Uuh, this might be a delicate question.

I stumbled upon this message, sporting that many extra spaces between words that it does look deliberate. I know that bots exist that use steganography (e.g. extra spaces) in social media posts as a command and control method.
On the other hand, it was posted on an instance for blind people. And now I don't know whether accessibility software exists that tends to add extra spaces to a text?

Does someone know something here?
#accessibility #software #mastoadmin

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Screenshot of a mastodon post containing extra spaces between every other word, sometimes even multiple extra spaces between words.

@Tiitu Ahaa, nyt ymmärrän mitä tarkoitat. Se voi myös tosiaan riippua palvelimesta, jolla olit aikaisemmin. Jotkin palvelimet eivät ole yhtä ylläpidettyjä tai federoi kovin hyvin, silloin kaikki sisältö ei välttämättä näy. Se on vähän valitettavaa, että joskus ylläpitäjä vaan heittää palvelimen päälle, eikä oikeastaan ylläpidä sitä, asenna releitä yms... Siinä mielessä olet oikeassa, palvelimella on väliä.

Meillä minä onneksi olen hollilla ja minulla on tähän hommaan intohimo, vaikka itse sanonkin.

Meillä saa myös halutut hashtagit federoimaan 100#, @asta:lle viimeksi laitoin kasan käsityöaiheisia valumaan tänne niiltäkin palvelimilta, joilta emme ole tietoisia

#MastoAdmin #MementoMoriSocial #MementoMoriSocialFi

This dude just compared discussing abortion pills to a bomb threat.

What the fuck.

#Fediblock #FediAdmin #MastoAdmin

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A heated exchange on Mastodon between users BeAware and RoundSparrow. BeAware refutes RoundSparrow’s claim that Mastodon doesn’t allow posts about abortion pills, emphasizing the platform’s decentralized nature with over 30,000 instances and suggesting any bans reflect personal biases from specific server admins like Eugen. RoundSparrow counters with a rhetorical question, comparing the legality of abortion pill posts to illegal bomb threats, implying content moderation parallels. BeAware responds strongly, criticizing the comparison and declaring the debate over. The exchange reflects tensions about free speech and moderation on federated platforms.

Turns out it's basically impossible, with built in tools, to disable the Public "Other Servers" feed on Mastodon.

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/22620#issuecomment-2639436898

As a single user instance I don't need to make that available to others but I also don't want to break the federated experience for people who need access to *my* posts and replies.

#OAS #OnlineSafetyAct #Mastodon #MastoAdmin

This is why people should use Fediverse social media and should leave corporate-owned social media, even those who are currently on seemingly non-threatening media like #Bluesky which will eventually become like the rest. https://piefed.social/post/456740 #MastoAdmin (2/2)

#Fediblock @ ginny@social.ginny.today for harassing and threatening a Fediverse developer.

https://social.ginny.today/@ginny/113955484621464018

Fucking ridiculous.

Grow up. This is why Fedi usability sucks.

#FediAdmin #MastoAdmin

When I've blocked a domain on Mastodon, like bird.makeup, why do accounts from that domain still show up in searches? That's the reason I blocked it. I don't want my searches to show those accounts.

#MastoAdmin

Just had to update my 'date I last completely hosed this mastodon instance' tag in my bio. Not even sure what happened, the proxmoxnhost running mastodon crashed, and somehow that corrupted the disk (which is mounted off my NAS) so badly I couldn't recover it. A few hours of backup copy back, and we're back up and running , but I've lost almost 24 hours of content from time of last backup to when it broke :/

#MastoAdmin

The single biggest expense we have is storage of media files attached to Mastodon posts. To reduce these costs, I'm considering the following options. It would be very helpful to know which (if any) you would be okay with.

NB. This is just to gauge what people think – there's no concrete plans to do any right now. Assuming income doesn't improve (see above), there are other technical measures we could try to reduce storage costs.

#MastoAdmin

@asta Ok, kiitos paljon tieosta! Voidaan laittaa kyseiset hashtagit relayn kautta seurantaan niin että fetchaa 100%.

Fediversumin yksi hieman rasittava "rajoite" on toisinaan se, että jos KUKAAN instanssilla ei seuraa kyseistä hashtagia niin silloin sinne tulee ainoastaan päivitykset, josta palvelin on tietoinen tai ei-blokatut sellaiset.

Eli toisin sanoin, jos kohtaamme tilin jota kukaan ei ole täältä seurannut, emme näe tämän tilin vanhoja päivityksiä kun lähdemme seuraamaan. Sama homma joillakin vähemmin seuratuilla hashtageilla. Ja huom, tämä "ongelma" on myös mastodon.socialissa, pienemmässä mittakaavassa tosin, koska siellä on satoja tuhansia aktiivisia käyttäjiä.

Pistin nyt https://relay.fedi.buzz kautta crochet ja sewing, joten sinne pitäisi jatkossa valua samat (ellei enemmän) kamaa kuin mastodon.socialiin. Vanhat ei tietenkään näy samalla tavalla.

Teen jatkuvasti työtä, että meidän instanssi olisi maailman paras. Kerro, jos haluat muitakin häsäreitä näkyviin paremmin!

#MementoMoriSocial #MementomoriSocialFi #MastoAdmin

If you use #NameCheap for anything, another round of "Your Auto-Renewal Payment Didn’t Go Through" phishing emails are hitting inboxes. #infosec

Where they are getting real emails that link up to real domain renewal whois records, esp if you use domain privacy options, I'm not sure. They sent it to a dedicated email account that I use exclusively for Namecheap that shouldn't be in the publicverse.

#MastoAdmin #hosting #Selfhosting .

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This message seems dangerous It contains a suspicious link that was used to steal people’s personal information. Avoid clicking finks or replying with personal information. 6] [:Namecheap Payment Issue for Domain Renewal We’re reaching out because your recent auto-payment for your domain renewal, scheduled for February 3, 2025, was unsuccessful. To prevent any interruptions and

In January 2025, our user base has grown by approximately 3000%. On a typical day in 2024, we processed just under a million interactions per day. However, following the Great Migration Part 2 in January, that number has doubled. While we can certainly handle the increase, the data is fascinating.

#MastoAdmin #MementoMoriSocial

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1851286 interactions in sidekiq jobs in 23th of January, 2025.

🚀 **Big Upgrade for the social.uggs.io Relay!** 🐘⚡

Good news, Mastodon admins! Our relay just got a **massive performance boost** to keep your federation fast & smooth! 💨

🔥 **What’s new?**
✅ **💾 32GB RAM & 16 cores** – More power, better performance!
✅ **⚡ SSD-powered** – Lightning-fast response times.
✅ **🛢️ PostgreSQL & Redis** – Better backend, faster caching!
✅ **🚀 Caddy with HTTP/3** – Future-proof & blazing fast!
✅ **🔓 Open registrations** – New instances welcome!
✅ **⚠️ Inactives get removed** – High-quality relaying only!

💡 Running a Mastodon instance? Connect now & level up your federation! 🌍
📩 Need help? Ping [@chris](https://social.uggs.io/@chris)!

#Mastodon #Fediverse #ActivityPub #MastoAdmin #FediRelay #Decentralized #SelfHosting #OpenSource #Privacy #MastodonRelay #ServerUpgrade #relay #relayserver #MastoAdmin #selfhosting #selfhosted

2/ Just imagine if someone makes a pitch for XYZ, and in the Mastodon Github issue, people start discussing how it could be done with code or scripts, esp to the database.

Google then takes XYZ and starts saying the code or script examples in the issue discussion is what you need to do and someone searching for a solution is served that nonsense and is directed to use the database modifying code and starts messing around with the database and bricks it. #MastoAdmin

Be careful with Google AI for MastoAdmin tasks

As of the latest stable release of Mastodon (v4.3.3), you still can't import or export filters.(If I am wrong, please correct me. My self-hosted instance doesn't have an import option for filters on v4.3.3)

#Google search #Gemini #AI results think you can import filters into Mastodon because it is too dumb to realize when it scraped Mastodon's Github issues, a "pitch" is something people are asking for.

How many people are getting frustrated when they go to Mastodon import and export and it isn't there?

Also makes you wonder what other bad advice it is dishing out based on Mastodon's Github issues pages. Some advice could be catastrophic to an instance if it was regarding tasks an admin would or could take.

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon

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Exporting filters Go to Settings, Select Data Export, Add a row for filters, and Export the filters as a CSV file. Importing filters Go to Settings, Select Import, Import the CSV file of filters, and Merge or overwrite the filters. AI Source https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/30174 Pitch In Settings > Data Export, add a row for filters and allow users to export a CSV with their filters to be imported into a different account. Motivation I'm a big fan of how Mastodon handles keyword filtering and have used the feature extensively, and I would like it to be easier to transfer 40+ keyword filters from one of my accounts to another without necessarily migrating accounts or manually copypasting filtered keywords.

Hey, looks like I got my first instance (that I don't run/administrate) on my relay!

https://relay.hostnetwork.xyz

#mastodon #pleroma #relay #relayserver #MastoAdmin

Percentage statistics for the week here on mementomori.social:

+2600% new users
+101% active users
+197% interactions
+867% reports opened
+867% reports resolved

Average user retention 67% after 1 month.

#MementoMoriSocial #MastoAdmin

Just migrated most of Babb storage to Minio. Then I created some tasks so that I get things backed up.

So much better to have control over own storage...

#minio #mastoadmin #truenas_core #truenas

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Screenshot of Tasks tab of TrueNAS core, showing three backup tasks: one for babb.no, another for bahia.no and another for pixelfed. Bahia.no backup task is marked as Success, while the other two are marked as running.

Our Mastodon instance burningboard.net mostly get traffic from Germany (no wonder, since wer're a mainly German instance)

Statistics generated from Loki+Grafana by parsing the local Nginx logs.

We don't use any third party service for tracking of our users and we work in a privacy-friendly manner and do not share information with others.

#mastoadmin #mastodon #stats #grafana #loki

Database size of a Mastodon instance with 100 active users and multiple relays connected: 15 GB

mastodon=# SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_database_size('mastodon'));
pg_size_pretty
----------------
15 GB
(1 row)

S3 Usage (media files) on the instance: Around 150GB with ~ 702669 files in the bucket.

#mastoadmin #mastodon #stats @tux

Performed some maintenance work on the burningboard.net Mastodon instance:

- Debian updates / errata installed
- PostgreSQL update to v17.2.1 installed
- Update from Grafana 11.4.0 to 11.5.0
- Rebooted system (kernel update)
- Cleanup jobs checked and dead jobs removed from the Sidekiq scheduler
- SSH secured behind WireGuard VPN (SSH only via VPN tunnel)

- Encrypted backup made with proxmox-backup-client to pbs (proxmox-backup-server) and backup verified.

Our small ARM-based server still copes surprisingly well with the whole federation and the amount of data with 100 active users 🙂

#mastoadmin #mastodon #burningboard @tux

Einige Wartungsarbeiten an der burningboard.net Mastodon-Instanz durchgeführt:

- Debian Updates / Errata installiert
- PostgreSQL Update auf v17.2.1 installiert
- Update von Grafana 11.4.0 zu 11.5.0
- System neu gestartet (Kernel-Update)
- Cleanup Jobs kontrolliert und den Sidekiq scheduler von toten Jobs bereinigt
- SSH hinter WireGuard VPN gesichert (SSH nur noch via VPN Tunnel)

- Verschlüsseltes Backup mit proxmox-backup-client zum pbs (proxmox-backup-server) gemacht und Backup verifiziert.

Unser kleiner ARM-Basierter Server kommt mit der ganzen Federation und den Datenmengen erstaunlich gut klar 🙂

#mastoadmin #mastodon #burningboard @tux

For some, joining Mastodon might seem risky because "the server could shut down at any time" or because it's managed by a single administrator. While these concerns are understandable, Mastodon has far more safeguards in place compared to centralized platforms:

1. Admins are typically experienced sysadmins with a strong passion for server management.

2. It's generally recommended to have multiple admins (we have four).

3. Many servers have financial plans in place, such as donation systems. We have my company backing things up.

4. Infrastructure is often cost-effective, keeping operating costs low.

A few additional points to consider:

1. No server - or anything in life - is immortal. That's exactly why I chose the name mementomori.social (the stoic phrase "memento mori" means "remember death").

2. Web services come and go, but longevity is possible. My first website has been online continuously for 27 years (since 1998). While I've migrated servers a few times, the site itself has never gone offline. It will most likely happen after I pass away, but I hope my descendants keep it online.

Unlike centralized platforms - especially newer ones - that rely on user growth and profitability, investors can pull the plug at any time.

The decentralized Fediverse operates differently: sysadmins are committed to keeping their servers online and do so out of dedication, not for monetary gain.

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon #Fediverse #Decentralization #OpenWeb #SocialWeb #SocialMedia

@venite It’s really nice to hear that the name would be your reason for joining! When I created this server in 2022, I hesitated a bit about the name because it carries a personal, stoic perspective on life. It's not for everyone and I wasn't sure if it sounds cool.

I don't mean to say that these two reasons people have given aren't good - on the contrary, they are great reasons. I like Finns getting together and looking for more characters. Perfectly valid reasons.

Some reasons have been especially heartwarming, like people expressing trust in me or the administration.

Personally, I think the best reason to join is a personal one - especially when people want to step away from commercial media and appreciate our code of conduct. I also love when people seek more kindness over chaos. Those reasons truly resonate with me.

#MastoAdmin #MementomoriSocial

I'd like to clarify a few things based on some of the reasons people have mentioned for joining our server.

1. mementomori.social is not exclusively for Finnish users, nor was it built specifically for them. We have a larger Finnish presence because I'm Finnish and the server is located in Finland. However, joining our server doesn't necessarily mean you'll have greater reach within the Finnish community or that it's the best way to see Finnish posts. Finns can be found on many different servers, regardless of where you sign up.

2. We're not the only server with extended post length limits. While we allow 10 000-character posts, many other servers also support more than the default 500 characters.

Mastodon server recommendations often play a big role in where people sign up, but I just wanted to clarify these points.

That said, welcome to our new users – make yourselves at home!

#MementomoriSocial #MastoAdmin

Who is Jan Dirk Beets, the beneficiary of all these "Gaza" GoFundMe campaigns organized under Arab names that started sending unsolicited messages and mentions to people recently on the Fediverse? #mutualaid #MastoAdmin #Fediblock

https://mastodon.social/@mmohamedsaqr/113924188109053808

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Series of GoFundMe showing what was described in the post

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GoFundMe seeking mutual aid for dire gaza need

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Jan Dirk Beets

how hard would it be to manage a fediverse site that doesn't have a domain, just the IP address?

(edit: also how would one deal with dynamic IPs for when the address changes? bc you'd need to notify known servers of the new address, no?)

#fediadmin #mastoadmin #sysadmin

These are my current LLM powered bottleneck calculations for my server. My own calculations showed more like 2000 - 5000, but this is good news.

I'm not going to grow this as big though. The first test limit for me is 1000 users max. I need to see Eurovision goes smoothly.

The storage should be foolproofed for eternity, except we might have to add more SSD for the database after 20 years or so.

#MementoMoriSocial #MastoAdmin

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Table: Breakdown of Performance Bottlenecks Mastodon has several components that can become performance bottlenecks: Component Potential Bottleneck Estimated User Limit R N O] Query performance, write PLY el Sidekiq Jobs (Main server) CPU/RAM usage for 10,000+ federation Elasticsearch (Search) RAM usage, indexing LX) latency Nginx + Puma (Web requests) CPU bottleneck at high LN e Redis (Caching & Background RAM exhaustion 5,000+ jobs) Media Storage (Cloud R2) Not a bottleneck Infinite

Driver du en mastodon-instans? Da vurder gjerne å være med i vår relay:

https://relay.babb.be

Dette er en relay for norske instanser slik at trafikk på norsk eller av interesse for oss i Norge skal kunne nå alle. :)

Send meg en melding hvis du er interessert

#NorskTut #allheimen #mastoadmin

Does anyone have any experience with Elest.io managed hosting?

Especially Fediverse software?🤔

I'm pretty Linux illiterate. Always relying on VERY detailed instructions with commands and such to get me by.

However, lately, Mastodon's updates have led me more and more into the "uncomfortable" area of running my own instance.

I still want/need more customization than can be offered by options like masto.host or toot.io and Elest.io seems to provide that customization. For example, being able to run a script that clears out certain cached data and hosting my media on S3.

If anyone can let me know their experience with Elest.io, I would appreciate it. If I get good responses, I might spin up a new instance on there and migrate at some point.

#SelfHosting #FediAdmin #MastoAdmin #Fediverse #Fedi #Hosting #ManagedHosting

Some #mastoadmin (or other Fediverse Software that supports AP relays ) in the mood to try my ActivityPub Relay? https://ap-relay.mxhdr.net

#ActivityPub #Relay

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

Assuming you want to provide your Fediverse instance with S3 storage but not use Amazon, Wasabi, or Hetzner, what options are there? Important > hosting MUST be in the EU.

Edit:
Also no companies that are based in the US.

Edit 2: I thank you all for your suggestions :) I'll take a look at it

#FediAdmin #MastoAdmin

I enabled the #FediBuzz relay for a couple of HashTags to see if I was missing any messages and it appears to be pulling in a few more sources.

But as well as getting added to my HashTag and Federated timeline columns they are also showing up in my Home column, which I wouldn't have expected.

Is this the correct behaviour?

#mastodon #mastoadmin

What's currently the best way to setup a Mastodon account to automatically boost another account's content?

(Use case: hackerspace's account could boost videos uploaded to hackerspace's peertube account)

#MastoAdmin

Falls es jemand noch nicht kennen sollte, der eine kleine Mastodon Instanz administriert:
Unter https://relay.fedi.buzz von @astro könnt ihr nahezu beliebige Instanzen bzw. Hashtags als Relay in eure Instanz einbinden.
#Mastodon #mastoadmin

#BSDCafe #BSDCafeStatus #BSDCafeUpdates #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements #Mastodon #MastoAdmin #SysAdmin

@cragsand @MastodonEngineering @Mastodon @elk I think they are aware. 😅
I've been sending my ideas under issue discussions and pretty sure that couple of things we have today were inspired by other UIs like Elk and Mastodon Bird UI.

But things need to be built to core. The SCSS side of it needs major rework. I hope they find someone who is eager to take the task.

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon

#MastoAdmin question, what does it mean when the `tootctl media remove` command outputs: "Switching object-storage from red to green" ?

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Console output for media remove tool. A lot of Error Processing lines followed by switching object storage from red to green. It successfully removed 207,493 media attachments (Approx. 231GB)

A thing like this [fedialgo] should be built-in to Mastodon. An algorithmic feed YOU can customize to YOUR liking in settings, and then it will just be there in the Explore tab. Heck, we could even have custom feeds like Bluesky and Threads, but USER driven.

I could just try and create to my Mastodon fork here at #MementoMoriSocial as a christmas holiday project.

https://github.com/michelcrypt4d4mus/fedialgo_demo_app_foryoufeed

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon #Algorithm #Feed #SocialWeb

New research paper on the experiences of serving as Mastodon admins to be presented at ACM SIGCHI conference next month, based on 16 admin interviews (including me) #MastoAdmin #fedi #CHI https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9e9ea5d1-f02b-4f65-8f83-9a72e9e46213

2 new users during the same day and I'm like: "Where is this influx of users coming from?" 😂

#MastoAdmin #MementoMoriSocial

Another spam wave!

Mastodon filtered most of the notifications.

#fedispam #fediadmin #mastoadmin #mastodon #fediverse