[notatoad]

>but I can’t figure out how to make a user’s server choice actually meaningful

in theory, the instance-specific bit of it is the moderation. the one you sign up with chooses which other instances to federate with, as well as how to moderate the content on their own instance. in theory, you could sign up for an instance that only allowed the sort of politics you agree with, or that had very lax moderation, or that had very strict moderation.

unfortunately, none of the fediverse seems to actually talk about this so without signing up and using an instance for a while to see what the moderation policies are like there's no way to know.

[jeromegv]

> unfortunately, none of the fediverse seems to actually talk about this so without signing up and using an instance for a while to see what the moderation policies are like there's no way to know.

Correct, but that's why you can actually migrate your account (including your followers!) from one instance another. The initial choice doesn't matter too much. Just migrate if you don't like it. That's why there isn't much discussions about it.

[dclowd9901]

Can you migrate to another instance if yours becomes defederated?

[nightpool]

"Defederated" is not something that happens to an instance, it's a choice that other instances make. There's no "globally defederated" state. If your server (Server A) is blocked by Server B, then no, you can't move to Server B. But you can still move to Server C that doesn't block you.

[dclowd9901]

Well so this is kind of what I was getting at. It feels similar to an email service being blocklisted, only in this case, you really _can’t_ move your content because at the end of the day, a group of federated instances will also be wary of instances without reputation, as much as those of ill repute. So no, in reality, you can’t move your content, or if you can right now it’s a foible of the system as it is today and will not continue as such.