Mastodawn

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved

This message is intended for Canadian #Mastodon admins who are running public instances large and small. If you are an admin, please share with your counterparts. If you are a member of a Canadian instance, please send this to your admin.
A small group of us (Note: really, really small) are in early discussions on how to encourage our government - individual politicians & federal, provincial, and municipal departments - to move their social media presence to Mastodon. This would involve an awareness campaign targeting politicians, party HQs, and departments/agencies.
We are asking for input from admins to help us create a future state vision for this project, and provide us with advice or ideas on how to bring it to a reality. I will set up a web call within the next 3 weeks and hopefully you can participate. We are not asking you to contribute beyond input. Please DM me and I will add you to the invitees.

#mastoadmin
#MastodonCanada
#MastoCanadaGOV (hashtag for this project)

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Through research and dumb luck, I have put together this list of Canadian Mastodon admins that may be interested in the previous message in this thread.

@chad
@petersmithca
@mike
@OttawaPlaceAdmin
@mike
@atomicpoet
@chris

I know there are others. Please help us reach them so everyone has an opportunity to provide input.

#MastoCanadaGOV

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jan 12

@paulbusch @chad @[email protected] @mike @OttawaPlaceAdmin @atomicpoet @ZebKing

check the list at https://thesocialweb.ca too to connect with more admins

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Thanks Chris!

John Francis 🇨🇦🦫🍁💪⬆️Jan 12

Mathew Storm Jan 12

@paulbusch @chad @mike @OttawaPlaceAdmin @chris @ZebKing

I run socialontario.ca and northtube.ca , it ain't much, but it's honest work

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Confirmed Mathew!

@paulbusch I run a single person instance. I have no time to attend meetings but I do technical writing and many other things for my day job so I can proofread/edit docs if that's helpful?

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Thanks!

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Jan 13

@paulbusch two of those are not active.

@[email protected] @petersmithca @mike @OttawaPlaceAdmin @atomicpoet @[email protected] @ZebKing

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 14

Good Morning #Canada
If you are tuning in for Canadian trivia and bad puns.... prepare to be disappointed. I'm once again hijacking my morning post to ask all Canadian Mastodonians for input.

Question for all MastoCanucks - how would you convince a politician or government dept/agency to join Mastodon? What are the key points that should be made to motivate our government accounts to make a move?

There will be lots of repetitive answers but feel free to expand on those. Also chime in on what questions or resources government accounts might need to successfully launch a Mastodon account (overcoming resistance). If you volunteer to help contact government individuals, what resources do you need to help support your efforts (enabling scale and shared purpose)?

Respond to this post and please boost for reach into all corners of Canada. Follow #MastoCanadaGOV for future updates. Remember, there are no bad ideas, just bad puns by yours truly.

#CanadaIsAwesome #ElbowsUp #MastodonCanada

Charles A-M Jan 14

@paulbusch @ZebKing Having worked in a city councillor's office (albeit a decade ago), they are overworked and their attention is already stretched across a bunch of platforms.

Getting them to leave X should be easy; point out that feeds are no longer public to people without a login. But most gravitate to Bluesky

There's no quick fix to get them to pick Mastadon. We need to build an audience for them here to make it worth their time to participate.

Charles A-M Jan 14

@paulbusch @ZebKing here's the reply I got from my councillor when I asked in 2023. Gives some insight into their thought process, and elaborates on what I said above.

Another councillor here, the Hardest Working Person on Council(TM), is the only one of the 25 members of Ottawa's City Council with a Mastodon account, and even he has set a boundary that he only uses it for personal stuff like posting Wordle scores.

Stefan Bohacek Jan 12

Great initiative, wishing you good luck!

Not sure if this is helpful, but I put together a short blog post that I've shared with city/state agencies here in the US, for a similar purpose.

https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/fediverse-an-overview-for-government-agencies/

(Sadly, in my case, there was no interest at the time.)

Fediverse: An overview for government agencies | Stefan Bohacek

Fediverse as a tool for government.

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

@stefan
Awesome, thank you!

Stefan Bohacek Jan 12

@paulbusch You're very welcome!

opalideas Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing Definitely support that! But this brings up a slight failing of Mastodon that I have been asking about.
If Mastodon is to replace the corporate social media stuff there has to be a way to better focus on the local, even down to family level.
How can I set up an instance for Vancouver Island? For the Central Island? For a residential group in Qualicum Beach?
And, needing a dedicated server is out of reach for a senior with fixed income.

Cees de Groot Jan 12

@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing Isn't Lemmy (https://lemmy.ca/ for example) much better suited for local communities?

Lemmy.ca - A Canadian-run community, geared towards Canadians, but all are welcome!

Lemmy

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

@opalideas @ZebKing

My attempt at articulating this failing/opportunity - and correct me if I'm wrong:

- Having an instance/server for each community is too complex and potentially confusing.
- Mastadon should include the function of adding a Group, which you can join.
- Groups can be based on geography (communities), interest, activity, organizations, etc.
- You could select Groups from your feed filter to quickly check for posts specific to the group.

My wife is active on Facebook, despite my encouragement to delete her account. She belongs to 2 local community groups plus a few other activity groups. She also sells on FB Marketplace. Until Mastodon has similar functionality, she will remain on the evil empire.

This functionality would likely be more beneficial for users versus government accounts. But municipal council members would find it useful as would politicians that want to connect with their riding.

##MastoCanadaGOV

opalideas Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing Groups would be good. How does one set them up? Is there a way of targeting to a general location to have the Group boosted?
Unless this process becomes both easy to do, and gets the right attention, it will be really hard to overcome the inertia of "I think I'll just stay with Facebook etc."

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

@opalideas @ZebKing

The "Groups" functionality does not currently exist. Not sure if it is being considered by the development team.

Mathew Storm Jan 12

@paulbusch @opalideas @ZebKing

From research I found the discussion post from 2023:
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/discussions/26123

and a stale branch from 2022:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/19059

Looks like initial development work had been done, it's been dead other than discussion for a while.

I recall @helge made a proposal for a Groups implementation, but can't seem to find it at the moment.

Groups · mastodon mastodon · Discussion #26123

Does anyone know if Mastodon is planning #groups like on Calckey/Firefish and Twitter respectively? Friends of mine and I have always worked with closed and moderated groups on certain political to...

GitHub

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Jan 13

@opalideas ask @FediTips @ZebKing

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Jan 20

Masto does have Groups
https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-groups-on-the-fediverse/
@opalideas @ZebKing

How to use discussion groups on Mastodon and the Fediverse | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 20

FediTips actually sent this to us a few days ago but it's still not as easy to use as Facebook or LinkedIn groups. Someday we'll get there.

However your extra reminder prompted an idea. Our #MastoCanadaGOV committee needs a Mastodon account for communication and I think I'll recommend that we use the Fedi groups feature. Thanks

Fedi.Tips Jan 13

@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing

There are many ways to approach these issues.

One approach is to use groups to allow people to easily reach each other no matter what instance they are on (more about groups at https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-groups-on-the-fediverse/ ).

These kinds of groups are like "super hashtags", they repeat posts that mention them but use a push method to reach other servers that is a lot more effective than hashtags.

However, they are not forums the way Facebook Groups are.

1/2

How to use discussion groups on Mastodon and the Fediverse | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

Fedi.Tips Jan 13

@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing

Another approach is to use things like NodeBB ( https://nodebb.org ) which are part of the Fediverse but based around discussion forums. This is a lot closer to Facebook Groups, but it's also fairly new in its Fediverse connections. Best people to ask would be @nodebb and @julian . You can follow and interact with NodeBB accounts from Mastodon etc.

A third approach might be the various Reddit-style Fediverse platforms like https://join.piefed.social etc.

2/2

NodeBB - Modern Forum Software

NodeBB Forum Software - The Modern Discussion Platform

Fedi.Tips Jan 13

@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing

p.s. One thing to add though, the cost of an instance is not as much as people think and not as difficult either. The managed hosting company masto.host has a typical selection of pricing: https://masto.host/pricing

Managed hosting means they do all the techy stuff as well as hosting it. You just run the thing, it's a similar experience to running an online forum.

I'm not saying everyone should do this, I'm just saying a lot more could do this than realise it.

Pricing | Masto.host

Pricing for Masto.host fully managed Mastodon hosting plans. Starting at $6/month.

Masto.host

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 13

Thanks for the update/info. Workarounds are possible to set up, manage and access a Group function, however IMO it needs to be simple. Otherwise potential new users will simply choose to stay on their existing social media platforms. My two cents ($CAD).

@opalideas @ZebKing

Fedi.Tips Jan 13

@paulbusch @opalideas @ZebKing

I agree, it's just a question of where the resources come from.

Mastodon has a half-made built-in groups feature similar to Facebook Groups, but it isn't finished yet. (Techy info at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/19059 )

Mastodon just has a small crew of developers who depend on donations and grants to keep going, they have to choose what to prioritise rather than make everything. (They deliberately don't have advertisers or sell people's data.)

Add groups support by ClearlyClaire · Pull Request #19059 · mastodon/mastodon

⚠️ Do not merge ⚠️ This PR is not intended to be merged outside of purely development environments until it's finished. While it has reached a pretty stable state, groups are a complicated top...

GitHub

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 13

@FediTips @opalideas @ZebKing

Not being critical of the development team. It's an amazing tool now, built with minimal resources and volunteer effort. We'll get there.

Fedi.Tips Jan 13

Yeah no worries, your post was totally reasonable! I agree with it!

Bit_form Jan 19

@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing

Some forks of mastodon (i am on a glitch.soc instance) allow for local feeds

Sablebadger Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing not Canadian (although I do live an couple hours drive away), But I have always thought that Mastodon would make an excellent way for cities/regions/etc to create instant communities, and provide updates that can be shared broadly.

I applaud what you guys are doing!!

Bart Knubben Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing

Maybe the following (non-exhaustive) list of governments who are active in the #fediverse with their own Mastodon servers is also useful:

DE 🇩🇪:
- https://social.bund.de
- https://social.schleswig-holstein.de
FR 🇫🇷: https://social.numerique.gouv.fr
NL 🇳🇱:
- https://social.overheid.nl
- https://social.amsterdam.nl
EU 🇪🇺:
- https://ec.social-network.europa.eu
- https://curia.social-network.europa.eu
- https://social.edps.europa.eu

social.bund.de

Dies ist der Mastodon-Server der Bundesbeauftragten für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI).

Mastodon hosted on social.bund.de

Bart Knubben Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing

PS The Dutch NREN SURF (probably comparable to CANARIE) also set up a Mastodon instance for the Dutch research and education sector: https://social.edu.nl. For background info: https://www.surf.nl/en/mastodon-pilot-for-research-and-education

PPS The Q&A on https://social.overheid.nl/about and the info on https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/overzicht-van-alle-onderwerpen/mastodon-overheid/ (although in Dutch) might also be useful.

SURF Mastodon

This is the Mastodon server run by SURF for the Dutch research and education community - more info https://surf.nl/mastodon-pilot

Mastodon hosted on social.edu.nl

Wladimir Mufty Jan 12

@bartknubben @paulbusch @ZebKing

We provide Mastodon as a national (digital) cooperative organization.
💚 Set it up properly once and maintain it well.
💚 Let users focus on using it.
💚 Let organizations mainly see what it is and how it works.
💚 By using single sign-on instead of a username/password, you can use existing organizational accounts to log in with a low barrier to entry! (180 institutions and 1 million students, researchers and employee’s can make use of it)

https://www.eua.eu/our-work/expert-voices/the-digitally-sovereign-university-and-social-media.html

The digitally sovereign university and social media

EUA - European University Association

Martin Vuillème (he/him)Jan 13

@bartknubben Of note, that Swiss federal instance is not active anymore. They tried, assessed engagement as too low and stopped.

May Likes Toronto Jan 12

FYI @nev ^

@paulbusch @ZebKing

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Thanks May.

Evan Prodromou Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing please include me. I am very involved in ActivityPub standards, I work at the Social Web Foundation and I think I can help.

Evan Prodromou Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing also, @coop should be involved. And @meadmin and @paige .

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

@evan @ZebKing @coop @meadmin @paige

Confirmed, all added to the invitee list.

@paulbusch @ZebKing According to Mastodon.fediverse.observer, there are 217 Mastodon servers in Canada. It would take some effort, but it might be worth sifting through them to identify any government-run servers.

@paulbusch @ZebKing

I looked through the thread but didn't see @brook. Just in case.

hjhornbeck Jan 12

Count me in. I have a few years of experience running a small instance, and I have no shortage of opinions.

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 12

Confirmed!

Fedi Fox Jan 12

@paulbusch @ZebKing
@pluralistic

Great point about mastodon that ALL governments will *LOVE*:

Nothing is encrypted !!!

"Private" (!) posts are not encrypted, the data about who you follow and your followers, everything easily accessible in the clear!

This is basically like email in the 90s, they will be really grateful if a group of "Hackers" will ask them to use this as the new social internet platform!

Also, they will have a good laugh after that.

This grotesque BS needs to stop.

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Jan 13

@fedifox
oh look a game of spot the troll. yes I checked your account and I am highly unimpressed.

@paulbusch @ZebKing @pluralistic

Fedi Fox Jan 20

@SnowyCA @paulbusch @ZebKing @pluralistic

Actually these "check that user account" type of people are very pleased by the fact that you all are boosting the use of a software with such fundamental design flaws in 2026.

You are doing a big mistake here and should stop all that activity and do some research about which software should be used.

We need, of course, encryption of user data and private messages. It is grotesque that this needs to be discussed at all.

James Just James Jan 13

@paulbusch @ZebKing Love this. Actually I'd love it if we convinced legislators to make it illegal to require a proprietary app or smart phone to have a normal life in Canada. More banks and institutions are making it harder to do without their nonsense!

Sparrows Jan 13

@t3rminus Don't know if this is up your alley or not...

t3rminus Jan 13

@paulbusch @ZebKing @sparrows I'd be happy to contribute, however I can!

@paulbusch @ZebKing We are a very (very) small instance, but I'm still Interested in ways we could contribute

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 13

Confirmed, you are added to the invite.

@[email protected] would be interested in joining. NodeBB is a good alternative to group discussions that federates as well.

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 13

Confirmed, added to the invite.

Bit_form Jan 19

@paulbusch @ZebKing

@pluralistic is Canadian, a member of the @eff and has been doing a lot of public talks specifically about sovereignty, but also about deinshitification of the internet. Concerning Canada he is a great advocate for policy, and dismantling anti-circumvention law

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Jan 19

@Bit_form @ZebKing @pluralistic @eff

Thanks! Cory is already on our contact list and once we have some concrete plans underway we hope to gain his support.