#instances

Give me some Mastodon instance recommendations, I'd like to make an alternative account.

Some smaller, well-maintained instance with English as the main language.

Thanks!!

#Mastodon #Fediverse #Instances #FediAdmin

Just found out about the #Fosstodon drama... Good writeup by @BryceWrayTX

https://www.brycewray.com/posts/2025/04/thoughts-two-topics/

After researching other #instances on https://mastodonservers.net/servers/top, the top Mastodon servers alternatives for me are (updated): @hachyderm @vmstan and @milan

Will decide soon which server to migrate to... Just realised the content won't be transferred when moving servers.

#fediverse #migratingservers #Mastodon #switchingMastodonServer

The #CoSocialist Future
https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/04/05/The-CoSocialist-Future

An interesting article about https://cosocial.ca/ by @timbray - If you're interested in running community services, you should read it.

They take Canadian paying customers only (50 Can$), got 200 ppl after 2y and will hire their first paid employee soon.

Shameless plug:
https://info.graz.social is also providing paid memberships which supports efforts to educate the masses about #Fediverse and #decentralization for people in and around #Graz (and I'm part of @wir). Meet us at #GLT25 on April 26: https://www.linuxtage.at/en/

Consider a membership or a donation to your team of choice that runs a #communityservice!

#coop #Mastodon #instances #enshittification #grazsocial #cosocial #donations #GLT

@staff The above post: important for all who experience #spam #scam #bot attacks or #Nicole #fedichick and #admin #moderators #moderation of #Mastodon #instances #servers

j'ai envie de me créer une chaîne peertube, des conseils sur une instance à choisir sachant que je vais globalement partager des vidéos de mes créations ?

merci !
#peertube #instances #fediverse #newbie #newbieofmastodon

The Lemmy Guide

Because Roni Laukkarinen has helped popularize Mastodon in Finland by writing several blog posts, I decided to write my own guide about Lemmy. My motivation for writing the original Finnish version was that even though interest towards Lemmy was increasing, there were no guides in the language. Of course in English the situation is different, but I decided to write one regardless. I had previously made a thread about using Lemmy on Mastodon, but I don't like long threads on a microblogging platform. I have to live as I preach, so here is an extensive guide in a blog post. In addition to guiding, I also touch on Lemmy's short history and my own experiences as an instance admin.

Like the Finnish original, this may also become a living document.

Table of contents

Background
Instances
Communities
Recommended communities
Lemmy and Mastodon
Mobile apps
Miscellaneous
Conclusion

Background

Lemmy is an open source decentralized message board platform whose development started in 2019. The platform's format largely imitates Reddit, also called a "social news aggregator". Similarly to Reddit, all discussion happens in user-created communities. The users can send messages to the communities, these can be links, pictures or just text. These messages can be commented on, and they can be given up- or downvotes. Moderators can be appointed to communities, and they then deter spam and trolls with their tools.

Decentralization is both Lemmy's biggest difference with Reddit and a similarity with Mastodon. Reddit is a centralized platform operated by an American company, where the users are in the company's own "walled garden". Reddit can use their users' data for analytics and advertising purposes as it pleases, change its terms and conditions as it pleases and of course do whatever to ensure the shareholders' satisfaction as it pleases; no matter if it means crippling the overall user experience. Because Lemmy is decentralized and open source, no single entity owns it.

Just like Mastodon, also Lemmy is made of servers called instances where the users and communities reside. User of one instance can interact with users and communities from other instances, and vice versa. This interaction and networking is called federation. An example could be the telephone network and telecom operators: customer of Orange can use their phone to call a customer of AT&T or Sprint. Lemmy can also be seen similar to the archaic Usenet. The federation of Lemmy instances is called "the Lemmyverse", and the federation of all decentralized platforms is called "the Fediverse". More on Mastodon's interoperability with Lemmy later.

Similarly to Usenet, Lemmy also experienced its own Eternal September -like rush of new users in summer 2023. After telling about plans of going public, Reddit announced plans to make their previously free API chargeable. Because there were many third-party apps that used said API, their developers would have been charged at worst millions of dollars for its use. Many developers decided to stop the development of their apps altogether instead. Reddit's users got angry: many community admins decided together to lock up their communities for several days, and the protesting continued long after that in various forms. Reddit's actions can be seen as part of a larger phenomenon of commercial platforms degrading, also called "enshittification" coined by the author Cory Doctorow.

The following user rush into Lemmy was unprecedented, and the following Fediverse Observer's graph of my instance Sopuli's user statistics may speak for itself. It's erect!

Lemmy had problems with performance and scaling to large amounts of users at the time. Lemmy.ml, the flagship instance of Lemmy's developers, was among the biggest, and because of both performance problems and facilizating decentralization they decided to lock registration temporarily for new users. Many instances got lots of new users, and Beehaw for example doubled its user count in one day. The founders of Mastodon.world founded Lemmy.world which gained over 20 000 users in June alone and which is nowadays the biggest Lemmy instance with over 176 000 users. So around this time the biggest instances that facilitated decentralization and evened the pressure brought by new users were founded.

Sopuli also got under pressure. I had to rescale Hetzner's VPS and add more storage space several times as Sopuli could crash often due to high user counts or slow down significantly. Due to crashes and constantly monitoring the instance I thought at times about "do parents of small children live like this?" The worst was over, as user counts stabilized, new instances were formed and the Reddit revolt faded. Performance problems and latency could happen even after that, until in June 2024 I decide to migrate Sopuli to Hetzner's dedicated VPS.

It appears that a new user rush is on the horizon due to Reddit's flashes of genius and political reasons. Reddit's /r/popculture community got locked up because Reddit's admins added a new that would mean automatic bans for users upvoting messages where violence is advocated. For example upvoting a Guardian article has been ban-worthy, and messages containing the name "Luigi" are set for later inspection due to possible advocation of violence. This has obviously angered Reddit users, many of which seem to have found Lemmy. While writing this, Lemmy broke the previous record of 54 000 monthly active users that was set during summer 2023.

Political reasons are about the US president Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the desire of the country's technology giants to kiss their rings. This has in turn motivated people to find European alternatives for American platforms. The interest towards Mastodon and the Fediverse has increased, and Lemmy has been also found this way. Lemmy has also gained interest in Finland recently, as several Facebook groups have founded parallel Lemmy communities and one new Finnish instance has been founded. We're living in interesting times!

Choosing an instance

Just like when choosing a phone operator for calling people, choosing a Lemmy instance doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Of course there are differences between instances, such as user base, speed, rules and available alternative frontends. One can also think about whether one is interested in some particular topic or just about everything. For general-purpose discussion the easiest choice are the biggest Lemmy instances, such as the previously mentioned Lemmy.world, Lemm.ee and Sh.itjust.works.

The Lemmy Explorer site is handy for choosing an instance. One can browse instances, search them or select them according to different tags.

The Lemmy project site also has a view for browsing instances. Also by pressing the Join Instance button an interactive view appears, and one can find a suitable instance according to interests and languages.

Communities

As Lemmy is a Reddit-like message board, communities are of course central. Community handles are in the form of !community@domain.tld. When a community is put that way in a Lemmy discussion, it brings an user straight to it through their home instance, whereas posting a normal link brings them of course to different one. When sharing Lemmy links outside instances, there is a service Lemmyverse.link, through which one can create links with no ties into a particular instance. By using the service the user can set their own home instance, and when clicking the created links, they are brought into the link's content through their home instance.

User handles use the @ sign just like on Mastodon, so it's @user@domain.tld.

There are three ways to find communities to subscribe to.

The first way is straightforward. Posts from the home instance's own communities can be found from the local timeline. By selecting All, one can browse posts from communities of instances federating with the home instance.

The second way is to go to the home instance's Communities view. Here one can browse subscribed, local or all communities in a list. Local communities mean the home instance's own communities, and all means communities from all the instances federating with the home instance. A variation of this is going to some other instance's Communities, find an interesting community from there and copy its URL or handle into the home instance's search bar.

The third way is to use sites listing communities, the previously mentioned Lemmy Explorer is also greatly fitting for that. The user can search for communities, sort them and filter them according to instances. After that, the user can copy a community's handle and paste it to the home instance's search bar.

Recommended communities

Here I list some communities that I recommend for subscribing. These are not in any particular order.

!gaming@beehaw.org
!finland@sopuli.xyz
!technology@lemmy.world
!news@lemmy.world
!linux@lemmy.ml
!buyeuropean@feddit.uk
!asklemmy@lemmy.ml
!selfhosted@lemmy.world
!fediverse@lemmy.world
!chat@beehaw.org
!entertainment@beehaw.org
!opensource@programming.dev
!communitypromo@lemmy.ca

Lemmy and Mastodon

Mastodon is a Twitter-like microblogging platform whereas Lemmy is a Reddit-like message board. Due to these differences the interaction between these platforms is different. As communities are central for Lemmy, a Lemmy user can't follow individual Mastodon users or browse the timeline with tags. Because of communities, a Lemmy user doesn't need hashtags.

Fediverse groups are special accounts that the users can utilize in order to discuss certain topics. Communities from Lemmy instances show up as these kind of groups for Mastodon users. A group can be found by pasting its URL or handle into the search bar. The user can start following the group and its posts start to appear in the home timeline. This is similar to following tags or email groups. Here's !technology@lemmy.world when viewed from Mastodon.

A group's posts and replies show up just like any other Mastodon user's toots that are boosted when published.

Posts in a group are just like any other toots with replies.

So how does one make a Lemmy post from Mastodon? Let's make a toot where the community's handle is mentioned (@community@domain.tld) and let's put the first row as a title. The toot can look like this for example:

Message title here Some text here. @community@domain.tld

Let's demonstrate this a little more. Here's a test post I made for demonstration purposes to the community !test_community@sopuli.xyz from Mastodon, and here's how it looks like on Lemmy.

Easy!

Mobile apps

On phone I just use Lemmy through a web browser, as the UI is responsive. Due to this, I am not an expert when it comes to mobile apps for Lemmy. Regardless, here are some mobile apps:

Jerboa is an Android app by Lemmy's developers. As the developers are naturally busy with Lemmy, it isn't being developed as actively as other apps. Based on Google Pay Store's reviews the app seems to be liked, and its user interface is seen as slim enough.

Voyager is availaible for Android and iOS, and also for browsers. It supports, for example, multiple user accounts, swipe gestures and bookmarks. There are future plans for expanding the apps UI customization possibilities. The app has also gained good reviews on Google Play.

Mlem is an iOS exclusive designed for iPad. Even though the development is at an early stage, it's apparently considered the best Lemmy app for iOS.

More can be found from the Lemmy project page and even more fromLemmyApps.

Miscellaneous

One can up- and downvote content on Lemmy, but there is no user karma like on Reddit. On my opinion this is a good thing, as karma functions as a gamified way of increasing user engagement. This leads to negative behavior such as an artificial hierarchy between users and calculated content made for farming karma.

Conclusion

I have been hosting Sopuli since February 2021, which is four years. During this time, Lemmy has developed well and truly ahead: performance and usability have improved and I'd think the early problems hindering user experience are gone. The user rush of summer 2023 especially worked as a catalyst for improvements, as interest towards Lemmy increased and new instances were founded. Interest towards Lemmy seems to have increased again, which makes me more optimist towards the platform's future. Lemmy may have its shortcomings, but I see it as a good Reddit alternative.

Hosting my own Fediverse message board and thus being part of the change has felt rewarding, teaching and exciting. One often hears people lamenting about the Internet currently being a playground for large corporations and how forums are dead. The last few years have however shown how change is possible when people take the Internet platforms and infrastructure into their own hands. The more big corporations cripple their platforms in hopes of maximizing profits, the more people will move to the Fediverse and stay there. At the same time, the spirit of old Internet is returning and the change will likely have a positive impact on the real world. What's happening in the world right now may look bad, but we are living in promising times when it comes to the Internet.

Löydä minut fediversumista: / Find me from the Fediverse:

Mastodon: @Rynach@mstdn.io Lemmy: @QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz

Since I'm a few hours from the end of this week, I want to mention what I've done so far to #reclaim my #digital life & protect my #privacy: Use #Mullvad #VPN. Downloaded all my files from #Google #Photos, deleted everything from said service (& #Onedrive for the matter), cancelled my Google One #subscription. I installed my own #Joplin #server for my notes. Switched to #DuckDuckGo but simultaneously, testing #Searx #instances. Baby steps ahead but still, steps ahead. Next step, NextCloud.

Hello there,

here is my contribution to the Fediverse: a guide to install a Friendica instance using Docker and Caddy.

That should help new administrators and beginners to go online easily.

Friendica deserves a try, this instance variant is neither mastodon nor pleroma, yet after testing many including Misskey forks I tend to lean on Friendica's side for my instance... will you ?

Like this, it is really good for selfhosting or single user instance on a cheap VPS. And it may scale to many users.

codeberg.org/m33/Friendica-cad…

#friendica #fediverse #instances #selfhosting #fediadmin

#PSA

"bird.makeup is a Twitter to ActivityPub bridge."

At least 4 different users of this service came across my feed today. It seems to be used by a lot of creeps, liars, #grifters, and far-right folks, so beware. I guess that's not super surprising, considering the increasing percentage of Twitter that is pure

Blocking them, and recommend others do the same.

#BadActors #Blocked #Instances #Fascism #ThatsNotWelcomeHere #TheBadPlace

Since the geekdom instance is closing down I'm looking for tips on where to migrate to.
So, if you know of a friendly, geeky instance with some predeliction towards reading and writing, let me know, I'd appreciate it

#Geekdom
#Instance #Instances #Recommendation #And #Migration #Help

I have looked everywhere, but I can't find this post from 11 February! It isn't showing up in my Sent timeline. So if it is on my profile, and/or if you have seen it, I apologise.

I am not closing my account here, but I need to try something other than Friendica, due to accessibility issues. I am considering Akkoma, but am open to other networks if they are compatible with Mastodon.

I am seeking an instance with the following specifications.

Accessible interface (I use a screen reader called NVDA). If it uses Semantic html and isn't cluttered, that's a great start. I would prefer it to be compatible with Mastodon so that I could also use TweeseCake as a client. I need to easily be able to access things such as notifications, follow requests, my own posts, to be able to search for tags, people, my posts etc.

Posting limit of 5,000 characters or more (more preferred.

Ability to pin, unpin, edit, and delete posts.

Ability to filter content, so that I don't see certain words or phrases. (This doesn't work with TweeseCake, so it's not as important as the rest, unless the site is so accessible that I can use it often.)

Ability to select between seeing all posts of someone or only some, and to choose whether to let someone follow me without my seeing his posts or to follow him completely. (Friend versus Subscriber on Friendica).

Extensive profile with keywords. (Keywords may be a Friendica feature, so can be skipped.)

Most people write in English and are not politically, technologically, or gaming obsessed. No radicals of any pursuasion. (the English bit is just to help me find friends on my particular instance.)

Free speech (nothing illegal or homophobic). I personally avoid obscenities.)

If such an instance exists, please tell me. I found https://akkoma.fediverse.observer/list[7] but that's just a list with no real information about each instance. I would have to go through over 400 of them, choose the ones from the UK, Canada, and America (they're the most likely to have English instances), then go through those to see if they meet my requirements, but that's ridiculous.

I am not a programmer, so please don't suggest I start my own instance or join a network that is not set up with a webpage and/or to accept a client, as I know nothing about these things other than that they run on Linux and I'm a Windows user. I just want something that works. Also, if there are any demonstration instances, please let me know. I heard of one where accounts only lasted five days, but it seems to be gone.

#accessibility #Akkoma #blind #Fediverse #Friendica #Glitchsoc #html #instances #NVDA #Mastodon #screenreaders #TweeseCake #Windows

Days like these, where the world is going crazy bit by bit, I really wish I was more tech savvy! I would love to understand Linux better, especially since I got it to my laptop now. And, if I were smart enough, I would love to host my own little corner on the internet!

If I had the funds and the wits, I’d love to have a domain where I could host all the bits of the internet that I enjoy for myself. Of course I’d go with the activity pub/FediVerse route, as I’ve been enjoying that so much… I have dreams, but I don’t have the means and knowledge, unfortunately… But… What would I like?

Well, it would be cool to have a domain named “Pixy’s Corner” ! I’d love to run several FediVerse services. I would make sure that I’d have a stable PC with a decent hard drive system (also a backup one), so I’d have enough space to host all my sillyness!

I enjoy the Mastodon bit of Fedi. I’ve recently joined my first “misskey” instance and wow, those options are even more awesome! So I’d definitely want some of that!

I enjoy sharing pictures, so there should be a Pixelfed instance as well…

Video sharing is cool too! So I’d need more space to host a PeerTube instance as well.

And, last but not least, I’d love a blog site based on Write Feedly, as that also works with activity pub.

If I’d had the space available, it would definitely be open for some friends to join. But I’d make it for me first, and then I’d try to federate with the other instances, so I could chat and share with folks on other instances as well.

Back in the day, when Frontpage and message boards were still a thing, I used to host my own website and forum. I rented the online space and used a ftp program to connect. And somehow, it usually worked! I don’t think I could that now…

Ever since the fibro kicked in, I’ve struggled with brain fogs. I’ve lost a lot of why I knew. And things changed…

I still remember starting my first GeoCities website. Playing with those awesome animated images that became a hot thing, especially when MySpace became a thing to join!

Ow that reminds me… If I could, I’d also host a matrix instance so friends and family could chat safely through my servers…

https://flic.kr/p/2qFUB4N

Don’t tell me it’s easy! With my autism, I find it very hard to learn from the internet, especially since most tutorials are videos these days. And those are the worst for me…

Ideally, I’d get someone face-to-face, and together we’d set up the kit and then get all the stuff running. They’d explain every little step, and I’d be writing down every step Ling the way! And then when I need to do my first instance updates, that person would come over again, talk me through it step by step, and I’d be making notes again. And repeat that until I know what to do and if feel confident enough about it.

But as I don’t know code, as I don’t understand protocols, as I don’t havr the funds for the domain and kit I’d need… I guess it’s just a silly dream…

It’s just a silly dream to have my own “little sanctuary” on the wide web,  to have a place to really call my own, to make it as weird as I can, and then add some more sillyness! To have “Pixy’s Corner”, where I could blog, Toot, share vids and snaps… That would just be awesome!! But I guess it will just stay a dream as I don’t have the knowledge, nor the funds, to make any of this possible…

I am very grateful for the instances that host my current sillyness, and I try to support them when I can. Which is really not often enough, as I’ve been dealing with loads of costs the last year… But when I can, I do try to chip in a bit…

So, unfortunately, no Pixy’s Corner… But it was a nice thoguht…

Thank you for your interest in my blog. I really appreciate your visit. If you like my posts and you want to share them on your social media, please, feel free to do so! I’d be honored. If you don’t want to miss a thing, press the follow button (you’ll need to be a signed in WP user) or scroll down and leave your email below this post. If you are a WP user and you would like me to know you liked my post, press the star/like button please. Thanks ever so much! Of course comments are welcome as well, but spam won’t get shared, so don’t bother…

Please be wise and stay safe! I hope to see you back real soon again, feel free to drop in anytime! Wishing you all the best. With love, Cynni

I am living on a disability income and don’t generate an income with my blog. If you would like to support me and my work, I’d greatly appreciate it. Every bit helps me tremendously. For more information and a donation link, please check out https://www.ko-fi.com/PlaystationPixy

If you prefer to use PayPal, that’s also a possibility: https://PayPal.me/SuperCynni

Thanks ever so much

I probably won't leave Friendica, since the developers are working on trying to resolve the accessibility issues on the main site. But I am interested in trying something else. I am considering Hometown or Glitchsoc, but wouldn't mind suggestions from other places as well. I don't know much about these networks, so I may be missing some good ones. I am seeking a network and/or instance with the following features.

Accessible with screen readers, especially NVDA, in case I need to use the web interface. If it's mostly text, or at least uses semantic html, that would be perfect.
Compatible with Mastodon. I will most likely be using TweeseCake for as many things as possible as i do with Friendica. But if the website is really clean and it's not compatible, I will still consider it.
Long posting limit. Friendica.world has a 200,000 (not a typing error) character limit. While wonderful, it's not strictly necessary. But I would expect at least 5,000 at the minimum, 10,000 or more to be comfortable.
Free speech, but nothing illegal or full of hate. I'm not one for obscenities. but barring adult content, I don't really post warnings either, especially not for silly things. I also want the right to respectfully disagree with people without being kicked off a server. It's one thing to be strict in a group. It's another to be strict on one's own timeline. Friendica.world is good in this regard.
Not a political server. I am not a leftist, or a rightist, or an anythingist. I am also not a vegan, a gamer, or a technology professional. I just want a general server, or at least, one that aligns with my interests (see my profile). High culture would be wonderful but is not strictly necessary.

#accessibility #blind #Fediverse #Friendica #friends #Glitchsoc #Hometown #instances #Mastodon #NVDA #TweeseCake

People of #Mastodon & #Fediverse , how can I find out where the servers of the main #instances are located? I don't want my #data to be stored in specific #countries .

@pierrick_taluy

#CollectivitesTerritoriales #Intercommunal #Communes #Instances #Mastodon

Excellente idée

@villedeblois

i'm seeing more "replies from other servers may be missing." message under threads than usual

#mastodon #masto #technicalissues #instances

1/ Je me suis retrouvé hier soir à faire une présentation à quelques militant·es écolo, sur #HelloQuitteX, #Bluesky et #Mastodon, pour leur expliquer les spécificités de chaque réseau, combien de monde, les principes de fonctionnement, etc.

Un exercice très instructif... Mastodon, c'est vraiment autre chose : rien qu'expliquer les #instances et la #décentralisation, c'est déjà un petit défi niveau pédagogie. La différence entre les fils "global", "local", "abonnements", les listes...

TIL Mastodon dot Social, the biggest Mastodon instance, is located in the USA.

Are you thinking of leaving your Mastodon instance because the server is based in the United States? Here is a good guide you can read

#Mastodon #FediTips #Instances #Servers #UnitedStates

https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/

wow, that was quick - more than 30 instances already connected to my relay in just such a short time :) Let's be federated and help even smaller #instances to distribute their content & posts!

You can find more information at:
https://fedi-relay.gyptazy.com

The instance is reachable on IPv4 and IPv6.

#fediverse #mastodon #snac #snac2 #activitypub #relay #activtypubrelay #Pleroma #BSD #RUNBSD #devops #opensource #ipv6 #gotosocial #community #akkoma #pixelfed #selfhosting #homelab

Si vous vous emmêlez les pinceaux avec les #instances ou #serveurs Mastodon et autres du Fédivers et qu'on vous donne l'adresse d'un compte sous forme :

* @nom@instance.com
* https:// instance.com/@nom

Rien de plus simple que copier l'adresse sous l'une des 2 formes ci-dessus dans le module de recherche de votre profil, votre instance retrouve le compte très rapidement.

Ne vous embêtez pas comme moi à aller sur l'adresse web du profil auquel vous voulez vous abonner.

#tutomasto #helloquitx #helloquittex