I'll be honest here, as a humble instance admin receiving all kinds of DMs and emails...
The abuse, excessive reports... folks our instance grew from 60 users to 22000 in the span of two weeks. I didn't expect to suddenly commit 6-8 hours of my day to this. Knowing I have other commitments like a day job and other things.
I'm burning the candle on both ends here. Look at this toot timestamp. Please save space for some patience.
Y'all clearly don't remember this image:
I do IT for a living. I know you're getting those 500 errors. I know that the instance is slow.
Do I want that for you? Abso-fucking-lutely not. I want mstdn.ca to load for you like the bird app does. Like how your gmail loads. Snippy snappy.
Unless you have explicit experience with Puma and Sidekiq and are willing to get on a call with me, save your abusive DMs and emails.
I'm scouring the internet, consulting with the Mastodon devs and other operators. This is a trial and error process.
@chad I am a newbie here and appreciate what you and those helping you have accomplished.
Whiners can either roll up their sleeves and help you or decamp to another village.
I remember when folks had to wait for days to have a response delivered by a mail carrier … perhaps that perspective helps me to be both patient and appreciative.
Great work. And thank you.
Chad 
Anon Ymous