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Comment by okasaki | Hacker News Reader

Do you get to keep the login after leaving the institution/education sector?

See last faq item “what happens if a user is no longer connected to the institution”!

https://www.surf.nl/en/faq-mastodon-pilot?dst=n84965

“If a user no longer has access to their institution account, they will also no longer have access to SURF's Mastodon pilot environment. This is because we check "at the gate" via SURFconext whether the user is in the target group. Mastodon has excellent "move", import and export functionalities as standard. This is because Mastodon values the autonomy of users and therefore wants them to be able to move easily to another server.

During the pilot, we will investigate whether, in addition to Mastodon's standard functions, technical solutions are possible for scenarios where someone no longer has access to an institution account. Potential research directions include eduID and other solutions that explore lifelong learning. We should also explore with the whole sector the extent to which we want to facilitate or support a sector environment for alumni, guests or partners.”

Moving account to another instance after graduating is easy. You keep all your follows and followers.

But you don't move existing posts or DMs from one instance to another, which discourages Twitter blue-check types. What if your instance is blocked by others? What if your instance shuts down?[1] What if you change jobs? I think the last is why we haven't seen CNN or BBC or Yale create an instance and its people start using it.

[1] Such as the recent spectacular implosion of mastodon.lol after its owner got horribly abused by members over Hogwarts Legacy. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34748195>

Lots of questions here. 1. You can download all your posts and then re-post them from your new account if you want. Otherwise they will remain cached on instances. 2. If your instance is excessively blocked by other instances, that could be nudge to move your account to an instance that is better managed. 3. Instance admins usually give plenty of notice before shutting down which gives you time to move. 4. You can create as many accounts you want and on different instances. I have three: a real name personal one for friends and family, a professional one, and an anonymous political based one. I also run my own instance.

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