3w ago

Let's discuss Utter.Online (Mastodon)

Hello,

Another service we run is a Mastodon instance called https://utter.online/. It doesn't have many active users; however, it's a beast to host.

I'm considering changing to a new domain and/or changing the software or shutting it down.

The current domain name options are:

I haven't done much research into alternatives to Mastodon.

Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks, jgrim

20 comments

I'm flexible. I have more interaction on pixelfed and I wish I had fully understood using a single account across both.
I don't mind migrating or if you try a different URL.
Thanks for keeping things up and running it's totally been worth the monthly donation.
- Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it! Do you have a preference for a different instance domain or you’re onboard with any option?

I was never much of a Twitter user, but fediverse conversations have gotten me interested in Mastodon. I was actually thinking of making an utter.online account way back, once decisions are made here I'll probably make an account on whichever URL you go with, since discuss.online has been great so far!
That said, I also like toot.discuss.online since it makes the connection to discuss.online clearer
- I noticed a lot of other instances keeping everything on a single parent domain. I’ll think more on it if I decide to spin up something new. Thanks!

Maybe Iceshrimp? Looks better than Mastodon, hopefully less resources demanding yoo
- Just looked it up, they seem to be rewriting it in .NET, interesting.
- That’s a good idea. I’ve heard about it, I need to look into it. Is it something you’d consider using?

I like toot.discuss.online but I also don’t use the mastodon server so it doesn’t really matter to me.
- Thanks for your input! I'm looking for what is appealing, so your input matters. Thanks again!

I've tried to get into Mastodon, but always struggled to get into it. This is just me making assumptions here but I feel like the lack of centralization hurts something like Mastodon. Having to pick an instance, then sign up, and the kind of wrap your head around Federation limits adoption and I feel the limited user base hurts Twitter-clones more than other kinds of social media.
- Federated services always have that issue, but you can always go to some bigger one like mastodon.social if you are confused. Not great for "federation network" but if the choice is between using a big server or not using at all, it's fine to go with that.
  As for finding people, you can generally browse the "All" feed and see everything that's going it, and then follow anyone you find interesting. Some people also do #FollowFriday or things like that. You can also start by following some people you know.

I never got much interaction from Mastodon, no one there that I follow. I use Bluesky only nowadays.
- I’m yet to try out Bluesky, I haven’t really planned to. Why would you suspect the interaction is different? Less people on Mastodon or discovery is difficult? There are settings on Mastodon to show and hide your account that can effect who sees it and how they interact.
  
  BlueSky got more media push. Also, while theoretically it can be federated, it is a centralized service for now, so easy to get your head around for most people.
  Which means, many bigger names are present there that aren't present on fediverse. So, if you follow celebrities (of any field other than Free/Open-Source Software), there are much higher chance of finding them on BlueSky then here.

I am not a very social person. I only use it to follow people from discuss.online. I am fine with you closing it down, if it isn't getting enough usage.
If you do replace it with something lighter, I'll probably sign-up, follow the same people (or more, if they sign up), and keep lurking (with occasional reply).
As for domain, I am in favour of subdomain of discuss.online, but if you want it to be a general user instance, then I think people prefer shorter domain names, not sure.

20 comments