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Erin Bensinger
Erin Bensinger

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Best Mastodon servers...go 🦣

The social networking site Mastodon has seen a huge boost in popularity this week due to the high-profile change in Twitter leadership. Since Mastodon is federated, there are various servers to be joined and engaged with, each with their own topics and vibes.

mastodon.social, the only server (I think?) actually run and moderated by the folks behind Mastodon, has been a little laggy and overrun as an influx of Twitter defectors arrived this week. It's also a very generalized space, with nearly each local post in my feed addressing a different topic.

So, devs! I want to know what your favorite Mastodon servers are for programming, development, and tech-related topics. Drop your thoughts in the comments and help us all out. 🦣

Top comments (16)

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abhinav1217 profile image
Abhinav Kulshreshtha

I have heard that fosstodon.org updates more frequently than mastodon.social But I only know this because some of the guys I follow moved their server to fosstodon. Some of the linux focused youtubers have made their own server linuxrocks.online So if you are into linux related contents, that is a good server.

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hal_9000_dd85f915ebc757c1 profile image
HAL 9000

I checked this one out, and scrolling down about three screens, I didn't see any Linux-related content. Any other suggestions for Linux aficionados?

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper • Edited

I'm strongly considering my own server, but I've definitely seen a lot of folks on fosstodon.org and mstdn.social. Some of the other places I'm following folks are chaos.social hachyderm.io and indieweb.social - and so many more - it is such an interesting space to explore and discover people.

I'm not suggesting that it is a place to necessarily start an account unless you are 🤖 but botsin.space is also pretty neat - my podcast has an account there now, @gamesinwork_biz@botsin.space

Idea for DEV - make it easier for Fediverse users to share their addresses in comments and profiles :-) (and/or join via ActivityPub - fairly certain there was an earlier architectural / philosophical discussion about Forem doing this, but ICBM)

Oh, I am @andypiper@mastodon.social for the moment!

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nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor • Edited

I love my server, toot.cafe, but as far as I know, they're not taking new members atm. Regardless, if you want to connect over there, I'm @toot.cafe@nickytonline

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abhinav1217 profile image
Abhinav Kulshreshtha

Thanks for invite, I just followed you.

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jujist profile image
Jujist

Fosstodon for Open Source enthusiasts :)
fosstodon.org/

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wandering-geek profile image
Krishna

It looks like they stopped account signups on mastodon.social.

If you are in the cybersecurity/infosec space, you should check out infosec.exchange

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sramkrishna profile image
Sriram Ramkrishna

there is foss.social - which is where all the open source projects live. I'm on mastodon.social as I don't mind the generalized topics.

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pbnj profile image
Peter Benjamin (they/them)

hachyderm.io:

Here we are trying to build a curated network of respectful professionals in the tech industry around the globe. Welcome anyone who follows the rules and needs a safe home or fresh start. We are hackers, professionals, enthusiasts, and are passionate about life, respect, and digital freedom. We believe in peace and balance. Safe space. Tech Industry. Economics. OSINT. News. Rust. Linux. Aurae. Kubernetes. Go. C. Infrastructure. Security. LGTBQIA+. Pets. Hobbies.

Administered by the amazing Kris Nóva

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martinrojas profile image
martin rojas

I am also in hacyderm. Its good for technology overall, but seems to be a little more about security sided, but would be awesome to have more devs. @nextsteps@hachyderm.io Do give a follow.

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thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt • Edited

I'm on @mstdn.io@thomasbnt, but this instance is only with invitations. Hosted in France and maintained by a French person since 2017.

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ddaypunk profile image
Andy Delso • Edited

So many are going down with the influx of users. I signed up on mas.to because it looks like cybre.space is closing down... Having issues migrating and all that!

@ddaypunk@mas.to now and planning to post things related to my posts on dev.to there like Android, Kotlin, and Quality!

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ddaypunk profile image
Andy Delso • Edited

also trying to get one andy@androiddev.social to be relevant professionally

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fyrfli profile image
Camille

I joined up over 6 months ago and this is a summary of my observations and interactions over that time:

mastodon.online is also by the Mastodon team, I think.

Right now all the bigger instances are trying to manage the new influx of folks. mstdn.social is one big one that I know of that has been having glitches with the new folks. The admin, stux, communicates admirably about server stuff which is helpful so you always know what is being done to streamline the experience.

mastodon.coffee - for coffee enthusiasts - is another ran by stux.

Fosstodon is great. I love that community.

One of the things I have noticed is that a lot of people run their own servers and there are a ton of options depending on what you want out of it.

Some of the easier ones to host are friendica and pleroma. Mastodon is heavy and needs more resources than any of the others.