OK, so I have seen a few warnings now that my server might not be the best to be on, as the de facto standard that lots of folks flock to as ... :waves hands:
So --- where do I find the scuttlebutt (or, heaven forfend, ACTUAL DATA) about which servers have good moderation and good fediverse connectivity?
I'm happy to move. Once.
@jasonp AFAICS, the "fediverse connectivity" is the same on every instance (well, unless there unilateral blocking going on). If you depend on a large local or federated timeline on your instance (server), lookout for large(er) instances — but beware, depending on their funding and backing, they might run into similar issues as your current instance.
As for moderation, an instance in the EU should give you much free speech unless it's hate speech …
@wusel Hm, I'm not sure that's the case if what I am reading --- that my instance is being silenced or blocked by others in the federation --- is accurate.
I have no problem with that per se but as the fairly popular post I'm cribbing from here predicts, I thought I was doing pretty well in seeing a decent slice of what's on Mastodon as a whole. If that's not true, I'd like to find a decent vantage point from which to take a look and make a comparison.
@jasonp https://fba.ryona.agency/?domain=mastodon.social lists 35 out of ... 10,000+ instances. Read some of the "reasons" given there and make your own mind if that's an issue.
My issue with mastodon.social is simply it's size — a) it's not the way this federation is supposed to go, a significant portion of the user base on a few servers, b) the performance doesn't feel good (i. e. clicking on it's local timeline I get 404s), mostlikely a sizing issue.
@jasonp Well, if you're into paying 1€/month (SEPA payment, no CC, thus basically EU-only), there is digitalcourage.social, run by an NGO that tries to somehow keep userbase and serverpower in balance. But there's a load of other instances that may ask for funding differently, or not at all ;) Think about mastodon.social: It probably won't vanish over night. My little private one might, if I loose interest of running it. Thus: check who's backing your future home instance ;)
@jasonp *Thing, actually.
@wusel Nice! That's the information I'm looking for.
Over the course of two weeks I feel like I've seen the responsiveness of mastodon.social wax and wane — and also seen one of the servers I might migrate to go down for a day entirely.
This is all fine with me, but your link to actual hard specific information is *exactly* what I'd hoped for. Thank you.