Mastodon/fedi server recs (because 
literally blocked me from posting it lol)
General-purpose: octodon.social, mas.to, weirder.earth
Lefty/social justice-oriented: rage.love, kolektiva.social, social.wxcafe.net, eldritch.cafe
Scientists/academics: fediscience.org, scicomm.xyz, scholar.social
Creatives: wandering.shop, photog.social, mastodon.art, pixelfed.social
Techy: cybre.space
Black-run: ubuntu.buzz
Geographical: cloudisland.nz (NZ), mspsocial.net (Twin Cities, MN), 438punk.house (Montréal, Punklandia)
(Update: as per @maloki the problem url was mas.to, they probably thought it was spam)
Some Mastodon server recommendations, now in blog post form! https://nevillepark.ca/2022/04/26/some-mastodon-server-recommendations/
Feel free to comment or @ me with recs, this is very much subjective and a work in progress.
Okay if I link to this from my twitter account?
@gannet yep absolutely
@nev pretty much all decently run Mastodon instances are transparent about what is and isn't blocked (and the server rules) on the /about/more page of the server along with the rules/code of conduct (and if its just the standard text and mostly empty its often a good reason to be wary or a lack of moderation, or its maybe a very small instance with only a handful of people and bots which might not be accepting new registrations anyway)
@vfrmedia oh yes that's a good tip!
@nev academic ones also include glammr.us and mathstodon.xyz!
I think kith.kitchen is also temporarily open to new members- that's a food and gardening focused instance
@noctiluca thanks!
@noctiluca now added to the list, thanks!
@nev@bananachips.club not pleroma. it's mostly mastodon instances that are toxic usually :) because they basically defederate from everyone
@nev I host a Pleroma instance because it’s not a resource hog like Mastodon or Misskey. And It has a *very* long block and quarantine list.
The goal of saying this is to:
1) break the stereotype that all Pleroma instances are Nazi instance and
2) to encourage people to use it if they can’t afford a VPS with better specs
@nev is it possible to be on one instance and browse specific others exclusively? So far I know that I can only look at the feed which is every connected instance combined.
@nev love that 4 of the instances I'm on made the list~~
Allow me to tentatively suggest adding mastodon.technology to the techy list. (Admittedly, I'm biased.)
@plsburydoughboy asking the real questions here
@nev mind if I post this on my Twitter and see how long it takes to get banned for it?
@maloki I don't think you'll get banned, it literally didn't let me send the tweets, one of the links is Problematic
Didn't have the energy to figure out which
@nev it was only mas.to
@maloki oh good to know!
@nev I also removed kolektiva.social when I posted it mostly because we don't federate with them.
Yeah Twitter is more sensitive about some tlds
@maloki oh yeah, absolutely add/change as necessary
@maloki (I was doing it as a pre-composed thread so it was hard to tell)
@nev I did too. But it highlighted that message when it said it so I tried removing that one first and then it posted.
@nev DragonsCave.space is a pleasant, lightly disability-focused but overall general-purpose instance with a badass name.
Definitely not biased here! 
@nev Some recs for gamers? Note: I love video games but I hate Video Games.
@lpslucasps @nev Try the #gameing hashtag (yes, spelled like that).
I'm just now learning that MSPSocial is a Minnesotan-Based instance, because I thought For SURE that it was a Homestuck Fandom instance.
the ☀️ & the 🌑
Once again, you can be on one server and follow/interact with people on any other server (unless they've blocked each other—it happens—but none of the above are controversial or commonly blocked).
Commonly blocked sites tend to be one/any of these:
- poorly moderated (a lot of big generalist instances, porn/spam)
- regular sources of drama and shit-stirring
- infested with techbro reply guys (like 99.9% of all tech instances)
- transphobe Nazi weeb CHUDs (any site running Pleroma)
I had example websites for all of these categories but decided against including them lmao