Alex Blechman

It's a disservice to tell people their mastodon instance doesn't matter, just sign up anywhere

If your server abruptly shuts because the owner gets bored, dies, runs out of money, that's a problem, no way to transfer. If the owner decides to ban people for something arbitrary they can

For mastodon to take off we need instances that are reliable, stable, resilient, fairly run. Or to not tie online identity to a single instance

P.S. Reliable so far doesn't mean reliable long term

Jan 7, 2023 at 10:05pmWeb
Show threadAlex BlechmanJan 7, 2023

There are 4 solutions. They're not mutually exclusive, each could fit people who use mastodon for different reasons

1) Instances run by larger companies or non-profits, Google, Mozilla, etc that have resources to keep it going

2) Changing mastodon so that people can set up backup accounts your followers get redirected to

3) Running your own server or being on one run by someone you really trust

4) Not having a mastodon account important enough to worry about it getting erased

Show threadDeadly HeadshotJan 7, 2023
@alexanderblechman
This is where Hubzilla has an advantage, in that you can move your identity transparently between providers (supposedly)...
Show threadmozizJan 8, 2023
@alexanderblechman

Own domain is really the only sure way to ensure persistence of identity. Once one has that they can choose to buy managed hosting or host their own instance. Even if not a lot it still costs some money, which sadly is a major issue for many.

Sadly then you'll be all alone on your instance with a barren local feed. This might not be a problem when comparing to massive generic instances where the local feed is full of noise anyway. On more topic focused instances the local feed is valuable.