Frequently Asked Questions

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If you don't want to use the table, but still need some general guidance, or you'd like to understand more about what's going on, the following is a brief rundown of the basics. May add more as time goes on.

How do I contact you?

If you have comments/suggestions/questions, hit me up on tomat0@mastodon.social. If you're not on Mastodon, you can also DM me on Twitter @TomatDividedBy0.

What is the purpose of this site?

The most confusing part for newcomers is figuring out how to register, and understanding Mastodon's design enough to even get started. A directory is the easiest way to solve this, but most directories are automatically curated, still requiring some knowledge on the user's part to parse out a worthwhile instance.

This site seeks to cut out as much of that work as possible by manually curating the instances, presenting the essential information, and cutting out as many steps between hearing about Mastodon and signing up on Mastodon. Ideally in the future, I'd like to make a more polished and feature-filled site, but this will do for the time being.

What are these terms people keep using?

One of the things about Mastodon is that there's a bit of a lingo to it, but that's sort of to be expected with any new technology, including the ones we've long become accustomed to. As a user, you don't need to know it all, but here's the essentials:

Instance: Mastodon is a service, not a single site like Twitter. Anyone can provide this service, and registering with any one provider still gives you access to the whole ecosystem, just like how signing up on G-Mail still allows you to email people on Outlook. An instance is essentially another term for a service provider, any one website which allows you to use Mastodon.

Why does the instance I pick matter?

Currently, the migration tools on Mastodon are incomplete, so you should make sure you pick a good place to start, as switching later can result in you losing your posts. There are tools to get back other stuff like your followers/following, but even then those have their caveats. Pick a reliable server though and this shouldn't be a big deal.

In addition, unlike Twitter, getting engagement on Mastodon is a lot easier, thanks to the local feed. The local feed pretty much only shows posts on your own instance, so it ends up creating a closer community of sorts. Many instances form around certain hobbies or groups as a result, and picking an instance whose culture you fit into can do a lot for your experience.

What should I look out for in a good instance?

Reliability: Someone is hosting this, you want to see signs that the site won't go down like a year from now. An active feed with an active admin is usually a good sign.
- On the signup page of an instance, there'll be some basic activity stats and a link to the admin's profile. Use both to make your decision. Some instances will let you access the public feed, definitely scroll through that too if you have a chance.
Activity: You'll get access to all posts across the Mastodon ecosystem, but it's nice to have users on the same site as you as that's where you'll get a lot of engagement from.
Moderation: Each instance sets its own rules and moderation policy, but they also tend to show the rules up front. Read the rules to get an understanding of boundaries, and check out the public feed to get an understanding of the server culture, so you'll know if you're a good fit.

If you go with a policy too strict, you might find yourself butting heads with the admins, but if you go with one which you feel is too lax, you might end up with a lot of content you'd rather not see (spam, NSFW stuff, or other offensive material).

How do you define instance size?

An instance is considered Tiny if it has less than 100 users.
An instance is considered Small if it has 100-1000 users.
An instance is considered Medium if it has 1000-10k users.
An instance is considered Large if it has over 10k users.

For small accounts, a lot of engagement comes from the local feed, which is determined by what instance you pick. Tiny instances may be too inactive for you to make much use of the local timeline, whereas the largest of instances may have you competing with too many people for attention. (Note that this is often less of an issue than having your instance be too tiny). Smaller instances are also more likely to shut down, as less users means less incentive to pay server costs. The caveat though, is that sometimes member counts can be artifically inflated by spam accounts, so the best way to judge is still by viewing the local feed.

Why are so many instances closed?

Just like a lot of sites (including Twitter), Mastodon has a spam problem. If moderators are not vigilant, spam accounts will begin to pile up en masse. As a result, many find it easier to disable automatic sign-up and instead have people either come in via invite or apply manually. It sucks but hopefully we can develop some spam filtering tools soon.