But it’s just not doing it for me.

The main selling point of Mastodon is its federation I think, and I tend to agree with Tim Bray’s points that some kind of decentralized, protocol-based network for social exchange is what will endure. Having one service run by one group of people is brittle. Having many services run by many groups of people is resilient.

People explain that Mastodon and the Fediverse are similar to email. You can make an account with any provider, and it lets you speak to anyone on a different service. You can have a Gmail account and still send emails to a Fastmail account.

But for me, the analogy is not apt, mainly because of server rules and moderation.

Moderation of Mastodon

Each Mastodon server has its own set of rules and moderation guidelines. There are things you can’t say on certain servers, and servers can even blacklist other servers if they notice a strong trend of bad activity. Let’s be clear, I prefer keeping angry Nazis away. But it’s not the same as an email provider.

Imagine if Gmail didn’t allow you to send emails that made derogatory comments. Or emails that contained copyrighted images. Or if Fastmail stopped allowing you to send emails to Hotmail users because there was too much spam coming from it.

The point is not whether those are good or bad decisions, but that it does matter who you sign up with.

Who do I want moderating my experience?

When comparing Bluesky to Mastodon, one point brought up often is that it is venture-backed. The service needs to generate money, and in the long run, for-profit services will go to shit. This is probably true.

Honestly, I’m OK with staying while it’s good and getting out when it gets bad. That’s what I’ve done with Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and whatever else. That’s life online.

The more pressing issue in the short term is who I want to be running the service I sign up for. The unpaid volunteers of a particular Mastodon instance who want to keep the service good because they care? Or paid employees of a publically scrutinized company who want to keep the service good for a strong salary?

Am I crazy to say that the latter feels more stable and reliable?

Passion projects fizzle out when the passion dies, but money keeps the wheels turning. Bluesky’s mission now is agreeable to me, so I’ll stay on their service and feel peace of mind. As the service strays from this ideal in the future, as it most likely will, I’ll look around for whatever better option is available then.

The actual best solution

If I want freedom and permanence together, the best solution is probably to run my own Mastodon server. And that does seem like the answer I’m looking for. I’m in control of my data and can do with it as I please. I can connect to other Mastodon instances and participate in the larger community. And while the small details may change, I can bet on a federated future that continues to let me maintain a node that plugs into a larger network.

The only problem, and it’s kind of a big one, is the price and the hassle. Setting up a Maston server is still kind of a lot of work, and the cost of upkeep is significant. I hope that entry costs will continue to go down because that is the future that I am most excited to see.