You try to post a status update on Mastodon and see the error message “Could not verify authenticity.” This error stops the post from being published and often appears after a network hiccup or session timeout. The cause is a mismatch between the signature your client sends and what the server expects. This article explains … Read more
When you run a federation check on your Mastodon instance, the tool may return the error “Instance Not Reachable” for another server. This error means your instance cannot establish a connection to that remote server. The cause is usually a firewall rule, a DNS misconfiguration, or the remote instance blocking your IP address. This article … Read more
When you try to move your Mastodon account to a new instance, the platform may show the error message “Could not move account” and stop the migration process. This error usually occurs because the old account’s API token has expired, the new account was created on the wrong server, or the migration handshake between the … Read more
When you try to boost a post on Mastodon, the system may stop you with the error message: Maximum number of boosts reached. This error appears because Mastodon enforces a daily rate limit on the number of boosts a single user account can perform within a 24-hour window. The limit exists to prevent spam and … Read more
When you export your Mastodon archive and try to re-import it into the same or a different instance, the process may fail with the error message “Statuses could not be downloaded.” This error typically occurs because the archive file is malformed, the import server cannot reach the original instance, or the archive references deleted or … Read more
When you manage a Mastodon server, you see options to subscribe to a relay and to follow an account. These two actions look similar but work in completely different ways. A relay is a server-level tool that pulls in public posts from many instances at once. Following is a user-level action that shows posts from … Read more
If you run a Mastodon server for a specific interest, you may notice the federated timeline shows mostly unrelated content. A Mastodon relay is a server that forwards public posts from one instance to another, helping you fill your local timeline with posts about your chosen topic. This article explains how relays work, what to … Read more
Mastodon relays forward public posts from one instance to many others. This feature helps small instances discover content without manually following many remote users. However, relays can consume significant bandwidth, especially when an instance subscribes to multiple relays or runs on limited hosting. This article explains how relays use bandwidth and provides a method to … Read more
Mastodon relays help federate content across instances without requiring direct follows. If you run a small or medium-sized instance, manually following accounts to populate timelines is impractical. A relay subscribes to public posts from connected instances and redistributes them to all peers. This article explains how to deploy Lite-Relay, a lightweight relay server, on your … Read more
If you self-host a Mastodon server, your local timeline may feel empty when your instance is new or small. A Mastodon relay node solves this by automatically sharing public posts among all servers connected to it. This walkthrough covers installing and configuring a relay node on your own Linux server so you can boost content … Read more