John GruberJan 31, 2023

I like the fact that mastodon.social is the biggest instance, but I would leave for an instance that is paid only, say $10/month, has a cool domain name, and thus can afford to raise the rate limits.

Mastodon.social feels like early Twitter both culturally (good), and fail-whale-wise (not good).

Show threadTim BrayJan 31, 2023

@gruber

I'm working with some people who trying to set up an instance which is a member-owned co-op. A bit of spreadsheeting suggests that for a large-ish instance you could run just fine on $5/month.

Show threadGlenn FleishmanJan 31, 2023
@timbray @gruber I’ve been hoping that within another few months, membership organizations that already run some technical resources (like email boxes or forwarding) would add "Mastodon instance" to their package. I expect only a small %age of members would want it, but it would a great tool to encourage sign-ups if run professionally.
Show threadStan Seibert
@glennf @timbray @gruber I’d love it if a company like @fastmail offered Mastodon hosting. They’ve had my email business for more than a decade, and this feels like a natural extension for them.
Jan 31, 2023 at 11:32pmWeb
Show threadJohn GruberFeb 1, 2023
@seibert @glennf @timbray @fastmail Something akin to Fastmail is exactly what I'm thinking. If it were actually run by Fastmail, all the better.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanFeb 1, 2023
@gruber @seibert @timbray @fastmail Fastodon
Show threadjden redden Feb 1, 2023
@glennf @gruber @seibert @timbray do it @fastmail
Show threadJason Petersen (he)Feb 1, 2023
@glennf lol I left this thread hours ago with this same idea in my head
Show threadDavid WheelerFeb 1, 2023
@glennf @gruber @seibert @timbray @fastmail I’ve been paying to support xoxo.zone for this reason.
Show threadEhler Feb 1, 2023
@glennf @gruber @seibert @timbray @fastmail offering their own Mastodon server would push me over the edge to finally start using Fastmail.
Show threadtheromitFeb 1, 2023
@glennf @gruber @seibert @timbray @fastmail have you seen omg.lol?
Show threadMikeFeb 1, 2023
@gruber @seibert @glennf @timbray @fastmail there are some paid Mastodon hosting services out there, and presumably there’s about to be a lot more. Would that appeal? Your own instance, but pay to make the actual care and feeding someone else’s problem.
Show threadTim BrayFeb 1, 2023

@mikemacleod @gruber @seibert @glennf @fastmail

Exactly. But there's also the hypothesis that if you find the right instance with the right crowd on it, you've got a sort of neighborhood. Thus instances like tech.lgbtq - I've seriously considered a tiny instance just for myself & nuclear family but the jury is out.

Show threadMikeFeb 1, 2023

@timbray @gruber @seibert @glennf @fastmail am I weird in that the local timeline on almost any instance holds no interest for me?

I guess it might be fun to run a hometown instance for a group of friends or something, but social graphs don’t usually have firm edges.

A bunch of small instances with some relays might be a better fit?