Mastodon gGmbH has just issued a new blogpost:
➡
️ https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/11/the-future-is-ours-to-build-together
Some highlights:
- Eugen has stepped down as head, his replacement is @mellifluousbox@mastodon.social (Eugen will continue as an advisor)
- Mastodon gGmbH and its US-based 501(c)(3) intend to transition to a Belgian non-profit and transfer their assets there
- Eugen has sold his Mastodon-related assets (including the trademark) to the 501(c)(3) for €1 million, these will eventually be transferred to the Belgian non-profit
#Mastodon
p.s. This seems like a good moment to thank @Gargron@mastodon.social
Obviously I disagreed with his recent stance on server onboarding, but that isn't an attack on his overall achievements.
For me Eugen's best moment was in 2022 when he was asked to sell out by multiple VC companies but he said no:
"Rochko told the Financial Times he had received offers from more than five US-based investors (which he turned down)"
https://www.ft.com/content/de808736-2e05-4c3b-a53c-55b170ae9efd
He passed the test that others (including Bluesky) have failed.
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services @Gargron@mastodon.social cobro 60.000 euros o mas de alguien que no recuerdo quien es ahora, una compañia tecnologica que decia apoyar el proyecto, (no creo que esa empresa lo hiciera sin animo de lucro) y él acepto, ahora ya la pasta es muy grande y se ha arrodillado al capital...todos tenemos un precio...dicen.
#Mastodon fue despues de #GNUsocial y otras redes del #fediverse, sin #GNUsocial no sería nadie y encima se la cargo casi despues de poner activityPub y dejar a GNusocial en bolas casi
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services @Gargron@mastodon.social I remain baffled that easier account migration still isn't on their roadmap. Other fedi services, such as *key servers, implement the functionality to import content archives as well as take followers with you if you change instances. There's no technical barrier to Eugen doing the same.
Having one big onboarding server wouldn't be such a problem if users could hop around the fedi without having to painstakingly rebuild all their previous posting history and interactions. 🤷🏻♂️
p.p.s. Also, @Gargron@mastodon.social changed the Fediverse's overall approach to onboarding by thinking about ordinary users instead of technical hobbyists.
Mastodon wasn't the first Fediverse platform, but it was the first one to aim itself at a general audience. JoinMastodon.org was a breakthrough because it assumed no technical knowedge or desire to self-host.
Another greatest moment was Mastodon's 2018 official animation: https://fedi.video/w/cbQE3NRw76FayQCSdb14TU
Mastodon sold the concept of the Fediverse to many people.
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services
Now, can we dogpile whoever's going to be running .social and tell them to lose the wide-open signup? Heck, maybe even write a PR to remove it from the code...
@ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world
It would still be a problem having a giant server as moving servers is always going to be considerably more complicated than joining a server. It's crucial to spread the growth out before people sign up.
Also the whole concept of an "onboarding server" doesn't really tally with reality. There's nothing about mastodon.social that makes things easier for new people, in fact due to its size its moderation tends to be worse and moderators harder to get hold of.
@ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world
The technical side is apparently relatively easy, if I understand correctly the main problems are in resources and moderation.
If someone has e.g. 5000 posts including attached media and they want to import it, this takes up a lot of server resources and produces a potentially very great moderation burden. What if these posts contain stuff that is forbidden in the new server's rules? And how does a small server cope with people suddenly importing massive archives?
@stonebear2@hachyderm.io
Let's not do that, there's just been a major leadership change and we need to see how they actually run things first! 🙂
@stonebear2@hachyderm.io
Let's not do that, there's just been a major leadership change and we need to see how they actually run things first! 🙂
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services No no, esta todo visto ya, lo menos para mi, todo por la pasta.
@stonebear2@hachyderm.io
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services @stonebear2@hachyderm.io I'm not on Mastodon for long and I'm not on the .social instance. Since this is a conversation with 'Fedi Tips' who offers to provide explanations about Mastodon… 😀
may I ask what does 'the wide-open signup' refer to?
@honzajavorek@mastodonczech.cz @FediTips@social.growyourown.services @stonebear2@hachyderm.io I'd like to know as well.
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services No no, esta todo visto ya, lo menos para mi, todo por la pasta.
@stonebear2@hachyderm.io
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services @stonebear2@hachyderm.io I'm not on Mastodon for long and I'm not on the .social instance. Since this is a conversation with 'Fedi Tips' who offers to provide explanations about Mastodon… 😀 may I ask what does 'the wide-open signup' refer to?
@honzajavorek@mastodonczech.cz @FediTips@social.growyourown.services @stonebear2@hachyderm.io I'd like to know as well.
@weekendr@social.vivaldi.net @honzajavorek@mastodonczech.cz @stonebear2@hachyderm.io
I think they're referring to instantly-working signups, as these tend to be exploited by spammers.
Admins on Mastodon servers can choose to allow either instant signups or signups that have to be approved by a moderator before they work. Spammers all use servers that have instant signups.
@weekendr@social.vivaldi.net @honzajavorek@mastodonczech.cz @stonebear2@hachyderm.io
I think they're referring to instantly-working signups, as these tend to be exploited by spammers.
Admins on Mastodon servers can choose to allow either instant signups or signups that have to be approved by a moderator before they work. Spammers all use servers that have instant signups.
Fedi.Tips
