You may want to take a break from Mastodon without permanently losing your profile, followers, and posts. Deactivating your account hides your profile from public view and stops all activity, but preserves your data for later reactivation. This is different from deleting your account, which removes everything permanently after a 30-day grace period. This article … Read more
Your Mastodon profile bio can include more than a short description. Custom fields let you add links to your website, GitHub, Patreon, or other personal pages directly on your profile. Without custom fields, visitors must search for your other accounts manually. This article explains how to add custom fields to your Mastodon profile bio and … Read more
When you create a new Mastodon account, other users cannot find you by searching your display name or handle unless you adjust a specific setting. Mastodon hides accounts from search results by default to protect user privacy. This means even if your followers know your username, they may not see your profile when using the … Read more
When you sign up for a Mastodon instance and see the message “Approval Required,” your registration is not immediate. This happens because many instances use manual review to prevent spam and ensure new members fit the community. The delay can range from a few hours to several days, depending on the instance’s moderation team. This … Read more
Every time you compose a new post on Mastodon, you must choose who can see it. By default, Mastodon sets this to Public. If you frequently post privately or to followers only, changing this default saves you from manually selecting the privacy level each time. This article explains how to change the default post privacy … Read more
You uploaded a header image to your Mastodon profile, but it appears stretched, cropped, or blurry. This happens because Mastodon enforces a strict aspect ratio of 3:1 for header images. The platform automatically resizes and crops your image to fit this ratio, often distorting or cutting off parts of your original picture. This article explains … Read more
When you join Mastodon, the first big decision is picking an instance. An instance is a server that hosts your account and connects you to the rest of the fediverse. Each instance has its own rules, community vibe, and content focus. If you pick an instance that does not match your interests, you may see … Read more
You tried to sign up for a Mastodon instance, but the registration button is grayed out or missing. This happens when the instance administrator has closed new account sign-ups. Many Mastodon instances close registrations to manage server load, prevent spam, or maintain community quality. This article explains why instances close registrations and provides step-by-step methods … Read more
Self-hosting a Mastodon instance gives you full control over your social media data, moderation policies, and federation settings. Instead of relying on a public instance run by someone else, you own the server and the content it hosts. This article explains how to deploy a Mastodon instance on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) running Ubuntu … Read more
Running a self-hosted Mastodon instance requires a clear understanding of storage costs. Many administrators underestimate how quickly media files from federated posts consume disk space. Without proper planning, a small community instance can exceed 100 GB in months, leading to unexpected hosting bills. This article breaks down real-world storage usage for instances of different sizes … Read more