I have observed a lot of discussion among Twitter users who would like to switch to a Mastodon instance but are concerned about things like:
- the longevity of the server (will it just disappear when the admin runs out of money for the server)
- privacy concerns regarding DMs (yes, Twitter admins can read those too in plain text, but they are seen as being more accountable because it’s their literal job)
- federation/neutrality (how can I be sure the admin will allow me to connect with all my friends on different instances)
So far, the proposed solutions I have read about were to join a very large, established instance or to conceptualize a giant, donation-funded instance that can be a sort of reference implementation.
But isn’t this where Librehosters could step up? Because it wouldn’t be a bunch of random servers, they could commit to certain values and provide stability. What do you think?