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1. Embed this notice
   Merovius (merovius@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:54 JST Merovius

   Okay, so, heretical question, but: *Does* ActivityPub actually enable people to easily switch servers on a protocol level?
   Like, what prevents a server from just not supporting you moving out?
   (Leaving aside whether the actual moving process works as advertised)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:40 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Truhe

     @truhe @Merovius

     1) Your posts don't disappear, they stay on the old server but redirect people to your new account if they click on the author's profile.

     2) Moving posts isn't just a technical issue but a moderation and resources one. It would take a lot of moderation to sift through years' worth of posts, and would be open to abuse. It could also take a lot of resources to store so many posts.

   • Embed this notice
     Truhe (truhe@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:44 JST Truhe

     in reply to

     @Merovius "easy account migration" is a myth, because you can't move your posts to the new account. You can only move some of your settings and send a (server side) notice to some of your followers to switch. Manual export should always work (Google did not find a way to disable it), but if both servers don't federate, you can only configure a redirect and have to notice your followers from your move.

   • Embed this notice
     Merovius (merovius@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:46 JST Merovius

     in reply to

     • Truhe

     @truhe So ISTM what you are saying is that a) yes, a server could absolutely refuse to let you move out (by not providing the export and not telling your followers to move over) and b) even if working as intended, it doesn't *really* work as advertised.

   • Embed this notice
     Truhe (truhe@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:50 JST Truhe

     in reply to

     • FediTips has moved!

     @Merovius Migration is mostly a manual thing with exporting and importing csv files. The only thing which can be done automatically is switching your followers to follow the new account and this only works with Mastodon followers, not with followers of other Fediverse software. I think, this part could break when the two servers do not federate (block or LIMITED_FEDERATION_MODE).

     @feditips might help to clarify?

     #feditips

   • Embed this notice
     Merovius (merovius@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:51 JST Merovius

     in reply to

     • Truhe

     @truhe I don't think that matters terribly in terms of my question.

   • Embed this notice
     Truhe (truhe@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:41:53 JST Truhe

     in reply to

     @Merovius Afaik server migration is a Mastodon feature, not an AP feature.

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:43:28 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Truhe

     @truhe @Merovius

     About moving, yes a server could in theory refuse to do the work needed to transfer followers.

     When you do transfer followers, the process happens in batches as you wait for each server to get to your transfers in their queue of tasks. If the queue was paused, the transfer would never happen.

     But there is no setting within Mastodon's GUI to allow an admin to do this. The admin would have to fiddle with the files.

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:48:24 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     @Merovius

     Sorry, I should have made clearer, the "in batches" tasks are carried out by your followers' servers, that's why your followers transfer over in batches depending on which server they are on.

     I don't know why the followers' server would refuse such a request, unless the server was down or something.

   • Embed this notice
     Merovius (merovius@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 01:48:25 JST Merovius

     in reply to

     • FediTips has moved!

     @feditips Thanks.

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 02:01:29 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     @Merovius

     Yeah, there's nothing about ActivityPub that requires account transfers to be possible. As far as I know, account transfers are not possible from Threads.

   • Embed this notice
     Merovius (merovius@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 02:01:31 JST Merovius

     in reply to

     • FediTips has moved!

     @feditips I'm talking about the server you are leaving.

     Specifically, I believe you confirmed that, if Meta started federating and at some point wouldn't want you to leave, you just couldn't. Not any easier than, say, Twitter.