With Twitter imploding from within, many so-called Twitter Refugees are attempting to find alternative platforms to fill the void in a post-Tweetpolocolyptic world.
While some are dusting off old Tumblr accounts, others are joining various Mastodon servers, causing many platforms to slow down, crash or turn off the option to sign up to keep their websites alive.
Although it might be tempting to join a more prominent, more established instance (note: instance is geek for server)—or even a more minor instance—it is infinitely wiser instead to start your instance for three simple reasons.
Image Credit (from above): axiom
Too Long; Did Not Read Video Summary
Control, Alt, Delete
Have you ever heard of the saying, “Don’t feed the trolls!” It’s a digital proverb that applies to spammers, haters, & the internet ilk who attempt to disrupt your day with devious distractions.
On a well-moderated social network, you can mute, block & report them. But this takes time, & what if the unruly hordes keep attacking like a bunch of undead zombies‽
Instead of waiting for reinforcements to arrive, you can end the harassment from the domains threatening your peace of mind like Arya Stark ended the Night King in Game of Thrones, restoring peace to your digital kingdom.
Solo hosting allows you to quickly deal with mass spam & troll attacks by banning entire domains without having to seek the attention of an Admin or explain the obvious to an unpaid moderator.
A Leaf On The Wind
If you have ever spent time living on planet Earth & traveling through cyberspace, you will encounter various nations & websites that will impose sanctions on each other’s respective digital realms out of spite.
This also happens between more significant instances who block other instances for political, cultural, philosophical, religious, or scientific reasons—& for not blocking an offending instance. Server A will block Server B because Server B did not block Server C, as the latter refused to block Server D & Server E due to a difference of opines.
Instead of being caught in the crossfire & taking damage from both sides (thus preventing you from connecting with interesting people from a rival instance), you could solo host & soar above the chaos by being “a leaf on the wind.”
Another advantage is that when nations like China 🇨🇳 block a significant instance like Mastodon.social (note: check the China Firewall Test), your solo instance should be able to avoid the international ban hammer. This will enable you to converse with fascinating folks from other nations & cultures easily.
Verification Remade
After Elon Musk broke verification, allowing anyone with $8 to gain a blue checkmark & impersonate anyone else (with disastrous results), people across the Socialverse might be wary of trusting any check-marked handle out of fear of being misled.
By solo hosting your instance, people, brands, celebrities & businesses can, by their mere domain, verify who they are the way Aragorn proved who he was with his sword to the army of dead ghosts in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Any business, celebrity, politician, governmental organization, not-for-profit, brand, or individual seeking to legitimize themselves amongst the Fediverse Familia needs to publish under their domain & avoid using free public instances as their prime federated account.
Solo Hosting Is The Way
So you have decided to embrace the art of solo hosting your federated account. What’s next‽ Deciding on which host to choose (which yours truly will type up in a follow-up post).
If anyone has any suggestions they would like to add, feel free to comment below, email me or “toot” me (😂) on Mastodon: @darnell@one.darnell.one (do not be shy!).