesler That's true...I've only been on Mastodon (etc) a couple of years, but I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard about people who were anything less than dedicated...and still have 3-4 fingers left over :). It's all in who we choose to trust with our stuff 🤷‍♀️ there are enough options to suit everybody, and they're not all suitable for everyone.