Today I moved my Mastodon account to a different server, and also changed the domain name (or rather the .tld).

I can now be found at https://m.tzyl.eu/@ton (previously m.tzyl.nl/@ton).

In 2018 I explored self-hosting Mastodon, but it was beyond what I could accomplish with my skills. I opted to host my personal Mastodon instance with Masto.host, based in Portugal. For 4 years this worked flawlessly, and I can recommend Masto.host to anyone.

I regard running one’s own instance (or one for a defined small group) as the logical endpoint of distribution and federation, like how a personal website is the most logical form of your web presence. As back when I started hosting m.tzyl.nl with Masto.host, the main considerations for me in running my own instance are those of control, flexibility and ease of use. Ease of use is what Masto.host gave me the past 4 years, beyond what I could accomplish myself. Ease of use is what I now also have on my VPS, thanks to Yunohost which provides me with a friendly interface to do server admin.

The change in domain name from the .nl tld to the .eu tld has two reasons. The primary reason was that I didn’t want to try my hand at moving my entire Mastodon server, and moving my account was the easiest path. But that requires an account to move to, while the one I’m moving from still exists. The second and secondary reason is that I prefer using a .eu domain. I’m based in the Netherlands, but I live in the EU, which I regard as ‘home turf’ in its entirety. My personal company site, my company site and various other sites I maintain use .eu domains.

There was one unexpected (because I didn’t think it through) effect of moving my account away from the Masto.host server: I’ve locked myself out of its back-end because my account is now marked inactive and moved, and it’s the account that has admin privileges. If I switch off the redirect to the new account I do have access so it’s not a problem. I do want to wait until the migration of the followed/follower lists is completed though, before cancelling the redirect. E is still on the m.tzyl.nl instance. She will likely move to her own domain and personal instance soon as well.
Once that is done, I will cancel my subscription with Masto.host. They’ve seen a large influx of new customers, which they are working to accommodate. Making a bit of room for those also looking to run their own instances is useful I think.