Each server on the Fediverse is independent, and can choose to cut off connections to any other server if it wants to do so. This process of blocking other servers on the Fediverse is known as “defederation” or “fediblocking”.

Usually this is done for the sake of user safety, for example if another server is failing to moderate abusive behaviour, but it can be for any reason that the server admin considers important.

If you’re an admin on a Mastodon server, here is how to defederate other servers on the Fediverse:

1. Log into your admin account on your server’s website
2. Go to Preferences > Moderation > Federation
3. Click Add New Domain Block
4. Enter the domain name of the server you want to block (for example “threads.com”)
5. From the Severity dropdown menu select Suspend
6. Optionally add comments if you want to remind yourself why you blocked them, or if you have a public list that explains your server’s blocks
7. Click Create Block

Once you’ve done this, your server will refuse connections from the blocked server and any follows from those servers will be removed.

These blocks work for any Fediverse server type, so you can block non-Mastodon servers as well.

Do I have to do this for every single server I want to block?

By default, blocks are done one at a time. However, you can also import ready-made blocklists which let you block lots of servers at once.

Do I need to defederate subdomains separately too?

No. If you block the main domain, this automatically also defederates all subdomains of that domain.

Is there a less drastic alternative to blocking?

Yes, you can choose Limit from the Severity menu instead of Suspend. Limiting (also known as Silencing) does not cut off connections, and allows follows to carry on, but it hides all posts from that server unless people are following the account that makes them.

What if I change my mind? How do I unblock servers?

To remove a domain block:

1. Log into your admin account on your server’s website
2. Go to Preferences > Moderation > Federation
3. Click on the domain you want to unblock
4. Click Undo Domain Block

If I unblock a server, will people’s follows be restored?

When an admin defederates a server, that cuts off all the follows between that server and the admin’s server.

Unblocking a server allows people to follow each other again, but it does not automatically restore follows that existed before the defederation happened. This is an important reason to consider carefully before defederating a server.

If you want to distance yourself from a server but don’t want to cut off follows, use the Limit/Silence option instead of Suspend.

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By default, brand new Mastodon and Fediverse servers will be totally blank, with no users or posts visible at all. Searches will produce no results.

As people on the server start signing up and posting and following accounts from other servers, the timelines and search results will start to fill up as the server starts noticing more of the Fediverse. This discovery process on its own can be very slow to begin with, and those on new servers may sometimes be frustrated by the slowness.

However, there are many additional things that can be done to quickly build up a server’s connections to the rest of the Fediverse:

Subscribing to Fediverse groups

Fediverse groups federate content very effectively, sending everything in the group to everyone who is following the group, no matter how small their server is.

Groups can be followed by anyone, and it takes just one user following a group for that group’s entire content to be actively sent to the user’s entire server. Groups also have the benefit of being devoted to particular topics, so they will tend to only send stuff that at least someone on your server is interested in.

For lots more info on how to do this, click here to see the guide to Fediverse groups.

Following accounts from directories

There are Fediverse directory websites which list accounts on many different topics. You can use directories to discover accounts that haven’t federated with your server yet, and once you follow them their content (and all the content they share from others) will start appearing on your server.

If you’re an admin running a server on a particular topic, you could also create a special account to just follow all accounts on that topic from directories. This will pull all those accounts’ content to your server, and make it visible to everyone else on your server too.

Subscribing to relay servers on Mastodon

Server admins can speed up the process of discovering the Fediverse by subscribing to relays which push new content to their server from other servers. Once you have the address of the relay you want to use, here is how to subscribe to it:

1. Log into your server’s website using your server’s admin account
2. Go to ⚙️ Preferences > Administration > Relays
3. Click Setup A Relay Connection
4. Paste the URL of the relay into the box and click Save And Enable

⚠️ WARNING: Some relays are better moderated than others. Some relays may contain content that breaks your own server’s rules, or may even be illegal in your country. It’s really important to check what kind of content a relay contains before you connect your own server to it. Relays are usually based on specific servers, so you can see such a relay’s content by browsing its server’s Federated feed and reading that server’s rules.

⚠️ ANOTHER WARNING: Bear in mind general relays may fill your server with content that you mostly aren’t interested in, and use up lots of resources at the same time. Smaller, more specific relays may be much better suited to your server’s resources. See the FediBuzz section below for subscribing to topic-specific relays.

FediBuzz Relay: Custom relays on specific topics

This is a new service that lets you subscribe to custom relays based on specific hashtags or specific other servers. This can greatly reduce the amount of resources required by relays, as it only sends posts that are relevant to the topics you have selected for your server. You can find out more on its website at relay.fedi.buzz ⧉.

Finding general relays

If you want more content pushed to your server and don’t care about the topic, there’s a list of general Fediverse relays at RelayList.com ⧉. Please bear in mind the warnings above before using this list, and check that the content on the relays is suitable for your server.

Hypebot

If you’re technically skilled, you can install a tool called Hypebot ⧉ which lets your server subscribe to trending topics on other servers. This means even the smallest server will see the most popular posts of the moment.

FediFetcher

There’s a new tool called FediFetcher ⧉ which can be used to automatically backfill missing posts from profiles and conversation threads. It runs independently of the Fediverse server, but it needs access tokens for every user that it backfills for, so it is generally aimed at single-user servers or servers where the admin knows all the users. It also requires good technical skills for running the tool.

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When a new user joins your Mastodon server, by default they are shown a list of accounts to follow. This recommendation list is drawn from two different places in the admin settings.

The first place is a manual list of accounts you want to always be recommended, which is always shown at the top of the list.

The other place is an automatic pool of accounts that are randomly recommended to new users. The pool contains accounts that have the most interactions and follows from people on your server, but you can edit this pool if you want to remove accounts from it.

Set accounts that your server always recommends to new users:

1. Log into your server’s website with your admin account
2. Go to Preferences > Administration > Server Settings, then click the Discovery tab
3. Scroll down to the section marked Always recommend these accounts to new users
4. Paste in the account addresses of the accounts you want to recommend, separated by commas. They can be accounts from your server or from other servers, as long as the account address is written in full.
5. Click the Save changes button

Edit the random pool of recommended accounts:

1. Log into your server’s website with your admin account
2. Go to Preferences > Recommendations & Trends > Follow Recommendations
3. To remove an account from the pool, tick the box next to it and click Suppress follow recommendation
4. To bring an account back into the pool, click the Suppressed link at the top of the list, then tick the account you want to bring back and click Restore follow recommendation
5. You can set different recommendation pools for different languages by clicking the For language dropdown menu

I can’t find the Follow Recommendations section!

Servers running older versions of Mastodon may have the pool editing and follow suppression at Preferences > Moderation > Follow Recommendations

It’s the same feature, it’s just been moved to a new location on newer versions of the server software.

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One of the most fun features of running your own Mastodon server is the ability to add custom emoji. All members of your server can use them, and they will be visible in your member’s posts that federate to other servers. You can also clone custom emoji from other servers, or block them if you see something unsuitable.

To access emoji settings, log into your server’s website with your administrator’s account, then go to Preferences > Administration > Custom emoji.

When you first log in, you will see a long list of all the custom emoji visible to your server, including your own and those of all the servers you federate with. To show just your own click the Local tab at the top, to show just those on other servers click Remote.

Adding your own custom emoji

Custom emoji can be PNG or GIF files up to 50kb in size, and can be still or animated. They can also contain transparent backgrounds. (If you want to create your own from scratch, there’s a useful guide by Laura Kalbag here ⧉.)

To add your own custom emoji:

1. Log in with your admin account on your server’s website
2. Go to Preferences > Administration > Custom Emojis
3. Click the Upload button in the top right corner
4. Add a shortcode, which is a word or words which describes what the emoji looks like. If you use several words, write them as CamelCase or with underscores separating them. Shortcodes are really important as they let blind people hear emoji through screen reader apps.
5. Browse for the image file and click the Upload button at the bottom

Cloning emoji from other servers

To clone an emoji from another server, tick the box next to it on the custom emoji admin list, and click Copy.

If you want to search for a particular emoji, type a keyword or part of a keyword into the box marked Shortcode and then click the search button.

Blocking emoji from other servers

To block an emoji from another server, for example if it is offensive, tick the box next to it on the emoji admin list and click Disable or Delete.

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If you’re familiar with using CSS, or if you have access to ready-made CSS code, you can give your Mastodon server’s website interface a new look through the Custom CSS feature:

1. Log into your server’s website using the admin account
2. Go to Preferences > Administration > Server Settings
3. Click the Appearance tab and go to the Custom CSS section
4. Add the CSS code you want in the box, then click Save Changes

⚠️ Using custom CSS prevents your server’s users setting their own theme when logging in through your server’s website. In the worst cases this may cause accessibility issues, as some users rely on being able to choose either light or dark or high contrast themes. If you’re going to use the Custom CSS feature, check your users are okay with it before permanently making changes.

Is there any ready-made CSS code available?

Yes, there are pre-existing themes which can be installed through Custom CSS if you prefer. For example, there’s the lovely Tangerine theme ⧉ or the Twitter-style Bird UI ⧉.

Can I add custom CSS as a theme option from the Themes dropdown menu, so that users on my server can choose which theme they want?

Yes you can, but it’s a lot more complicated. Third party themes include instructions for this on their websites, for example the Tangerine theme has a section on how to install it as an optional custom theme ⧉. You will need more technical skills to do this and access to your server’s files. If you’re on managed hosting, ask the hosting provider if it is possible to install custom themes.

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When a Fediverse server is created, you have to give it its own name. This can be a domain name (example.com) or subdomain (social.example.com). People can use this server name when signing into their account on an app, or when using the server through a web browser.

The best domain names are usually short, easy to spell and memorable. You may want to avoid offensive words, as they can make it difficult to tell people about your server on other platforms which filter such words automatically.

Do I need to buy a new domain if I already have one?

If you already own a domain, you can use subdomains for all of your servers. Many people put their Mastodon server on the subdomain social.example.com, their PeerTube server on video.example.com etc.

Avoid mentioning the name of the software in your domain

It’s also probably a good idea to avoid mentioning your server’s software in its domain name. For example, if you were making a Mastodon server you probably shouldn’t mention the word Mastodon in the domain or subdomain. There are many reasons why:

• Software projects tend to change over the years, in their content, leadership or maintenance, and at some point you may prefer to switch your server to different software. It could be confusing for your users if your server mentions one kind of software but runs another.
• Software projects sometimes rename themselves, and this too can cause confusion if your domain refers to the old name.
• Software projects often trademark their names to prevent misuse, and only let servers use the name if they’re running that specific software. This could make it legally difficult for your server to transition to another kind of software in the future. (This isn’t a theoretical risk, this has actually happened in some cases.)

Couldn’t I just change the domain or subdomain if it causes difficulties?

You could change it, but it would cause far more trouble than it is worth. Changing a site’s domain or subdomain breaks links to it from other sites, breaks federation with other sites, and generally causes chaos technically. It’s much safer, easier and more reliable to just use a domain or subdomain that stays the same permanently.

Can I re-use a subdomain or domain from a defunct server on my new server?

It’s usually a bad idea to re-use subdomains or domains from existing servers that closed down. Click here for more info about this topic.

Can you provide a more detailed guide to choosing a domain name? Especially for non-technical people who haven’t done this before?

Yes, you can have a look at the Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Domain Name ⧉ over on Fedi.Tips’ sister site GrowYourOwn.Services

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There are three different ways you can make your own server on the Fediverse:

• Easiest by far is to use a managed hosting service, where you pay a monthly fee to the hosting company and they do all the technical stuff behind the scenes, including installation, upgrades, maintenance etc. This is so easy that it allows non-technical people to have their own servers. You can find out a lot more about this by visiting my other site Grow Your Own Services, especially the section on growing your own social network ⧉.
• A medium difficulty option is getting a VPS or home computer and installing special software intended for people who run their own servers, such as YunoHost ⧉, FreedomBox ⧉ or LibreServer ⧉. This requires some technical knowledge, especially to install the software, but after the initial set-up the process the rest is done through a graphical interface and relatively painless.
• The most difficult option is to install and maintain everything from scratch. This demands the most technical knowledge, but also provides the most flexibility. You can find installation instructions for all Fediverse platforms in their documentation, usually on their official website. For example, Mastodon’s installation instructions are here ⧉.

Some Fediverse server types are available to set up through all three options, others may only be available by manually installing from scratch.

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