Update:

So this morning I was successfully able to jump my GTS container from my Synology NAS to a container on my main server box. It worked no problem this time, so I suspect my hypothesis about getting limited by LetsEncrypt was correct; after letting it cool down for a couple of days it’s started up no problem.

I’m expecting a noticeable performance bump as the new hardware has a lot more torque. Performance on the NAS was fine, until it started doing disk-intensive stuff which introduced quite a bit of lag.

#GoToSocial #SelfHost #SelfHosted #Selfhosting

It is my Fediversary this week! (I missed the technical date on the 11th but that is fine.)

I joined the mastodon.xyz instance with my old account in 2018, which means I've been on the Fediverse for 8 years now! I've been running this personal instance for a few years on #GoToSocial .

Anyways, virtual cake for everyone and here's to 8 more years at least that we get to carve out our own spaces and try to learn to be better humans along the way!
🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
#fediversary

Update on the #GoToSocial project: it definitely seems to stall out when the disk I/O ramps up on the NAS due to a scheduled backup task. I tried relocating the GTS instance to container on a different machine, and then to a VM on a different machine but both attempts failed; something to to with LetsEncrypt. I suspect maybe I got rate-limited?

Anyway, it’s back under the NAS for now. I did some tweaking of the  timing of the backup jobs so we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning. 🤷‍♂️

#SelfHost #SelfHosted #Selfhosting

There is a person I've been helping for a while who runs two instances, one #GoToSocial and one #snac.

Yesterday, they suffered severe file system corruption on their device, and I lent them a hand with the recovery. For GoToSocial, they restored the DB from the previous backup and got it running again. For snac, although a few files were lost, no action was necessary... it just started back up and did what it had to do, bringing the instance back to full operation.

This goes to show that when software is well-designed and intentionally kept simple, it's also easier to get back up and running when something goes wrong. In this case, snac's "files-only" approach demonstrated excellent resilience.

Thanks, @grunfink !

#snac2 #snac #ThankYouTuesday #Efficiency #IT #SysAdmin #OwnYourData

Relay actor stuff is coming along it's coming along!

In the settings panel of the branch I'm working on, admins can now create, update, and delete relay actors (and their matchers), choose whether to manually approve follow requests, etc.

Next I'm gonna add some more panels for managing follow requests, removing followers, and creating and removing blocks.

#GoToSocial #Relay #Piss

Alt...

Relay actor overview page, showing 1 relay actor with its avatar visible.

Alt...

Settings page for customizing + updating a relay actor, exposing settings for setting display pic, header, display name, etc.

Alt...

More customization options for the relay actor, including manually accepting connection requests, bio, fields...

Alt...

Web view of the relay actor, with customization in place, showing a nice explanation of how to connect to the relay, how many connections it has, etc.

Special day today: the home screen of my jailbroken e-reader informed me I hit a 100-day reading streak. This week's average reading time has been 42 minutes a day 🥳

I owe it all to #KOreader and #SimpleUI - somehow having visible metrics motivated me to pick up my #Kindle every day.

I wrote more about it on my #GoToSocial account: https://aseachange.com/@elena/statuses/01KR0PEJEZ00Y7506QFE60TKA3

If you are interested in doing something similar, the website https://kindlemodding.org is a phenomenal resource.

#KindleJailbreak

hot take, EVERY activitypub implementation should build an OICD connector just as #gotosocial https://docs.gotosocial.org/en/latest/configuration/oidc/

why you say?

Imagine using my mastodon account in any server to login in any other mastodon server, pixelfed, lemmy, you name it ... single login

Good morning Fedi friends,

I have been feeling a rising anxiety over the state of the open web and the fediverse - after seeing efforts by politicians all over the world (in Europe too!) to introduce age verification laws for social media.

My way of coping?

Teaching people how to self-host their own Fediverse profile (using the superb #GoToSocial) via #YunoHost.

Chapter 1 in this series is available here:

🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/a-newbies-guide-to-self-hosting-gotosocial-part-1-installation-and-set-up/

#resist #blog #ActivityPub #selfhosting

📣​ New post 📝​

"A newbie's guide to self-hosting: GoToSocial part 1 (installation and set-up)"

🔗​: https://blog.elenarossini.com/a-newbies-guide-to-self-hosting-gotosocial-part-1-installation-and-set-up/

Basically a visual guide showing how to install #GoToSocial via #YunoHost and set it up with some basic security.

⏱️​ From start to finish, it should take about 25-30 minutes.

It's my act of resistance against tech bros... I love the idea of teaching people how to self-host their own social media instance, connected to the fediverse ✌️​❤️​ ​

Thank you @yunohost  and @gotosocial for empowering us all!

#SelfHosting #Fediverse #newbie #MySoCalledSudoLife #blog #resist

Working on a brand new post for my series "a newbie's guide to self-hosting with #YunoHost" - showing people how to set up their own #GoToSocial microblogging instance.

Sorry it's been taking a while: I started over when I realized most people use subdomains... and I'm doing a thorough step-by-step explainer that any newbie could follow - I hope 😅

The whole series is available here:

🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/a-newbies-guide-to-self-hosting-with-yunohost/

#SelfHosting #MySoCalledSudoLife #blog

Alt...

a screenshot of GoToSocial's installation page on YunoHost that reads: "GoToSocial Current version: 0.22.0~ynh1 Potential alternative to: Akkoma, Bluesky, Calckey, Mastodon, Misskey, Pleroma, Threads, X GoToSocial is a fast ActivityPub social network server, written in Golang. With GoToSocial, you can keep in touch with your friends, post, read, and share images and articles. All without being tracked or advertised to! The official documentation is at docs.gotosocial.org. Admins are strongly encouraged to read the documentation of this package after installing it. It is available in the webadmin under Applications > gotosocial (at the bottom) or here on the package's repository! Please note that this package uses the "i'm so tired" software license 1.0, please read it and accept it before proceeding with installation."

@kim's massive chore PR to remove #GoToSocial's dependency on Gin got squerged a while ago: https://codeberg.org/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial/pulls/4847

Gin was useful for a while when GtS was in its infancy cuz Go didn't have decent http routing stuff in the standard library back then. But now it does! And not only that, but Gin started accepting LLM contributions recently, so it clearly had to go 🤢

We'll keep monitoring + trying to remove dependencies on "ai"-happy code as we go along; and, as always, we will continue to forbid any LLM-based contributions to GtS itself, because ew, ick, yikes, gross.

Happy slothin'

Livetooting from my #GoToSocial test installation for my upcoming blog post about how to install it with ​

This ​ installation took about 4 minutes (I used a stopwatch!) and my oh my there is so much to cover when it comes to personalizing an account. I could write a novel! Apologies in advance if I can only discuss the basics 😅​

Good morning Fedi friends!

On the agenda today: writing a first draft explaining to newbies how to self-host #GoToSocial with the help of #YunoHost.

Now, to do a step-by-step installation guide I need to create a brand new account, so I can document everything.

I'm a little stressed out thinking of which domain name to use and the fact it would be something like my 20th - yes TWENTIETH - ActivityPub account!!! 🫠

The things you do for the love of the fediverse 😅​

#MySoCalledSudoLife #SelfHosting

Let's see what platforms are responding to this year's Social Web survey, the annual questionnaire to see how #FediAdmin and #FediMod folks are doing:

#Mastodon 54
#Matrix 17
#PeerTube 15
#WordPress 10
#Pixelfed 9
#ATProto platform 8
#Lemmy 8
#Pleroma 8
#Bookwyrm 6
#GoToSocial 5
#Bonfire 4
#Gancio 4
#Sharkey 4
#Writefreely 4
#Akkoma 3
#Friendica 3
#Ghost 3
#Mobilizon 3
#Nostr platform 3
#Funkwhale 2
#Hometown 2
#Misskey 2
#NodeBB 2
#Hubzilla 1

Alt...

Social Web Survey cover page "2026 Social Web Operations Survey IFTAS' annual environment scan and needs assessment for the platform admins, moderators, and social web community builders safeguarding the open web."

Aw sweet sweet temptation.

Worry not dear Fedi friends, I can assure you I'm going back to writing wholesome self-hosting guides for newbies.

Next up: how to install and set-up #GoToSocial with the help of #YunoHost (coming next week).

The temptation to write about a certain 4-letter, somewhat hyped, closed-source EU social network was strong... but I am keeping those impulses in check. ewww social, you're safe! 🤭

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Alt...

the meme of a man sweating profusely as he has to make a decision about which button to push. the choices here: "an article roasting another European platform" and "a self-hosting guide for GoToSocial"

European institutions seem to be all in when it comes to introducing age verification mandates for citizens in member states: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/commission-sets-out-common-approach-eu-wide-age-verification-technologies

I now have daily anxiety thinking about the future of the fediverse.

So how do I channel this fear and turn it into something constructive? I'm going back to writing #selfhosting guides for newbies.

It's a great distraction, which gives me a bit of hope. Especially the next guide, which will cover my favorite fediverse software - #GoToSocial (which is powering this instance) - and how to install and configure it. Your own little home on the fediverse! Lightweight and features-packed.

Surely something like this would fall outside the scope of regulation. Right? Right?

#MySoCalledSudoLife #YunoHost #VPS #AgeVerification #privacy #EUBigTech

Self-hosted fedi platform apps
good for single-user servers

#Snac2, #Mitra, #GoToSocial, #Bonfire

GoToSocial is a type of Fediverse server which emphasises user safety and being lightweight to host. It's really good, and is particularly popular with those who self-host their Fediverse accounts.

The developers of GoToSocial's software are currently trying to raise money to keep the project going. You can help by donating at:

➡️ https://opencollective.com/gotosocial#category-CONTRIBUTE

Here is more info about what the money is needed for:

➡️ https://gts.superseriousbusiness.org/@gotosocial/statuses/01KW9ZZ72ZQTFH6AWR020VXWH9

You can follow them at @gotosocial

#GTS #GoToSocial

My fedi software of choice, GoToSocial, has now added relay support, and I've subscribed to a bunch and it definitely makes fedi feel more lively, as my followed hashtags get a lot more hits. Thanks for the great work @gotosocial team!

#GoToSocial

Soon I will set up my own #gotosocial instance. Not to move/migrate my account for the foreseeable future. It will be more a sandbox to collect experiences and to find out if I can manage the updates, maintenance and other admin tasks. Here’s my dilemma. What’s a good name for the subdomain? Help me decide! (my current mastodon instance lives at social.wildeboer.net, managed by @mastohost )

Making nicer "hey you can't see this thing" web pages for when stuff is not visible on the web, or when it's been deleted, cuz people found the previous error message a bit confusing.

These new error pages will return 410 Gone and 401 Unauthorized properly as well.

#GoToSocial #Piss

Alt...

Rendered HTML error page that says "There was something at this URL but it has been deleted."

Alt...

Rendered HTML error page that says: "There's something at this URL but it's not visible to unauthenticated web visitors. This could be for a variety of reasons: « It's a followers-only or direct post. « It's a public or unlisted post but the author doesn't show these on the web. « It's a reply to a post that is itself not visible." Then there's a copy-pasteable URL so you can try opening it with your fedi server.

Anyone got a favorite fediverse web client? I'm shopping for a web frontend for gotosocial. Trying Phanpy at the moment, which is not terrible, but I'm curious what else is out there that might be worth a look.

cc: @swetland@zzz.frotz.net

#Gotosocial #Fediverse #Questions

@Black_Flag @khleedril @veronica

We popularize #snac and #gotosocial for the individual, easy to deploy, diy freedom.
Friends not techies? Help 'em out and lend them an account. We need eachother more than ever these days.