OK, so this is interesting. Some major organizations have now set up their own Mastodon instances:
European Union: EU Voice >>> https://social.network.europa.eu/explore
German gov: Explore social.bund.de >>> https://social.bund.de/explore
Internet Archive: Explore Internet Archive >>> https://mastodon.archive.org/explore
#twittermigration #mastodon #fediverse #governmentInstance
@mastodonmigration
Julien Deswaef @judeswae writes: Your organization should run its own Mastodon server >>> https://martinfowler.com/articles/your-org-run-mastodon.html
Whether you are a large company, a political party, an international news agency, an NGO or a government institution, you should seriously consider running your own Mastodon server.
@judeswae More...
...it’s better to own your channels of communication and that’s why you are probably already running your own newsletter. But what about social media?... This is where Mastodon and the Fediverse bring a completely new way to think about social media. The Fediverse is a network of thousands of servers... By using your own domain name, your brand, you are creating a recognizable social presence in the Fediverse
And you own your own data!
@thisismissem @rperez @Squid89_93 This is true, but it happens pretty seamlessly. Just seach for people and hashtags that you find interesting. Start to follow things you find interesting. Don't worry too much about what is going on under the hood.
Exactly. We're talking across 4 different servers right now.
This video should help you understand the basic principles: https://framatube.org/w/9dRFC6Ya11NCVeYKn8ZhiD?start=0s
@Squid89_93 @mastodonmigration
no. as long as you have a @name@address you can put it in your search and find them and add.
the more people you add the more you will see.
this is email with Cc:all
the different instances are different servers with different addresses.
you can join anyone.
@amiserabilist I had a feeling it would be an answer I didn't understand. 😉😊
I'll find my way around and I'm sure as I get comfortable I'll follow enough and have enough followers to expand my horizon.
Now I've got to figure out my password and why a reset link isn't being sent to the email address on file. 🙄
good luck
if someone else can explain better feel free to jump in.
sorry just worked out what you want.
you can only browse people on your own server.
@MdPoppa @Squid89_93 @mastodonmigration
Instances are not automatically visible to every other instance. Two instances will only communicate with each other if there is a connection between a local user and a user on the other instance.
For example, when a person on instance A follows a person on instance B, instances A and B form a federation and begin communicating with each other. Posts made on instance B will now appear on the federated timeline of all the users on instance A.
@amiserabilist @Squid89_93 @mastodonmigration thanks for replies. I get all that (have explained overall concept to others, also using email analogy). It makes sense for Home and Local. But aren't Federated feeds, at least in my instance, pulled from all other instances my host knows about?
Or is that list only populated by home and local connections/follows?
If no master list, how do instance admins know to block problematic instance?
@amiserabilist @Squid89_93 @mastodonmigration
Odd the image preview in your post says 'Not available' but when I click it, I see the screenshot.
Is that a user view or an admin view?
If admin, so the only way an admin can block an instance is in response to a specific post? There's nothing more...proactive?
Just curious. I dig the whole structure and overall functionality of this site but kinda boggles my brain there's no centralized list or discovery service.
@MdPoppa @amiserabilist @Squid89_93 Nothing is broken. Because there are lots of servers, data has to move between them, and with so many new users, sometimes it takes a little while for this to happen. Be patient, the images will show up. This is only because the network is growing so much right now.
pleasure
@MdPoppa @Squid89_93 @amiserabilist @mastodonmigration
When another instance shows up we begin to see it in Federated. If others appreciate it, they get Faves and Boosts. If the content or behavior doesn’t fit our rules, we either see it or it gets reported.
There couldn’t be a “master list” because each instance is differently federated.
Complex, but not chaotic and very human.
@Ingurido @Squid89_93 @amiserabilist @mastodonmigration
Thanks! I was gonna wrap this up but... ;)
"When another instance 'shows up'..." means what? Shows up in Federated...only if someone currently on a fed'd server favs/follows/boosts someone on that new server?
There couldn't be a master list of instances, from which new instances could say 'federate with all these' or 'just these specific ones'?
The Mastodon site maintains at least a partial list on their site:
https://joinmastodon.org/servers
@Ingurido @Squid89_93 @mastodonmigration @amiserabilist
From an admin who recently setup a new instance,
"you don’t really have to do anything. There is a magical discovery protocol once you start following a few other servers. For very tiny instances you can set up relay servers but I did not do that. It “just worked.”"
So there is some sort of discovery service! But seems the admin should/needs to setup a few initial follows first.
@MdPoppa @amiserabilist @Squid89_93 It is easy to get confused about instances, servers and stuff like that. But, the big thing is all that does not matter. You can basically communicate with everyone. It's just like email. You do not care if they have a gmail or a yahoo address you can still communicate. It's just like mobile phones. You don't care if they have ATT or Verison. Just start to follow some people and some hashtags.
@amiserabilist @Squid89_93 This is all true, but not very helpful to #NewUsers. Basically, don't worry about all this. Just start to follow people and hashtags and start posting. It's pretty much the same as twitter.
@mastodonmigration
I expect newspapers and indeed any corporations with a deliberate Twitter presence to do this. It just makes sense.
They own their own server and answer to no one, but they're accessible to everyone. Why isn't this a no-brainer?
@dplaflamme Agreed! The biggest reason is that the organization will own their own data, not trust some data overlord with their most precious resource.
#twittermigration #mastodonmigration #fediverse #ownInstance
@dplaflamme @mastodonmigration Requires preparation. Any org that doesn’t already operate a UGC site at scale will face new, non-trivial risks & liabilities (at least under US law).
An enterprise w/ deep pockets is a target for lawsuits, govt agency enforcement, etc. orders of magnitude greater than a volunteer hosting a small instance as a hobby. They’ll want to consult legal counsel, adopt some new processes, train a team, add insurance coverage, etc. (1/2)
@mastodonmigration @dplaflamme See excellent post here: https://denise.dreamwidth.org/91757.html
As an instance goes from 100 to 10K or 100K users, every issue in Denise’s post looms. E.g. plans to
- take down copyrighted photos within a few days when they get a DMCA notice
- disclose mandatory info or delete a EU resident’s user data upon demand per GDPR
- work through what to report to whom if someone posts a death threat or sounds suicidal
- report CSAM to NCMEC if someone posts it
(2/2)
@mastodonmigration @dplaflamme A bit more for reference:
- Prior US legal/risk thread here: https://mastodon.social/@antone/109371993463047982
- Original thread by Denise (rahaeli@twitter) that inspired her DW post & discussion: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1593819064161665024.html
- Another on evaluating social sites: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1594756281650524160.html
This all from long experience (hers dating from T/S at LiveJournal/Dreamwidth, mine from Legal at MySpace & eHarmony).
@mastodonmigration @antone
Mastodon instances don’t have to be open to the public, though, do they? Surely the Hooville Chamber of Commerce can set up an instance to which Hooville CoC employees can post, just like they can control who posts under their Twitter ID.
That’s a fundamental assumption I’m making.
@dplaflamme @mastodonmigration Yes, closed registration ought to reduce risk. (Still nonzero particularly for large orgs; if you have 5,000 employees, some of them will inevitably do boneheaded things.)
Where it gets tricky IIUC is with federation. That requires a deeper dive into Fedi architecture, which is new to me. If content from, say, mastodon.social (nearly a million users) is federated to Hooville’s instance, say in a reply to one of their posts… (1/x)
Saumyajit
Mastodon Migration
Jos Schuurmans (EN)
Squid89_93
Rafael Pérez 
Emelia 👸🏻
GunChleoc
Sterling Ericsson
paul
katrina
Md.Poppa
Ingrid O 
RDS (shawphd on Twitter)
godofredo
Adam Grant
Sir Nick the Ardent
Antone Johnson