@pammystarr @katedegerdon @john
That already exists: https://masto.host offers managed Mastodon hosting ($40/mo for ~500 users, seems a bit high but not unreasonable to me), but right now they are so swamped they're not taking new subscriptions. Heck of a problem to have as a business.

I do have some questions about how well Mastodon (the mainline server) scales, and if there are opportunities for optimization that could make managed hosting cheaper per user.

@kadin @pammystarr @katedegerdon Other implementations of ActivityPub are more efficient, so I understand. Pleroma for one.

Still, I think masto.host offers a good deal, and their support is top-notch.

Toot.io also offers managed hosting, but it's starts pretty high: https://toot.io/mastodon_hosting.html

@john @kadin @pammystarr @katedegerdon

I think Pleroma is the way to go. Its Elixir-based scalable architecture, design and compatibility surpasses Mastodon, but it does need more love on the web UI side of things.

The Metatext app connects seamlessly to it as well as Mastodon.

@rsalas @kadin @pammystarr @katedegerdon

Pleroma's web-facing aspect could do with some work, yes. But also, is there a reason Pleroma instances seem to be run by mostly trollish dickheads?

@john @rsalas @kadin @pammystarr @katedegerdon

Just a different culture. Mastodon very much has a left-wing slant, so those on the Fedi without that slant tend to set up Pleroma instances. But there's nothing inherent about the technology that makes it that way.

The beauty of the Fediverse is complete free association. If you feel underrepresented, start your own instance. If you don't want to interact with a community, block that instance.

@piccolbo @john @rsalas @kadin @pammystarr @katedegerdon

It'd work like blocked accounts on Twitter. You'd see what you don't have specifically blocked and what hasn't specifically blocked you.