I stopped checking mastodon along with almost every other online endeavor for a while, and checking back in makes me realize: it's time to get off of qoto. Every time I see certain things, I'm sorry I ever signed up here. I hate losing everything I posted here, but there is no joy in staying, either.
And this is why mastodon's design tradeoffs, while fine on a technical level, are tragic on a social level. I don't know where to go, and have no confidence that anywhere I might go won't end up with the same issues over time.
Most people, faced with this, just stop using mastodon. I'd rather not, but other server options don't spring readily to mind.
@pwinn .. if you did list them out .. oops