Tiny Mastodon Tip to Block a Domain

If you would like to block an entire domain or instance on Mastodon, there are 2 easy ways to do this.

Be careful however, this will
block everyone from this instance, and you will lose your followers and follows from this instance as well.

HOW TO

1. The easiest way is to find a user from the instance you want to block, then click on the 3-dot "Menu" button on their profile. From the drop-menu, select "Block domain DOMAIN_NAME"

2. You can also "pre-block" an instance or domain, even without a user account. From the web interface, go to "Preferences" > "Import and export" > "Export", then download the "CSV" file for your "Domain blocks"

3. Open the blocked_domains.csv file as a text file

4. Type each domain you wish to block on a separate line. Save this file using the same filename

5. Back to your account, move to the "Import" section from the left-side menu. From the "Import type", select "Domain blocking list"

6. Select "Merge" to add blocked domains to your existing list, or "Overwrite" to only use the file you just saved

7. Verify the information on the confirmation page, then click "Confirm"

8. You are now (relatively) safer from this domain

hey there's a book about the history of the fediverse that's set to release physically on august 8th! and i'm in it!!! i got interviewed about #FediPact and #meta and #threads and all that. i really wanna have a physical copy of this book but sadly $35 for a paperback is outta my price range. anybody wanna help me out? it'd mean the world to me to have a tangible representation of all the hard work i've done on here :3

https://elenarossini.com/2025/07/my-adventures-in-self-hosting-day-210-viva-foss/

There has never been a better time to join the world of Free Open Source Software or begin self-hosting essential digital services.

Some recent news that made me feel grateful for my forays into self-hosting:

1. The software Pocket, which made it easy to save, organize and read later articles in a really elegant interface shuts down this year. Another fantastic app/service to add to Mozilla‘s graveyard. Looking at YunoHost‘s app catalog, I noticed several superb alternatives to Pocket that are free, open source, and can be self-hosted, so I am thinking: never again will I give that power to an outside company. Cherry on top: the Pocket archive I requested the other day landed in my email… and the file contains an error, so I cannot download it (expired token even if it didn’t pass the 72 hour threshold they set). I look forward to self-hosting my next “save and read later” bookmark service.
2. The file sharing company WeTransfer was in the news this morning because they recently updated their terms of service, with alarming language, telling users: “You hereby grant us a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable license to use your Content for the purposes of operating, developing, commercializing, and improving the Service or new technologies or services. Such license includes the right to reproduce, distribute, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, broadcast, communicate to the public, publicly display, and perform Content. You will not be entitled to compensation for any use of Content by us under these terms.” News about this spread like wildfire with people saying this language implies content shared via WeTransfer would be used to train AI models. Now, why is this a big deal you may wonder? In my filmmaking / film editing days I would use WeTransfer DAILY to share cuts of my projects. WeTransfer is THE file sharing app for most creatives and film professionals. I used it extensively in May and June to share versions of the Fediverse promo video with my interns. Well, even if WeTransfer backtracks following the backlash, I would never again consider using it. It’s a happy coincidence that last month I set up my own NextCloud instance and I plan on using it to share files from now on. Excellent timing.
3. Tangentially-related, but an article in Engadget today revealed that users of the microblogging platform Threads rarely click on external links. The numbers are pretty shocking: 28 million referral links in 30 days for a platform with allegedly 350 million monthly active users. This is precisely why I love the Fediverse: external links are never downranked because there are no algorithms. Writers and content creators have far higher engagement with their audience because of chronological feeds and more genuine relationships.

On my to do list for the fall: looking into taking full advantage of NextCloud‘s ecosystem because this software is incredibly sophisticated… the FOSS equivalent of a Swiss Army knife.

For those curious about it, here is their official website with documentation: https://nextcloud.com

Onwards and upwards!

Elena

Threads users still barely click links
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-users-still-barely-click-links-170139103.html?src=rss

So is Threads (Instagram) actually part of the Fediverse now? Like, can I follow people who are on Threads?

If you're on #Mastodon for a while (or any non-corporate social media) and you jump on #Threads or #Twitter, the posts there are jarring.

Posts read like tv commercials. Everyone's trying to game the algorithm so the writing feels like advertisements— "what happened next will shock you," "90% of people don't do this one thing," etc.

Communities and Markets.