I think there’s a few other issues with server selection
Longevity. How do you know that the server you are on will be there in 1, 5 or even 10 years? For larger servers like Mastodon.social you have a general idea that it will last as long as Masto itself, but others have very little guarantees on if you’ll log in and find your entire feed gone. It only takes
That brings me to my next point: migration is currently inadequate. Migrating accounts only redirects your following/followers lists and some account settings. All of the posts, reposts and content uploaded are left on the old server and potentially wiped out if it’s shut down. Professionals or anyone who wants a lasting online profile need to stick to big instances because they risk losing everything if their server can’t continue. I also feel like there should also be an emergency “export all” button the admins can press, so the server will email all users a copy of their data in case of shutdown. That way users who can’t export their data manually before the end date will have a copy of it. And this still doesn’t solve the issue of small servers shutting down out of nowhere and wiping out every user’s profile on there. If that happens to an average user they’re probably just going quit Masto outright
Defederation is a good idea to keep bad servers isolated from the community and let servers dictate how open they want to be. But there’s not a lot of indication of what servers have blocked/restricted the one you’re signing up for, other than going to another server and seeing if the admins have manually typed up a list of that they blocked/restricted. There’s also not a great way to see if the server you’re looking at is read-only and any posts you make aren’t being seen by users on the other server. Or that you’re looking at a server that has since defederated and will no longer update posts. Also (afaik, there’s not a ton of good explanations) but if you’re newly connecting to a server it will only federate new posts going forward and not previous posts. Which again messes things up for people who want to use it as a consistent timeline. Dropping users into random small/medium servers risks preventing them from seeing their friends posts or cutting them off from their friends entirely
You mention data privacy as a risk of large servers, but how is it any better on small servers? You have no idea if the user you’re handing your data over to is trustworthy or reliable or that the server they manage is secured. And how do you know that a large company won’t come in and offer them money to sell the server, and suddenly all your data is in the hands of spammers? And direct posts are not private. Plenty of people on Twt used their real names/emails/pictures. It’s not going to be viable to have every user create a burner email and never reveal any info, even in private messages without them deciding it’s not worth it. Alternatively, they have to verify the trustworthiness of every admin on a potential server, despite them likely only having a username and posts to work off of
I think there are bigger issues than “just choose a server, they’re all like email” that causes people to gravitate towards larger platforms. It’s not just connectivity and uptime, there are logistical issues that will impact users if Masto gains more mainstream adoption. I haven’t even touched on the threat of bad actors and spam which I don’t feel like the network is ready for yet
I think there’s a few other issues with server selection
Longevity. How do you know that the server you are on will be there in 1, 5 or even 10 years? For larger servers like Mastodon.social you have a general idea that it will last as long as Masto itself, but others have very little guarantees on if you’ll log in and find your entire feed gone. It only takes
That brings me to my next point: migration is currently inadequate. Migrating accounts only redirects your following/followers lists and some account settings. All of the posts, reposts and content uploaded are left on the old server and potentially wiped out if it’s shut down. Professionals or anyone who wants a lasting online profile need to stick to big instances because they risk losing everything if their server can’t continue. I also feel like there should also be an emergency “export all” button the admins can press, so the server will email all users a copy of their data in case of shutdown. That way users who can’t export their data manually before the end date will have a copy of it. And this still doesn’t solve the issue of small servers shutting down out of nowhere and wiping out every user’s profile on there. If that happens to an average user they’re probably just going quit Masto outright
Defederation is a good idea to keep bad servers isolated from the community and let servers dictate how open they want to be. But there’s not a lot of indication of what servers have blocked/restricted the one you’re signing up for, other than going to another server and seeing if the admins have manually typed up a list of that they blocked/restricted. There’s also not a great way to see if the server you’re looking at is read-only and any posts you make aren’t being seen by users on the other server. Or that you’re looking at a server that has since defederated and will no longer update posts. Also (afaik, there’s not a ton of good explanations) but if you’re newly connecting to a server it will only federate new posts going forward and not previous posts. Which again messes things up for people who want to use it as a consistent timeline. Dropping users into random small/medium servers risks preventing them from seeing their friends posts or cutting them off from their friends entirely
You mention data privacy as a risk of large servers, but how is it any better on small servers? You have no idea if the user you’re handing your data over to is trustworthy or reliable or that the server they manage is secured. And how do you know that a large company won’t come in and offer them money to sell the server, and suddenly all your data is in the hands of spammers? And direct posts are not private. Plenty of people on Twt used their real names/emails/pictures. It’s not going to be viable to have every user create a burner email and never reveal any info, even in private messages without them deciding it’s not worth it. Alternatively, they have to verify the trustworthiness of every admin on a potential server, despite them likely only having a username and posts to work off of
I think there are bigger issues than “just choose a server, they’re all like email” that causes people to gravitate towards larger platforms. It’s not just connectivity and uptime, there are logistical issues that will impact users if Masto gains more mainstream adoption. I haven’t even touched on the threat of bad actors and spam which I don’t feel like the network is ready for yet