Good morning, #episcodons July 6 is an important day for two reasons:

1. Meta plan to release "Threads," a Twitter challenger that uses ActivityPub, allowing it to connect to the fediverse.

2. Mastodon will release an update. Our server host, @toot.io, will update our instance shortly afterward.

https://www.threads.net/

Here are our server stats from the past 30 days. Thanks for being part of this instance!
#episcodons

Hello, #episcodons! It's time for a periodic sponsorship announcement. We currently have 4️⃣2️⃣ active members, only 6️⃣ of whom are sponsors. If you access the Fediverse from episcodon.net, please consider making a one-time 🎁 or monthly pledge via Patreon. Many thanks to those who keep our server up and running!

https://www.patreon.com/episcodon

Happy Friday, #episcodons ! During the past 30 days, we had 3 new users, 46 active users, and 432 interactions.

Happy Friday, #episcodons ! We currently have 66 active users, a net decrease of 4 from last week.

Happy Friday, #episcodons! We currently have 70 active users. We're getting fewer new users because I'm requiring interested persons to apply for an account and state why they want to join.

#episcodons, this is a random reminder to become a patron of this server by using Patreon.

Our current expenses total $37.96 per month, and our current sponsorships total $30.00 per month, yielding a deficit of $7.96. Two or three new patrons would balance the books.

Many thanks to our five current patrons: @patmasrev @ruck @japierce @dean90815dean @wnknisely

https://www.patreon.com/episcodon

Happy Friday, #episcodons !

We currently have 72 active users--a net increase of four compared to last week.

Since I re-enabled manual approval for new users, the flood of junk accounts has subsided. I plan to keep it that way; I'd rather have quality than quantify.

By the way, our hosting company updated us to Mastodon v4.1.0. You may see some minor changes in functionality.

Happy Friday, #episcodons! We're down to 68 active users--a net decrease of 13 from last week.

Yesterday, I changed the sign-up setting from *Approval required for sign up* to *Anyone can sign up.* According to Mastodon gurus, manual approval significantly inhibits potential users from joining. The joinmastodon.org/servers page gives priority to servers with no registration process. Three new members have joined since I made the change.

Good morning, #episcodons! We currently have 81 active users, a net decrease of 11 from the last week. I imagine there are two reasons for this drop:

First, new users aren't joining because they must now apply for membership and explain why they want to join. This is designed to defeat bots, but it may be discouraging humans.

Second, the platform doesn't meet the needs of many new users. They signup and look around, but they don't engage and they don't return.

Happy Friday, #episcodons! We currently have 92 active users, a net decrease of 4 from last week.

If you are a member but have never posted, give it a try!

Good morning, #episcodons! We're up to 96 active users, a net increase of 1 from last week. New users have declined since I started requiring people to apply for accounts, but spam accounts are down too. If we grow above 100 active users, we'll have to upgrade our hosting plan.

#episcodons, I am now proactively blocking domains that admins of other instances report using the fediblock hashtag. You can see a list of blocked domains and why they are blocked at the bottom of our About page. I verify each domain before I block it.
https://episcodon.net/about

Good morning, #episcodons! We're up to 95 active users, which is a net increase of 23 from last week. Many of these new users are from the #efm community. Some are spam accounts, which I have suspended. To prevent future spam accounts, I now require prospective users to apply for membership and explain why they want to join.

#episcodons, we currently have 72 active users, which is a net decrease of 5 from last week. Wishing all of you a happy Epiphany!

#episcodons, we currently have 77 active users, which is a net increase of 6 from last week. Wishing all of you a healthy and happy New Year!

@wnknisely Merry Christmas, #episcodons #episcopal and #anglican musicians and the whole #9LC community! Always a wonderful way to usher in Christmas Eve for me.

#episcodons, we currently have 71 active users, which is a net increase of 3 from last week. Thanks for spreading the news about a better social media experience for Episcopalians.

Good morning, #episcodons!

Our server rules task force has finished its work (for now). Please take a look at the new version of the About page. Here are the significant changes:
1) The About section has been greatly expanded. Hate speech is clearly defined, with links to specific definitions on Wikipedia.
2) Server recommendations have been added.
3) "No bot accounts" has been added to the server rules.

Please direct message me if you have questions or concerns.

https://episcodon.net/about

@johnclint I've been thinking about this question (didn't respond to the poll, fwiw). I won't join #episcodon because such a big part of my work in the world actually is partisan, and certainly broadly political. Happy to follow/be followed by #episcodons, of course! I agree that church shouldn't be partisan in the sense of party-linked. Speaking as a Dem voter often frustrated by the Dems! I wonder tho, with the GOP flirting with/outright endorsing fascism, how do we not speak to that?