This is one method to prove your identity on Mastodon - should an instance lose, corrupt, or deny you access to your data. For example, an account "suspension" means you can't transfer your account to another instance.
I've written a password-protected blog post at https://empiricalperspective.home.blog/2023/06/04/empiricism-on-mastodon-verification-post/
To quote the blog post
This post is to verify the empiricism @ mastodon account.
My current account is on the qoto instance Empiricism_Reloaded@qoto.org
For people that have not opened an account on Mastodon - Mastodon is similar to Twitter. From the end user's perspective - The main difference is that Twitter is generally controlled (administrated) by one corporation \ owner (e.g., Elon Musk & the company shareholders), whilst Mastodon is controlled by the administrators of whichever instance you have an account on. This means in both cases, other people have control of your data. For example, your "followers" info can be deleted if the admin decides to. The instance can be shut down without notice if the admin decides to. Although that is less probable to happen with Twitter (unfortunately)
Whether it's one central corporation such as Twitter or many Mastodon instances - you are still trusting your data to agents ( administrators) that lack transparency (accountability for their actions & what they do with your data).
However, I prefer the less of two evils - so I'm on Mastodon (until something better comes along)
FYI, having said that, if you have the time and resources (e.g., money), you can choose to manage your own Mastodon instance (for yourself or more people). Although, that would mean either trusting (& usually paying) a service provider to host your mastodon instance. https://masto.host/ for example -
Or, buying some tech and learning (if you haven't already) to self-host a server that runs a Mastodon Instance.
Personally, I think a person-to-person (p2p) social network is the way to go. Then people will have more control over their own data. However, there is money to be made in social networking, so, what's best for the end users, is often not best for those that are seeking to make a profit out of social networks and or people's data (a conflict of interests).
#security #mastodon #fediverse #money #business #corruption #climate #disinformation
