Does the instance one registers on become part of their identity?
I think this is the thing that always made me pause - I didn’t want to pick a server I’d regret later.
I think this is the thing that always made me pause - I didn’t want to pick a server I’d regret later.
Yes. You can't transfer your posts, you can't transfer your filters, and you can only transfer followers if the server cooperates.
> I didn’t want to pick a server I’d regret later.
This happened to me: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/mastodon.html
I'm using mastodon.social since I signed up years ago, but if I were to create an account today, I'd just look for the coolest sounding instance that has a lot of users. Like the other comment mentioned, you can always migrate to a different one (although you might lose your post history, you'll keep all your followers/followings).