Geert-Jan Bogaerts
Mike McHargueFor all it's advantages and faults, #Mastodon was not built to be a *new* Twitter. It was built to be *not* Twitter.
That distinction is important.
James Prescott@mike agreed. Last thing I want is this to be another twitter.
My only fear is if my server decided to close it down I’d have to start all over from scratch. Would make more sense if we could create a profile and then join servers, but I’m new here, so learning all the time.
@JamesPrescott Make sure to back up your data--that makes it easy to get going again on a new instance!
@mike thanks! Do you mean backup data on my phone? Or can you do it on Mastodon?
@JamesPrescott You back up your data on a computer, using the Mastodon web interface. Preferences > Import/Export > Export Data
Tripe Marketing Board@mike @JamesPrescott Mike, would the backup also include followers?
CEbbinghaus@tripe don’t believe it does. else i could fake a backup and force everyone to follow me
Barry Schwartz 🫖
ThisBarbara@mike Ooh, thanks for that. I already switched them and somehow messed up the migration of people I follow. I may switch again so want to get that right.
CascadianprepperThis was very helpful. Thank you.
J. Williams@JamesPrescott @mike From what I've read, Servers are supposed to give 3 months notice if they're shutting down. And I know you can move to a different server, but I'm not sure what's lost and kept in the process.
Morgan@arcanegoat @JamesPrescott @mike this is easier said than done tho
ik of servers that just shut down randomly due to technical difficulties or someone the admin was paying flaking out on them
ik of servers that just shut down randomly due to technical difficulties or someone the admin was paying flaking out on them
David Valentine@arcanegoat @JamesPrescott @mike
Precision: Servers are supposed to give 3 months notice in order to appear on this list: https://joinmastodon.org/servers
Here are the other conditions: https://joinmastodon.org/covenant
Spencer@mike @JamesPrescott I understand the appeal. That would require a central server to hold everyone's profiles, though, and this is, by design, a decentralized space. That's one of the things that keeps this from becoming another Twitter—no single server or computer has unique authority. The network consists of a bunch of independently run servers talking to each other as peers. 🙂
Fuzzysteve@JamesPrescott @mike There's a way to insulate yourself from that possibility. And that's running a server yourself (or a small group doing it collectively). I'm _considering_ doing something like that myself, but I'm not quite there yet :D
Bette@JamesPrescott I believe that Mastodon is asking the servers to give decent notice to users, to allow them time to change. I changed server today (having signed up yesterday). It took me a bit of time to work out, and had to recreate profile details (and left any previous toots behind), but it worked in the end.
Fish Id Wardrobe@JamesPrescott @mike Pick another server. Join it. Don't post there. Now, if you need to switch quickly, you can use the 'migrate' feature.
Eddie Roosenmaallen@JamesPrescott @mike
Between Mastodon servers (and it *probably* works with some other instance types), there’s a migration feature. You set up your new account and add an alias for your old account, then log into your old account and migrate it.
Your follows and followers come to the new account, but not your posts. I don’t know what else moves, like blocks, mutes, filters, etc.
The feature seems delicate though, it’s not always working.
Between Mastodon servers (and it *probably* works with some other instance types), there’s a migration feature. You set up your new account and add an alias for your old account, then log into your old account and migrate it.
Your follows and followers come to the new account, but not your posts. I don’t know what else moves, like blocks, mutes, filters, etc.
The feature seems delicate though, it’s not always working.
Shaun McDonald@silvermoon82 @JamesPrescott @mike why can't you bring your toetoots across too as part of the migration? Without it loose history.
@smsm1
I'm guessing the dev team didn't want to make the servers too busy copying toot history around. Some people are pretty prolific tooters!
It might be technically possible to build a tool to do it, though, depends how ActivityPub and and the instance handle back-dated posts... Hmm...
I'm guessing the dev team didn't want to make the servers too busy copying toot history around. Some people are pretty prolific tooters!
It might be technically possible to build a tool to do it, though, depends how ActivityPub and and the instance handle back-dated posts... Hmm...
Rachel Maria@mike Yeah well La Dee Duh Mike. Being unable to post memes stinks. No hootie hottie “publishing” malarkey they’re freaking memes. 🤨
@rachel_maria65 I'm not sure I follow.
@mike I tried to post this meme & it wouldn’t take it. So I posted all 50 states. Looks like it’ll take it now. That’s not consistent.
@rachel_maria65 Image processing queues can be long right now because there are so many new people.
French TexPat@rachel_maria65 @mike try making the file smaller, that has worked for me!
Mouthy Gurl@rachel_maria65 @mike did you make sure it was under the threshold for size? Sometimes screenshots have too big a file to post here.
@Mouthygurl @mike Thank you for pointing that out, but I was able to post a meme in a response to him, but not when I was publishing initially. 🤷🏼♀️
Artwork@mike well said
Scott Hanselman ✅👸🏽🐝🌮@mike love this
Swoopsy@mike Thank you for the reblog. Still learning 🥰
Joe Wood@mike I hope all this extra attention results in more contributors, so at least it ends up cheaper (cost-wise) to run.
Daniel Kochanowicz@mike It's got to be a bit annoying for Mastodon long-timers to have flocks of us newbies suddenly migrating from the bird app. Im trying to lay a bit low and get the lay of the land. I'd hate to wind up on too many Block lists because of my usual nonsense.
@Blueskyfox We were all new at some point. :)
Paul L@Blueskyfox @mike
The lost art of lurking.
My schooldays pre-date Computer Science as a subject but I don't know if netiquette is still taught as a concept?
Sean Morrison 
@mike When I first signed up to check out Mastodon earlier this year it was so confusing. But for the past few days I’ve been trying to dig in and learn it and it’s been growing on me. I really hope more and more people will start using it.
@seanmorrison It is a big lift to learn.
SporkfighterEverything that's simplified for you is something done for you by somebody else. They have a level of control over what you see, read, and write. A hard slog can have rewards.
Brent Logan@mike To me, it feels like early Twitter: people interested in conversation, not an overreliance on link sharing with images. I *like* the difference between bookmarking and starring. 🙂
@blogan Indeed!
Kate Cushing
Marc Philipp
Soudi Collection
ZZ Bottom@mike Right on the spot.
InfiniteOne@mike I’m not tech-savy and hope those who are, give me lots of grace as I learn my way around this amazing world. ✌🏼 I’ve already experienced such wonderful and inviting people, giving advice and teaching us mere mortals. To all of YOU, YOU are ALL appreciated‼️ Words matter‼️
🦋Mentally Millennial💅🏻@mike this is fair and important distinction like you say! - gained a follow as I’m also battling with my mental health ☺️ so hi (I’m new here) ☺️
Ridge Sliger
Lonepine@mike Am a grad doctoral student in Learning Design and Technology, truly am learning. Love all things tech.
Az_The nicest of the damned.@mike I can work with that. I have my other foot still in the sewage of Reddit. So mostly looking for a comfy spot for the other foot.
PirateSmile@mike Right on.
ABFLANNERY@mike I’m good with that.
Barry Schwartz 
@mike It’s certainly more like netnews in structure.
Shawn Walton@mike I’m enjoying it so far! A bit quirky but that’s okay. It feels and seems civilized, I like that.😀
LifeInMyHead@mike I have to admit, I'm wondering if it might end up being my go-to platform as I can see it replacing elements of all of my social media, particularly Instagram (which I abandoned years ago but have had a large photo sharing hole since)
Jumar Macato@mike i dare say it's better :)
leslier@mike
I’m really liking Not Twitter.
I’m really liking Not Twitter.