Resources for choosing the right fediverse instance - and I'm not just talking about Mastodon (DRAFT)

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"Signing up means picking an instance, and the instance you’re on will, through its moderation actions and policies and its federation and defederation choices, define much of your experience on the fediverse"

Erin Kissane, The affordance loop

Contents

• Intro
• What kind of social network experience are you looking for?
• Instance directories
• Instance catalogs
• Finding out more information about a specific instance
• Some important questions to ask
• Remember: you can have more than one account

A lot of people are coming to the fediverses these days looking for alternatives to Twitter now that Apartheid Clyde has turned it into the fascist hellscape of Xitter. You can certainly find those in the fediverses, and if that's all you're looking for – or you're in a rush, you may want to read If you're looking for a Twitter alternative ... before this post.

But there's a lot more in the fediverses than Twitter alternatives – including a lot of things that are very hard to find on corporate social networks. The fediverses are decentralized social network ecosystems, with hundreds of different software platforms offering different functionality, and thousands of instances you can have accounts on – each with their own policies, norms, and culture. People on different instances can often (although not always) interact with each other just like on centralized corporate social networks: following, liking, resharing, replying, mentioning, blocking, etc etc etc.

Terminology note: instances are also called sites, servers, service providers, hubs, and platforms – and all of those words have other meanings as well. Yes, it's confusing. And speaking of confusing, people often talk about "the Fediverse" is if there's only one, but there's a lot of debate about just what fediverse "the Fediverse" refers to. Welcome to the fediverses!

There are many fediverses has more on the terminology I'm using here.

So the fediverses offer a lot more flexibility and variety than traditional centralized corporate social network – which means that there's a good chance that you can find what you want somewhere in the fediverses. That's good! But the flexibility and variety also means that finding what you want in the the fediverses is generally a lot more complicated than just signing up for a corporate social network.

And the complications starts very on. What instance do you sign up for?

The good news is that whatever choice you make when you first sign up isn't irrevocable. any people (including me!) have accounts on multiple instances. Moving isn't uncommon (although it can be a hassle). Still, there's nothing like a good first experience, so it's better to sign up on an instance that's likely to be a good fit for what you're working for. And unfortunately a lot of the information that you really need to make a good choice isn't easy to find.

It would be great to have some kind of portal or tool to help people find and evaluate potential instances ... alas, that doesn't exist yet. Still, there are some useful instance catalogs and directories, and ways to get more information about instances you might be interested in. It just takes a little work to find it.

Before we get to that, though, let's start with an important question.

What kind of social network experience are you looking for?

Different fediverse software is good at different things. If there's a particular kind of social network that you're looking for, you'll want to find an instance running software that provides the right functionality:

• For a small to medium size community where you can also participate in broader conversations, Glitch, Hometown, GoToSocial, Akkoma, Friendica, Hubzilla, Sharkey, and Mastodon are all options. So are forums like NodeBB and Discord. Small sites are much more likely to have a community feel and responsive moderators; as mastodon.art's Curator says, "It's more like belonging to a home that looks after you and your online wellbeing, as opposed to being one person in a sea of strangers forming connections with people on lots of disparate islands."
• For Twitter-style microblogging, consider Bluesky and Threads as well as Mastodon and the other software in the previous bullet.
• For browsing or share videos,PeerTube is likely to be your best bet.
• For Instagram-like photo sharing, you might want to check out Pixelfed.
• For reddit-style link aggregation, options include Lemmy, Mbin, and Piefed are options.
• If you're a blogger, choices include micro.blog, WriteFreely, and WordPerfect

Per Axbom's The many branches of the Fediverse and Join the Fediverse's If You Like / You Should Try have links to dozens of different projects.

Of course, the functionality isn't the only thing that matters ... in fact, for many people, the functionality is far from the most important thing. What langauge does a server use? If you don't speak Japanese, misskey.io might not be the best choice for you no matter how much you love the user interface!

"As a Blind person i never thought i would be on social media savoring photos. But the communal Mastodon alt text game is so strong that sweet, poetic or silly descriptions abound on my timeline. Thanks to legions of people who take time to write a meaningful description of the ephemera they post, i learn so much about insects, plants, buildings, memes — all dispatches from a dimension of the world that i otherwise wouldn't experience. If you're wondering whether anybody reads these things: YES."

– Chancey Fleet

Alt text on images is another great example of how it's not just about the functionality. Most social network software these days supports alt text on images. But how many people actually use the functionality? A lot more on Mastodon than on Bluesky or Threads!

In a poll I did a few weeks ago, almost 40% said alt text on images was something they're looking for in the fediverses. If that's true for you as well, then this might well outweigh other functionality concerns. Alt Text Health Check's leaderboards highlight some instances that are particularly good on this front (although since you can follow people on other instances, once you find the right people you'll see plenty of alt text wherever you are).

Of course, the software itself needs to be accessible, and the official Mastodon web user interface and apps aren't great on this front. Fortunately, there are other options – see Accessibility resources for Mastodon and compatible software for more.

Public service announcement: please help strengthen this wonderful aspect of fediverse culture! You can help by adding alt text to your images – and by not boosting or resharing images which don't have alt text.

A few other examples from that poll that aren't just about functionality.

• Many people are looking for specific topics – fandom-related news and discussions, anarchist perspectives, bird and nature photography, and so on. Of course, since you can follow people on other instances, you can find all of these topics anywhere in the fediverse. Still, you're likely to see a lot more of them if you're on an instance that focuses on that topic. For example, blorbo.social, fandom.ink, gaypirates.club, and startrek.website are all fandom focused; kolektiva.social and todon.eu have a lot of anarchists.
• Almost 90% of the responses said they were looking for "a social network that's not run by a corporation making money from my data". You're not going to find that on Threads (which is owned by Facebook's parent company Meta) no matter how good the functionality is. And Bluesky is a venture-funded big tech company, so even thought they're not making money from people's data yet, that's also a consider
• Roughly two-thirds said that they wanted "a place where people agree that trans rights are human rights". There are a lot of very pro-LGBTQIA2S+ instances in the fediverse (although many of them are very white and may not be great choices for people of color). The Trans Fediverse and the LGBTQ pages of the instance directories I'll discuss below are good places to look. On the other hand, Threads allows anti-LGBTQIA2S+ hate groups, and doesn't moderate against hate speech, so that's not as good a choice.

And Mastodon and much other fediverse software has support for content warnings (CWs). Some instances ask for CWs on discussions of food, alcohol, or photos with eye contact – which makes them a more pleasant environment for some (but by no means all) people with eating disorders, people in recovery, or autistic people who are triggered by eye contact. On the other hand, others might well find these requirements too burdensome.

Note that while content warnings can be useful, they're also a source of conflict. For example, some instances expect users to put CWs on "political" content, or have policies that require "civil" discourse. In practice (no matter the intent) these often leads to people asking Black, Indigenous, trans, and other marginalized users to place content warnings on their day-to-day lives – or to be "less angry". Shel Raphen's excellent On Content Warnings includes a detailed discussion of content warnings on Mastodon.

Instance directories

Most fediverse software platforms have some kind of directory – usually on the official "landing page" – that lists various instances. Find a PeerTube platform, Pixelfed's list of instances, and joinmastodon.org's server page are three good examples. Most let you search by region or topic; here's joinmastodon's LGBTQ+ page,

These sites typically only have a single-sentence description for each – and they don't provide any information about how well-moderated an instance is (which makes a huge difference, especially for marginalized people) or what percentage of images on the instance have alt-text – but they're useful starting points.

To the Fediverse, fediverse.party, fediverse.observer's map, and instances.social all much longer lists of instances, aren't restricted to specific kinds of software, and support various kinds of search – here's To the Fediverse's LGBT category. mastodon.help's instance search tool is Mastodon-only, but provides more information than some of the other tools. Keep in mind that these directories also include instances that don't necessarily have good moderation, so may allow hate speech and harassment. You'll want to find out more information before signing up! Also, the directories sometimes take a while to update, so may include some instances that don't exist any longer – and may not include the newest isntances.

fedi.garden takes a different approach; it's a "small human-curated list of nice, well run servers on Mastodon and the wider Fediverse", run by the same person who runs fedi.tips. Instances are categorized by topics, countries, languages and type of software; for example, here's fedi.garden's lgbtqia page. All of the sites listed on fedi.garden have promised to obey specific standards of reliability and responsible moderation.

The Anti-Meta Fedi Pact is a list of instances that have committed to block communications with Meta's Threads that can be useful if you want to stay as far away as possible from Mark F—ing Zuckerberg. Many of the sites listed here are run by trans and queer people (if you're not sure why, We're here, we're queer, fuck Facebook (or whatever they're calling themselves these days has some of the history). Note that these aren't the only instances that block Threads; the https://fedipact.veganism.social/ instance catalog (described below) has more.

Instance catalogs

The Bad Space is an instance catalog that provides information about instances that house bad actors or are poorly moderated. The project is a collaboration of communities committed to actively moderating against racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, ableism, casteism, or bigotry directed at any religion. Of course, just like any review or recommendation site, opinions differ; some people think that some of the instances on The Bad Space shouldn't be there. So don't assume everything you see here is 100% accurate. Still, checking The Bad Space is a good way to avoid from accidentally signing up for an instance that's got a really bad reputation.

The Fediseer is a public space where people running an instance can specify approval/disapproval of other instances, as well "guarantee" other instances as spam-free. Again, don't assume everything here is 100% accurate. When I was researching Compare and contrast: Fediseer, FIRES, and The Bad Space I found an endorsement on Fediseer for "good moderation" about an instance that's widely-known for harassment, trolling, and hate speech! Still, especially for Lemmy instaances, it's a useful resource.

https://fedipact.veganism.social/ is an instance catalog that lets you see whether or not an instance communicates with Meta's Threads. If there are accounts on Threads that you want to follow from the fediverse, you'll want to be on an instance that federates or has limited communications (although even if you are, you can only follow them if they've turned on the Threads Fediverse option). If on the other hand you want nothing at all to do with Threads, you'll want to be on an instance that's a fedipact signer or has blocked threads.

Finding out more information about a specific instance

Once you narrow down your search, there are a few ways to find out more information before you setting up an account.

Instances typically have a page giving an overview of what the site's of the site and list the site's policies (as a list of rules or a code of conduct), and what version of the software the site is using. Many instances show this by default on the main page to people who aren't logged in. Others don't so, you have to go hunting around.

On Mastodon, it's the About link in dark purple text on a black backround (ouch!) next to the instance name near the bottom of the left-hand side of the web interface (but not the other About link below that, which gives you information about Mastodon). On the Mastodon mobile web interface, you'll need to scroll to the bottom to find the About links.

One important thing to look for is the site's policy about hate speech and harassment. On Mastodon and Pixelfed instances, the Server Rules section typically has an overview; some instances also link out to more detailed explanations. Of course some sites with good policies don't actually enforce them in practice, so there's no guarantee, but sites with bad policies are big red flags.

If the policy talks about "free speech" in their description, rules, or code of conduct, that's often (although not always) code for an almost-anything-goes attitude.

Also useful: many sites include a list of instances they've blocked or limited, along with explanations; on Mastodon, this is the Moderated Servers section. This is one of the best ways to see if they're moderating actively – and what they consider cause for blocking. On the other hand, publishing a list of blocked instances can potentially open moderators up to harassment many instances intentionally don't publish the list.

Instances should also include a link to their privacy policy and terms of use. A lot of these are fairly boilerplate; a recent research paper reported that only about 10% of the Mastodon instances they looked at had changed the default policy. Still, it might be worth checking. And if they don't have a privacy policy, that's a big big red flag.

Many instances let you look at some of what's going on even without logging in. On instances running Misskey and forks (variants) like Sharkey, the home page not only shows the local timeline but all the emoji and images people are using, so it really gives a feel for the vibrancy of the user interface as well as the content. On some Mastodon instances, you can see the timelines by clicking on Live Feeds or the globe (on the right of the web page – the mobile web UI only shows the globe); This server shows public posts from people on that instsance. Many Mastodon instances also let you see the Profiles directory; the link's near the bottom on the left, just to the right of the About link.

Bear in mind though that most conversations aren't public, and many people prefer not to having their profiles included in the directory. So this is only a partial picture. Still, it's better than nothing!

Some important questions to ask

Some of the key information you might want to know about the instance often aren't available on about pages.

• Do they have limits on how many users can join the instance, or are they trying to grow as big as possible?
• Do they have a dedicated team of mods? How diverse are they?
• How active is the instance?
• What is the policy about content warnings (aka CWs)? See the dicsussion of content warnings earlier in this post for why this matters.

One option is to try to contact the admin before signing up – many instances have an email address or a contact form somewhere. Another option is to sign up without knowing the answer and then send a message to the admins or moderators.

Several of these questions originally came from RadioAngel's suggestions about what to look for when choosing an instance, and are quoted with permission. And thanks to Damon for suggesting the question about CWs!)

Remember: you can have more than one account

There's only so much you can learn about any social network without actually being there. Are people friendly? What gets discussed on the local timeline? Do the norms match what you're looking for? Is it diverse, or is almost everybody active there white and/or a guy? How good are the moderators?

So your first choice might not work out as well as you had hoped. Most long-timers in the fediverse have more than one account. Including me! Back in 2017 my first account on Mastodon was not a good experience, but just as I was about to give up somebody I knew invited me to another instance which was much much much better. I still have that account and use it with long-time friends, but in 2022 I decided that I also wanted an account that would follow a lot more people. These days my primary account is on blahaj.zone, a small instance for queer folk and their allies. blahaj.zone runs on Sharkey (a fork of Misskey), which has a very vibrant user interface – quite a different experience from Mastodon.

Similarly The Nexus of Privacy's account started out on another Mastodon instance before I shifted to infosec.exchange – which runs Glitch, so allows for longer posts with formatting and polls with more options, both of which I use extensively. The Nexus of Privacy also has a Lemmy account (on lemmy.blahaj.zone, which as you can probably guess from the name is run by the same people that run blahaj.zone). There's some interaction between Mastodon and Lemmy but I wanted to set up my own Lemmy community and you can't do that with a Mastodon account.

Mastodon and Glitch (as well as a lot of other fediverse software) supports a limited form of account migration: you can automagically move most of your followers over to your new account, although not your posts – and there are some gotchas. If and when you decide to migrate your account, make sure to read Cutie City's guide to Migrating Servers and Erin Kissane's Notes From a Mastodon Migration. I didn't actually migrate my account; I just made a pinned post saying I was moving, then exported the list of who I was following from my existing account and imported it on my new account and hoped they'd follow me back if they were interested. Some did, some didn't. Oh well, such is life.

And keep in mind that you're not locked into your initial choice. If the instance you've chosen isn't working for you, find another one!

Update log

November 2022: originally published as How to choose the right Mastodon instance? (with a focus just on Mastodon)

June 2023: Revised version published on We Distribute as When Moving to Mastodon, How Do You Pick The Right Instance?

November 17, 2024: draft of new version, now focusing on the fediverse as a whole!