@FediTips Since you kindly offer to answer any questions: I chose to open my account on openbiblio.social. They have been offline since 26 December. I have since learned that was caused by their provider netcup who did not help to get anything fixed (paraphrasing the information here).

So how does one choose a server without knowing what kind of infrastructure they rely on? I'd never consiously chosen a US infrastructure.

@FediTips I really appreciate your tips! I picked mastodon.social because it was the largest but now I'm thinking I should find a happy medium between #TooBigToFail and #TooSmallToSucceed

@LappenjammerDieZweite @FediTips Comment to join in your doubts, as I essentially don't know how to choose which server and why.

I just moved here to escape Meta some weeks ago and I see cool people from different ones and it's a bit of a headache for me to select one.

@LappenjammerDieZweite

OpenBiblio.social seems to be working here when I tried it just now, is it still not working at your end?

About choosing a server, I've got a site for non-technical people at http://fedi.garden where all the servers have promised to be compatible with the points at https://fedi.garden/about-this-site

For more technical people who want a longer non-curated list, try https://fedidb.com/servers (but there are no promises made on that site).

@rhizomancer @LappenjammerDieZweite

I've tried to make it easier for people to choose a server at https://fedi.garden

@FediTips

Thank you for raising awareness!

@effariwhy

Short answer: I wouldn't worry about size on here

Longer answer:

I know most online things are run by corporations, but things are different on here as most servers are run by volunteers and supported by members' donations.

Being a big server can make life more difficult for the person running it because their costs go up. There are plenty of servers that have been going since the beginning of Mastodon which are still small, and the people running them like it that way.

@FediTips @LappenjammerDieZweite will check, thank you

@FediTips I chose my instance using your tips. Maybe I am overlooking your thoughts on checking how instances are hosting.

@FediTips Last year, I also created accounts on mastodon.world and hachyderm.io and left them empty. It would be a good exercise to try the import/export functions and move to one of those. I've been curious to see how the move process works.

@FediTips Thank you. I just checked, they have been back within the past hour but could only bring back content up to 19 November. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes despair with all technical infrastructure big and small

@LappenjammerDieZweite

Unfortunately this is a risk with any online service, even the largest (e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/18/myspace-loses-all-content-uploaded-before-2016 )

What was the process by which you chose OpenBiblio by the way? I'm wondering if there's some way to improve the listing site. I don't think I've listed them on Fedi.Garden, were they on JoinMastodon? If they were listed on either site, they should have had daily backups to avoid this scenario.

@FediTips Now I feel like a soap opera heroine who suffered from amnesia at christmas, build a new life with what menories cae back and will have to live with five weeks thst will never come back.

Metaphorically speaking of course, but the fediverse / mastodin community is vital for my well being.

Thank you for being a helpful part in it ️

@FediTips First I love libraries a lot and implicity trust them, and different from other organisation I know them and how they are governed.
Secondly I always thought they would self host. Never checked this assumpion until now. Feel a bit stupid now as I could k ow better about German IT infrastructure.

I want to stay as far away from big tech and US tech aus humanly possible. So even some European servers are not exactly desirable.

@FediTips I can't remember how I came across openbiblio in 2022.

Social.Vivaldi.Net was a reommendation from either you another source here and I was looking mainly for a temporary workaround based in Europe with a reliable infrastructure.

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services bonus on joining smaller servers: You can choose one with a theme and immediately get a general timeline more in line with your interests! ​​