Basically going from never having used Grafana before to being a pro, thanks to Mastodon 4.4 😄

Well, I have used it occasionally before with some pre-made dashboards, but I had to make these ones myself, since I didn't find anyone else who had made a dashboard for the brand new 4.4 stats yet.

#Mastodon #MastoAdmin #Grafana

Alt...

A Grafana dashboard with Sidekiq stats

Alt...

Another Grafana dashboard with HTTP request stats

@jonah These look great! Are you going to make them available to fellow #MastoAdmin s?

I'M BAAACK!

#MastoAdmin, if you want to max out your anxiety level, blow away your server and start from scratch. Try not to lose anything.

Phew! That was an involved update from Mastodon 4.3.8 all the way to 4.4.1. Was worried some migration might fail, but everything went ok.

Booted a Rails console for fun to search my first toot ever, which is there (from 2023, wow, been here for 2 years now :O )

Also spotted a toot from 1970 in there? xD lol someone forgot to format a date probably.

Also ditched SendGrid and setup a different service.

Done and done. All is good, working and happy. Pat me back :p

#mastoadmin

PSA for MastoAdmins:

Did you know that Mastodon now has the ability to fetch missing replies from conversations?

Unfortunately you must enable this yourself by adding FETCH_REPLIES_ENABLED=true to your .env.production file.

So if you have updated your server to v4.4, you should seriously consider opting into this behaviour. Your users will thank you!

For full details and more settings to fine tune this behaviour see the docs:

https://docs.joinmastodon.org/admin/config/#fetch-all-replies

#mastoadmin

Apologies for the downtime on phpc.social this morning. Restarted services a little too early. We're good to go now (indexing ElasticSearch items in the background for the rest of the day but the site is functional otherwise).

In related news, phpc.social is now running Mastodon 4.4.1, hence it looking a bit different from before if you're using the web UI.

#MastoAdmin

@debby

id-83636[.]world

created: 2025-07-02 (11 days old)

Registrar: Webnic[.]cc
Nameservers: Cloudflare

Registrant supposedly out of Malaysia.

New since June 1 w/ same traits:
id-74852[.]world,
id-97462[.]world,
id-96432[.]world,
id-836252[.]world,
id-97366[.]world,
id-83636[.]world,
id-83736[.]world

subdomains indicate targets are mastodon, friendica, fiverr, etsy, whop, nzpost, and more.

#mastoadmin #threatintel

Update: The account is banned

to all admins out there please delete the data. mastodon.social has banned the account

cc: @cadusilva@bolha.one , @cadusilva@ursal.zone , @xavifree , @admin , @norezervationz

#MastoAdmin #fediblock

Added "some" AI bots/crawlers to our robots.txt at burningboard.net Mastodon instance. Hope this is respected and might reduce malicious traffic a bit:

https://burningboard.net/robots.txt

#mastodon #mastoadmin #robots #ai #aislop

I've had troubles upgrading my #mastodon instance in the past. I run the familiar commands, but things don't go right. It takes me an hour of troubleshooting to find the problem:

When logging is as the mastodon user (su - mastodon) the /home/mastodon/.bashrc isn't being run, so the environment isn't being properly configured.

The solution is simple: manually source the dang bashrc!

. ~/.bashrc

#debian #mastoAdmin

Alguém criou uma conta "Mastadon_Social@mastodon.social" (sic) e começou a mencionar pessoas dizendo que a conta delas "foi temporariamente suspensa" e que seria necessário "verificar a identidade".

Aí tinha um link muito "legítimo" pra fazer isso. Mas a conta dos golpistas não foi muito longe e já foi derrubada na .social.

Porém, fiquem atentos e denunciem caso outras tentativas como a deste golpe apareçam.

cc @fediadminbr

#Mastodon #MastoAdmin #scam

Spammers have been programmatically creating accounts on Mastodon instances for years. Sometimes they post once and never again, sometimes they post on a schedule. Sometimes they never post, like a waiting botnet.

As Mastodon's anti-spam solutions are effectively nonexistent, most instances in our network require manual approval of new accounts. Up until recently, it was easy to spot a spammer; their join reasons were generic.

ChatGPT spammers have now arrived.

#MastoAdmin #FediAdmin #spam

Alt...

A screenshot from a Mastodon User Moderation screen, showing suspended user @iamtile's reasons for joining. Image text follows. I'm drawn to cozy, inclusive online spaces and enjoy connecting with kind, creative people. I'd love to join plush.city to share gentle vibes, engage in wholesome conversations, and be part of a warm, supportive community. @iamtile Reasons for joining

Alt...

A screenshot from a Mastodon User Moderation screen, showing suspended user @iamtile's spam post. Image text follows. Gene Therapy's Secret Weapon: Why the Viral Vector Manufacturing Market is Set to Skyrocket In the fast-evolving world of biotechnology, microcarriers—those tiny, bead-like structures used for cell cultivation—are quietly transforming the future of medicine. From regenerative therapies to vaccine production, these microscopic marvels are gaining unprecedented traction. The global Microcarriers Market is expected to witness significant growth Get more info @ marketresearchfuture.com/repor... Microcarriers Market A bar chart image showing exponential market growth over time, would you believe it.

Alt...

A screenshot from a Mastodon User Moderation screen, showing suspended user @citycaptures' reasons for joining. Image text follows. Hi! I'm interested in joining plush.city to connect with others who share my love for plushies and cozy communities. | enjoy collecting, crafting, or just appreciating soft things, and I'd love to share photos, discuss favorites, and participate in friendly discussions. I'll respect the community guidelines—thanks for considering my application @citycaptures Reasons for joining

Alt...

A screenshot from a Mastodon User Moderation screen, showing suspended user @citycaptures' single spam post. Image text follows. Rising Demand for Pre-Engineered Buildings in Commercial & Infrastructure Sectors Pre-Engineered Buildings (PEBs) are modern, cost-effective structures designed and fabricated using standardized materials and construction methods. These buildings are tailored to meet specific design requirements, offering advantages like faster construction, lower costs, and structural efficiency Get Info - marketresearchfuture.com/repor... Web - July 10, 2025 at 10:59pm (globe icon) Public - View Publicly

well 4.4.1 upgrade try was no fun. I will try again at some point. #mastoadmin

Hmm. I added the translation option to my Mastodon instance (with DeepL) but the "Translate" button does not appear in the Mastodon Web UI. Also tried wrapping the API key in single-quotes and added DEEPL_PLAN=free. Someone experience with this? #MastoAdmin

The /api/v2/instance says translation is actually enabled... But it just doesn't pop ups in the web interface for like German or Czech posts 🤔 #MastoAdmin

Alt...

Screenshot from API response: "translation": "enabled": true

Currently we observe errors on one of our media servers. #mastoadmin

We informed a technician about our problem some time ago and are still waiting for a response. #mastoadmin

The technician isn't convinced yet to do what we want. We are still waiting. #mastoadmin

Okay, dass war jetzt eine schwere Geburt.

Ich nutze den Mastodon container von Linuxserver.io. Die haben die Webserver Config im Container angepasst, dass automatisch immer auf HTTPS weiter geleitet wird.

In meinem Helm Chart steht aber, dass er auf Port 80 für nginx hören soll.

Resultat: Loop aus 301 Redirects. 🤯

Bis ich den Fehler jetzt gefunden hatte.

#mastoadmin #homelab #selfhosted

Has anyone enabled `FETCH_REPLIES_ENABLED` in Mastodon 4.4? Does it work well? How does it compare to Fedifetcher in practice?

I'd love to hear some experiences, if anyone has any

#MastoAdmin

For the vanishingly small number of people that run Mastodon in #Dokku I've updated the repo to 4.4.1

https://github.com/cooperaj/dokku-mastodon

#SelfHost #MastoAdmin

Mastodon server admins can now help spread the word about Mastodon by activating their server's link referrers. It just takes one small change in the settings, and will let clicked sites know that your server is the source of their clicks (but no other info is sent).

I've done a guide to this which explains how to activate referrers, and the reasons why a server might (or might not) want to activate them:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/http-referrers-how-server-admins-can-optionally-help-spread-the-word-about-mastodon

As always, let me know if there are mistakes 🙂

#MastoAdmin

@nyquildotorg #Mastodon and #ActivityPub needs a mechanism where domain names can be recycled. The fact that WordPress alone has no mechanism to allow a domain to exit the fediverse is reason enough. Sometimes servers get bricked and there is no way to go back and self-destruct.

Domains could be validated with a text record in the DNS by the owner of the domain name. If text record ActivityPubKill is true, then it should be trusted as so and defederated.

I'm not sure how this could be done, I don't know the ins and out. Maybe software packages could poll the DNS of failing federated servers and look for a universal or software specific kill tag or a file could be placed somewhere on a server that it looks for when a server fails, esp after 7 days.

Either way, a dns entry or a file on a physical server can be a trusted source as it takes elevated permission by someone in charge of a domain to usually do such a thing. #MastoDev #MastoAdmin

Digital Ocean rescheduled their maintenance on NYC1. It was supposed to start soon and take 2 hours. If you use DO, I would recommend subscribing to their status. I have found doing so has kept my need to troubleshoot Mastodon failures in Sidekiq down, as well as my aggravation.

This scheduled maintenance was going to affect: Cloud Firewall, Kubernetes (NYC1), Managed Databases (NYC1), App Platform (New York), Droplets (NYC1), Load Balancers (NYC1), and Networking (NYC1).

#MastoAdmin https://status.digitalocean.com/incidents/yhcmlgyq6h4q

Just tried this 'Announcements' thing on Mastodon, wonder if my few active users will see it

#Mastodon #MastoAdmin

Is it me or we can see interaction counts from federated posts since Mastodon 4.4 ?

That's great, makes the whole feed much more lively !

#mastodon #mastoadmin #fediverse

We’ve successfully upgraded our Mastodon server to v4.5.0-alpha.1+mementomods-2025-07-09.

This update includes the latest build, so everything should be as current as possible.

As always, if you notice anything strange or buggy, please let me or any of the other admins know.

Enjoy your time here! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or thoughts.

#MementoMoriSocial #Mastodon #MastoAdmin

We just released #Mastodon 4.4.1, a small patch release fixing a few issues with 4.4.0.

We recommend to install this version instead of 4.4.0 when you update your server.

Full release notes and update instructions are available on our GitHub release page: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.1

#mastoadmin

If you are on a big instance of Mastodon and haven't upgraded to 4.4.4 yet,

WAIT until this gets merged!!!

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/35323

Otherwise you may be facing hours to run the frontend asset compiling.

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/35299

#MastoAdmin

How do you extend the character limit in Mastodon 4.4? Apparently the 4.3 method no longer works again.

#MastoAdmin

Yesterday I successfully updated my test instance to Mastodon V4.4.0. I will do this instance on Saturday. A couple of caveats:

1. If you've installed custom themes and you set the site default to one of the custom themes, your site won't load after the upgrade because the upgrade removes these themes. You'll get errors in syslog that it can't find the theme. Also, accounts using the themes won't work afterward either.

I suggest you switch your accounts and the site back to a standard theme before upgrading. Then you'll need to reinstall the themes, or other accounts using them on your server won't work.

The lesson here is that if you install custom themes, you're permanently invested in them if you have other people on your server, until, and if, Mastodon supports custom themes natively.

2. BTW, IMPORTANT! If you use connection pooling (pgbouncer), don't do the DB migrations using pooled connections; directly connect to the database. The same is true when doing a DB backup. Never used pooled connections for these operations.

I wish this were highlighted in both the upgrade instructions and in the maintenance sections.

#MastoAdmin

Update to Mastodon 4.4 without any issues. #mastoadmin

Upgrade to Mastodon v4.4.0 hasn't been successful so far. First stuck on the precompilation of the web assets. After 'solving' that the database migration failed. Reverted the server back to a previous snapshot and gonna wait for a few days. And check / share findings on the GitHub. #MastoAdmin

@ThaMunsta I really hope, in the future, they would make a dedicated section in the release notes/ changelog of all the env options changes in a release, instead of just adding them in the line item notes. Some software packages do this. #MastoAdmin

It's why I read changelogs several times before upgrading. I know I'll miss something. I usually still do after reading several times🤭 @shanie

I’m upgrading my masto server to 4.4.0 and the assets:precompile step is taking forever (hours…)

Is it common for Vite to take this long on its first run? I’m now running it with —trace, and it’s not erroring or providing much info.

I’m happy to let it run, but it’d be nice to know I’m not doing it in vain.

Thanks!

#mastodon #mastoadmin

Muting #MastoAdmin

Please keep in mind the MANY environment variables for the Mastodon 4.4 release - get all the features!

- ‼ Server-side feature to fetch remote replies
- Bulk SMTP features
- Inbound Quotes support
- Additional media hosts support
- Enhanced support for Read Replicas
- Faster tests with COVERAGE?

Read the patch notes, less you could be leaving cool stuff on the table.

#mastoadmin

Vor drei Stunden wurde die finale Version v4.4.0 von Mastodon veröffentlicht.

Bei burningboard.net haben wir das Upgrade bereits durchgeführt. Es war nur ein kleiner Schritt, da wir die Beta-Version bereits seit ein paar Wochen laufen haben.

Ich erwarte keine Probleme, aber falls es etwas Ungewöhnliches gibt, könnt ihr mich oder @tux kontaktieren

#mastodon #mastoadmin #servicetoot

Updating to #TangerineUI v2.4 is *strongly* recommended if you have it installed on a Mastodon instance that's upgrading to Mastodon 4.4 today.

If you don't update, users of theme on your instance may encounter broken or unusable UI elements, especially on smaller screens.

#MastoAdmin

Three hours ago, the final version v4.4.0 of Mastodon was released.

At burningboard.net, we have already done the upgrade. Was just a small step, since we were running the beta for a couple of weeks already.

I don't expect any issues, but in case, there's something unusual, feel free to contact me or @tux

#mastodon #mastoadmin #servicetoot

With Mastodon v4.4.0 instance owners can enable HTTP referrers. That means:

If somebody clicks a link on a Mastodon post (e.g. to a news article), the link target owner (such as the news site operator) can see that a user from that instance has visited their website.

They do _only_ get the instance domain (e.g. metalhead.club). No information about the user!

I've enabled this setting, because I am sure that it will increase awareness of Mastodon's existence. 💪

#mastodon #mastoadmin

Alt...

Screenshot shows setting for enabling the referrer.

So wer konnte 7min die Luft anhalten, bitte die Hand heben!
Wir sind wieder aufgetaucht. Bitte brav weiter tooten.
#Afterspace #MastoAdmin #Update

Hey Hoy 👋
Wir werden auf Version 4.4.0 aktualisieren. Bitte kurz die Luft anhalten. Bis gleich.
#Afterspace #MastoAdmin #Upgrade

🚨 Mastodon 4.4.0 is out now! 🐘
Lots of new features & fixes - but watch out when updating!

👉 This time, a simple 'docker compose pull && docker compose up -d' won’t be enough!

Make sure to read the release and update notes carefully:
🔗 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.0

#Mastodon #MastoAdmin #Update #Fediverse #SelfHosting #Docker #AdminWarning

Trivial update from 4.4.0-rc1 to 4.4.0 - basically just a fetch, compile and restart.

#mastoadmin

It's coming 👀

"Support for verifying remote quotes according to FEP-044f and displaying them in the Web UI has been implemented.

Quoting other people is not implemented yet, and it is currently not possible to mark your own posts as allowing quotes. However, a new “Who can quote” setting has been added to the “Posting defaults” section of the user settings. This setting allows you to set a default that will be used for new posts made on Mastodon 4.5 and newer, when quote posts will be fully implemented."

#QuotePosts #QuotePost #Mastodon #MastoAdmin

Alt...

Settings for new Posting defaults, "Who can quote: Everyone, Followers and mentioned users, Only mentioned users"

We’ve successfully upgraded our Mastodon server to:

- v4.4.0 (stable) + mementomods-2025-07-08
- Mastodon Bird UI 2.3.0 (stable)

This update includes the latest build, so everything should be as current as possible. The branches are synced and up to date.

As always, if you notice anything strange or buggy, please let me or any of the other admins know.

Enjoy your time here! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or thoughts.

#MementoMoriSocial #Mastodon #MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI #OpenSource

There is a new major mastodon release (v4.4.0). As usual we will wait some time for bugs to settle and for us to check everything. Please be patient until then. #mastoadmin

Folks, it's here...
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.0

#Mastodon #MastoAdmin

We just released Mastodon 4.3.9 and 4.2.23. They contain a number of important bug fixes, and one security-adjacent fix.

If you are running nightly versions, an updated container image is available under the `nightly.2025-07-02` tag

Full release notes and update instructions are available on our GitHub release page:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/

#mastoadmin

There will be some short downtimes for some maintenance starting now. #mastoadmin

What kind of issues or concerns might I have if I shut down one kind of AP server software and then set up a different AP server on the domain previously occupied by the now decommissioned first AP server?

(I don’t think the soon-to-be-shutdown server has a self-destruct.)

#MastoAdmin #Fediverse #Admin #SelfHosting