Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
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People here loooove to criticize other people's way of using Mastodon. So the first thing to learn is to generally ignore that.
But here are two valid points:
- If you are here for some specific interest, getting on a server dedicated to that means you can view the entire server feed with hopes of seeing stuff that interests you. Me, I'm also on the huge mastodon.social server, and the server feed is ... (cont'd)
... mostly useless to me - too much, not in my languages, or not my interests. I've "groomed my feed" by finding good hashtags and accounts to follow.
- For the overall health of the ecosystem, it's better that no one server dominates. If you decide that's important to you, you could find a smaller server and switch to that, and pay a bit to its admin as support. Though small server do occasionally shut down, which can be a pain.
P.S. Such a pretty cat!
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@rufustheduck The general recommendation is for new folks to avoid the biggest instances to also avoid Mastodon becoming too centralized.
That aside, if you use your instance's local feed, that could influence where you set up your account.
I chose a small, science-friendly Canadian instance because it ticks a lot of boxes, but I only follow my own Home feed. I found people through hashtags and reposts, so that feed and instance work well for me.
There's some info about moving instances and why you might want to do it on the @FediTips website:
https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/
I hope this is helpful. (Please give the beautiful Max a kiss on the forehead from me.)
@StaceyCornelius @rufustheduck @FediTips seconding this. My first foray into Mastodon was on a different server. I still have that account (I use it for quasi-professional stuff), but my main account is here where I've built a good Home feed. I like this instance's moderation policies in particular, and I contribute monthly.
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck You're fine with staying where you are. It is usually recommended to avoid Mastodon.Social because it is already too large and too generic — this can be a good or a bad thing, depends. A smaller instance may have a more useful local timeline for you to peruse, a more specific-to-your-interests one might even contain people you're more likely to mingle with.
With full migration not yet being implemented, moving is not really a good idea if you care about your posts.
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck
The benefit of moving is mostly community. You're on the largest instance right now, so there's a wide demographic of people and interests. That's great for general stuff, but your local timeline is probably very crowded and hard to sift through.I reignited a strong interest in Pokémon recently, so I moved to a server themed around that to be around people who like the same things I do. When looking for somewhere new to go, ask yourself:
- Who is this server for, and what are their rules?
- Who is the admin, and can they be trusted to not disappear on you?Both of these questions can be answered by looking at the server's about page. You can also use the server's local timeline to see what folks are generally like. Any server on the official list is probably a safe bet! https://joinmastodon.org/servers
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@rufustheduck You're fine with staying where you are. It is usually recommended to avoid Mastodon.Social because it is already too large and too generic — this can be a good or a bad thing, depends. A smaller instance may have a more useful local timeline for you to peruse, a more specific-to-your-interests one might even contain people you're more likely to mingle with.
With full migration not yet being implemented, moving is not really a good idea if you care about your posts.
@rufustheduck I saw a few posts on the topic of "does the instance matter" and community the other day, might be interesting to read:
https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/ and
https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/115962043884062629 -
Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck everyone has strong opinions of how they use Mastodon, some feel like telling others how others should use Mastodon.
If they give advice you agree with, take it. If you ain't sure, do what you did - ask.
The rest, I have found, is cheap kindling.
Nice cat.
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck People who spend too much time on here are a bit snobby. If you're happy where you are, there is no need to move. That's the whole point of the Fediverse.
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@rufustheduck The general recommendation is for new folks to avoid the biggest instances to also avoid Mastodon becoming too centralized.
That aside, if you use your instance's local feed, that could influence where you set up your account.
I chose a small, science-friendly Canadian instance because it ticks a lot of boxes, but I only follow my own Home feed. I found people through hashtags and reposts, so that feed and instance work well for me.
There's some info about moving instances and why you might want to do it on the @FediTips website:
https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/
I hope this is helpful. (Please give the beautiful Max a kiss on the forehead from me.)
@rufustheduck @FediTips @StaceyCornelius
Same as Stacey, the smaller the better.
And it's easier to move early while you dont have much content.
Here is a (small) list of servers. Pick one according to a specific topic, the moderation rules, etc.
https://joinmastodon.org/servers -
Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck when I came to mastodon, also, I knew almost nothing about server differences. You should make your own decision, but I'll tell you how I am handling my own choice. I am still on the first server where I started because I have found no reason to complain about it and because I have no trouble finding interesting posted writings and lovely photographs to follow from various servers. If ever I find a cultural or moral rift between me and the server management, then I would reconsider my place in this space.
I like your cat.
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@rufustheduck I saw a few posts on the topic of "does the instance matter" and community the other day, might be interesting to read:
https://maho.dev/2026/01/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters/ and
https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/115962043884062629@phl Thank you for sharing!
Hi @rufustheduck, welcome to the fediverse!
I'm not sure that particular article of mine will be too helpful (I do recommend checking out the first one, for sure!)
I touched a bit on the server selection here, if you're interested:
https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/how-to-join-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/#choosing-a-server
My own recommendation would be to keep interacting with people and see if you notice any servers in their usernames coming up more often than others -- that might be your crowd!
This might also be fun/useful: https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
First of all, welcome to the #fediverse
If you knew already 3 or 4 people, using the same server, they would have suggested you their server and they would have made a point.
Being you just arrived, out of curiosity, there is absolute no reason to move until you find a very good reason for doing.
You're just arrived, try to discover content using #hashtag and following people that seems interesting to you.
You'll end up following #pixelfed photographers, or blogs, #peertube channels, #lemmy forums, or #owncast alerts on starting streaming. -
@phl Thank you for sharing!
Hi @rufustheduck, welcome to the fediverse!
I'm not sure that particular article of mine will be too helpful (I do recommend checking out the first one, for sure!)
I touched a bit on the server selection here, if you're interested:
https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/how-to-join-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/#choosing-a-server
My own recommendation would be to keep interacting with people and see if you notice any servers in their usernames coming up more often than others -- that might be your crowd!
This might also be fun/useful: https://data.stefanbohacek.com/projects/fediverse
@stefan (I have no idea why that link in the text counted as a quote toot, ugh!)
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
If you're satisfied with your current server experience, I don't see the need to switch, as migrating posts and followers is quite a hassle.
Regarding the above point, I believe it stems from concerns about the overall reliability of the Fediverse. In reality, any server can experience outages. If you're genuinely worried, creating a backup account is a viable option.
If you're dissatisfied with the atmosphere or management of your current server, I think switching to another one is perfectly acceptable.
Regardless of which server you use, it's essential to regularly back up your data. -
@stefan (I have no idea why that link in the text counted as a quote toot, ugh!)
@phl Ah, no worries!
I think links to posts are automatically turned into quotes now? I think that's how it worked back on Twitter.
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@rufustheduck The general recommendation is for new folks to avoid the biggest instances to also avoid Mastodon becoming too centralized.
That aside, if you use your instance's local feed, that could influence where you set up your account.
I chose a small, science-friendly Canadian instance because it ticks a lot of boxes, but I only follow my own Home feed. I found people through hashtags and reposts, so that feed and instance work well for me.
There's some info about moving instances and why you might want to do it on the @FediTips website:
https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/
I hope this is helpful. (Please give the beautiful Max a kiss on the forehead from me.)
@StaceyCornelius @rufustheduck
I hope the guide helps answer your questions about benefits of moving etc, but if you have any further questions please feel free to ask
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@rufustheduck Mostly for the local timeline and finding those with similar interests gathered together.
For example, I am on infosec.exchange because I work in computer security (Also known as information security or infosec) so being here means viewing the local timeline mostly shows me posts relevant to my interests, even for those I don't follow.
This lets me more easily find new people to follow or catch news in the field I may have otherwise missed in the floods on a large general server like mastodon.social (which is large enough they may have turned off the local timeline).
@zombie042 @rufustheduck I’d suggest browsing interest-focused instances before moving (by visiting https://infosec.exchange/public/local) for example. Some instances have unusually restrictive moderation, or their funding is shaky, or they’re dominated by a few posters.
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck A few things to look for in instances:
What is the character count limit? This can be vastly different across instances. If you post long form content, this could matter to you.
What instances do they block? If you're into some stuff that others aren't into, and more power to you, check if they block instances with that stuff. Also check their content posting policy.
How good are they about updating mastodon? Are they stuck on an old version? How active is the admin?
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@phl Ah, no worries!
I think links to posts are automatically turned into quotes now? I think that's how it worked back on Twitter.
@stefan Yeah I thought it'd be some special syntax and not just any random Fedi URL in a post
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Hello #Mastodon - I need advice
When I signed up 3 weeks ago, I joined a server without knowing what I was doing. Some have suggested that I might be better on another, but I am lost and confused
What are the benefits of moving? What are the benefits of staying?
And if I do move, where should I go? I know nothing - so your subjective recommendations & insights would be much appreciated
P.S. Here’s a picture of my cat, Max, looking confused - like me
@rufustheduck mastodon.social is basically the generic everyman server that everyone new to the Fediverse signs up to (mostly because it's ran by Mastodon themselves and is pushed by the official app), but this also means it's a firehose of thousands of people speaking all at once with no real sense of organisation or topic, which means it can get quite busy if you're following the Federated feed. Many people therefore suggest doing research into other Mastodon servers that are around, in case another one might be more structured to your specific interests, as you might find it more comfortable to follow, or easier to find others who share the same interests as you.
fedi.tips has a good explanation about the purpose of different servers in the Fediverse. fedi.garden is a good site to help you find a suitable server for you
