[lorealpnis]

Is "migrating to another server" as simple as singing up on other servers? Or is there a different straightforward way?

[fleg]

Moving to another instance is pretty easy: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration

It doesn't move your toots, but followers don't have to do anything to still follow you on your new account.

[thrdbndndn]

> It doesn't move your toots

does that even count as migrating then

[fleg]

I think yes, but if you really want, then you can migrate your toots by exporting them from the old instance and importing on the new one: https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/06/how-to-migrate-from-on...

[smcn]

Of course it does, but I do agree that it would be better if it did.

[thrdbndndn]

No seriously, I'm not being sarcastic.

You can't call keeping merely the contacts without emails themselves "migration of email provider". It makes no sense.

Also, you said "follower[s] don't have to do anything", but somehow you (the followee) on the other hand needs to actively move? What if my follower is on this instance too and they don't actively move? Shouldn't their account disappear (and you lost your follower)? I genuinely don't understand how it would work other than everyone has to manually move together.

[smcn]

False equivalence, it's a _social network_, and you can, indeed, migrate your social network.

[pessimizer]

That's mistaking the map for the terrain. It's a networked system for leaving and retrieving messages. It's not a group of friends. The way you expect to migrate a messaging system is by moving the messages.

[smcn]

I'm not the person who said that but I can take a swing at it:

If the person does not migrate off of the instance, they'll lose the account and yes, you'll lose a follower. But if they do migrate, both of you keep the connection.