Ambassador @ambassador@photog.social

📣 Useful Info 📣

The link below heads to a really good break down of Mastodon, the UI and more. It's a really good starting point for some of the non-obvious aspects of Mastodon.

https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/

It was put together by @noelle and we thank them very much for keeping it up to date for all this time.

While we're talking about the viability of this instance, what are people's thoughts on automatic post deletion?

This isn't, as far as I know, a sever-wide setting. i.e. it's purely on a per-account basis, set by YOU the account holder.

What do you think about setting a 1yr, or 2yr, post auto-delete?

It should drop our database and media storage requirements somewhat, and make the service more sustainable in the long run.

A HUGE thanks to everyone that has contributed to help keep us afloat in the last day or so.

The one-off donations will keep us going until January next year, and the Patreon subs are at a level where, while it will be more than I've personally been putting in up until now, I can cover (so a few more subs would be nice, but I think we'll survive).

4/3 Stupidly, I forgot to mention ways of supporting the service (d'oh!).

Ideally, regular monthly support via Patreon works best, as it means I don't need to worry about where next month's hosting fees are coming from.

https://www.patreon.com/photo_social

However, one-off support can also be accepted via paypal:

https://paypal.me/photogsocialtips

We're currently at about 50% of the server hosting costs covered. (6:30am 29/Sept/22)

3/3

If we can't raise a consistent income to cover hosting, or no-one steps up to take on the reigns, this instance will be archived and then dehosted in approx 30 days time.
Not something I'd like to see happen, but circumstances mean that is what will happen.

Plan accordingly. Think about other instances you may want to move to if this one goes away. Migration is relatively easy. i.e. this need not be the end of your Mastodon experience, just possibly the end of photog.social

2/x As such, I have about 30 days to work out what is going to happen to this instance.

If someone with deeper pockets than mine wants to take it on, please get in touch ASAP.

Alternatively, if everyone actively using the service chipped in 1 euro/1 USD each per month, we'd easily cover the current and future hosting costs. (we have as at today, approx 250 active users, i.e. users currently posting semi-regularly).

Evening All

I knew this day would eventually come, but upcoming changes to the hosting of photog.social will mean that I can no longer afford to continue. Being a photography based instance means we use significant server resources.
Up until now, out provider has been more than generous with us, but the time has come when he too needs to make sure he doesn't go broke, which means our monthly costs will be going up approx 325% which is more than I can cover with our existing patreons. 1/x

Today’s update of the “Official” Mastodon app now includes the local timeline.

However, it is a bit hidden. If you’re using that app, press the magnifying glass icon, then scroll the tabs at the top to the right and click on Community.

Example:

Since we're a photo-based site, this #tip might be very handy for you. If you click the Cog (Settings) above your toot box area (far left column), you can disable the Crop view. This allows you to see the whole image in your feed as a preview.

Good Morning new people!

Since a lot of you have come from Twitter (known colloquially as Birdsite on the fediverse), did you know there is another federated service that acts more like Instragram?

pixelfed.social

If that's your thing, go check it out. You can follow people from there, here, and vice-versa. Just search for them with the fully qualified name, eg:

person@pixelfed.social
differentperson@photog.social

etc.

...2/2
Image descriptions help the blind community via screen readers.

Aim for no bigger than 1280px on the long edge. Larger is pointless and just wastes server resources.

Your posts are federated across most of the Mastodon and ActivityPub Fediverse. Sometimes people will report you or you will report others. Those reports will go to the instance owner to action, both your instances admin and the admin or the instance being reported. Actions can be taken on either end.

Welcome new people!

We're seeing a high number of new signups recently (high for our small instance that is), so I thought a quick intro to some mastodon features and community expectations was in order.

Content Warnings (CW) are heavily used on Mastodon for everything from nudity to eye contact, to food. While it is definitely a personal choice, please try to be aware of the wider community's feelings.

Image descriptions are highly recommended (click "Edit" on the image). ...1/2

Poll time.

As a photographer, I'm acutely aware of appropriation of work. As such, I'd like a feel for what the community thinks.

Should we enforce a "Post only you OWN work" rule?

Find to Boost other people's work, but not to post under your own account.

Thoughts?

I'm leaving this poll running for a week and will update site rules based on your decision.

We're back.

There was an outage on masto.host, but it seems to be resolved now.

📣 PSA 📣

After many years it's time to hand over the management of photog.social to a more engaged human. I've been busy and not as present as I'd like to be as an instance admin.

As such I've contacted @david about taking over the duties of admin and "ambassador" for this instance.

They have graciously agreed to take over from me and we are in the process of doing the hand off.

I've known David for many years on Fedi and trust they will be a great admin for this instance.

TY and much ❤️

Welcome @titanoterio!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.

Welcome @mari!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.

Welcome @ci!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.

Welcome @reymous!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.

Welcome @Jellyfishdisco!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.

Welcome @oleklamas!

Welcome to photog.social, a growing community of photographers. If you're into photography you've found the right instance. Our benevolent @ambassador is on a mission to create a great space for photographers.

Photographers also use #Photography and #Photo heavily to surface content across the federverse.

There is also a great intro guide at https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/ explaining Mastodon's quirks.