[wnevets]

From what I can tell your instance choice only really matters when looking at the "local" timeline. Besides that its kind of like email, you can send and receive email from anyone that uses email if they know your address. I use the Gmail instance but I can still get and send email to Hotmail users.

[csomar]

I'm still confused. Which instance should I use to create my account? Does that have any future repercussions? (says, if the server stops/is offline)?

[timmytokyo]

If you're in doubt, try mastodon.social or masto.ai. Those are pretty "generic".

Your choice does have some consequences. Each Mastodon instance has its own tailored block list, which determines which other instances are blocked in your feed. Instances also have their own codes of conduct. You can view an instance's block list and CoC by clicking the "About" link on the bottom left of the instance home page. (See https://mastodon.social/about for example.)

[csomar]

I'm still confused about where my account exists. In the Server? As a public/private key combination?

[simonw]

It exists in the server, but it's possible to move to another server and keep your followers later.

[csomar]

If the server disappears for whatever reason, do I lose my account? Is it me or is this possibly the worst design ever?

[toofy]

sure, this is pretty standard. how many apps has google shutdown? if google shuts down gmail tomorrow, you'll lose your email. theres an entire site memorializing hundreds of apps google has killed, some of them *very* popular[0]

however, the creators of mastodon have made it super easy to download backups of your follows, your blocklists, etc... and you can import them on any server. so even if that were to happen, you can easily setup another account and be running again.

unlike any of the closed social sites, with mastodon, if one server were to close, the network will be fine.

[0]https://killedbygoogle.com/

[numpad0]

It is the worst design ever, you can pick an instance and create an account there if you could trust the owner and your timeline isn’t too busy, but YMMV. UX is somewhat close to Twitter 2015, which is an upside.

[rvz]

> If the server disappears for whatever reason, do I lose my account?

Yes you do.

[toofy]

i would use one of the large such as mastodon.social and move on with your life. once you get a hands on understanding, you’ll probably still want to stay on a larger instance, but if you want to move to a niche, you can.

the way i did it was:

1) signed up on a large instance. found a few hundred of the people i followed on twitter.

2) found that a large percentage of them were on a specific instance (infosec.exchange)

3) i didn’t have to move to that instance, at all. i could interact with them all day everyday just the same as any other other social site. i did however ultimately end up moving there because i like the admin.

compared to every other social network on the planet, moving to a different server is easy. i didn’t lose any followers (people who follow you just automatically follow the new account), and importing the entire list of who i followed was super simple.

most people would never ever notice the difference between servers, but if you were to for some reason need a more niche environment, there are plenty of guides out there which will hold your hand and walk you through migrating to a different server.

[fragmede]

That's the problem with federation. It's the same thing as choosing Gmail for your email address. You pick a server and you're bound to whatever they choose to do. You then have to spend an inordinate amount of time to find one that aligns with your ideals. Or just stay on Twitter.

[9wzYQbTYsAIc]

I’d suggest looking at the server list on https://joinmastodon.org, select a few servers of interest, and then peruse what shows up as local to that server to find a good fit.

Also, look for indicators of active moderation and participation in the Mastodon Server Covenant if you want to avoid toxicity.

Some popular instances have been highlighted here.

Finally, dont be afraid to use a throwaway email and hide behind vpn to create a temporary account on a server or two, just to check it out.

Be kind to the server owners by deleting your temporary accounts, though.

[wnevets]

From what I can tell that is like asking which email host to sign up for but if every single email host had the same feature set. Some servers seem faster than others but I just picked a popular one from the mastodon homepage

[Tomte]

I can take my domain name to a new mail provider.

Can I have a handle like @[e-mail] at the usual Mastodon providers? (I honestly don't know)

[lokedhs]

No. The domain part is the instance. When you migrate, your old account is set to point to the new one, and a notification is automatically sent to your followers so they can automatically follow you on the new instance.

[Tomte]

Thanks.

That's too bad, really. If your instance admin blocks you because of some spat, the functioning of the migration mechanism seems to be depending on his goodwill, right?

With email, no old mail provider can stop me from being reachable under my mail address in the future.