If you're transferring your Mastodon account to another server, don't use the "Archive Request" button for transfers.
This button is not used in the transfer process, it's only there for you to download a copy of your data for personal use. The archive produced by this button cannot be uploaded to Mastodon.
p.s. Just to make clear, it is a good idea to download an archive, it just isn't used in the transfer process. The idea of the archive is to have a personal copy of everything you've posted.
The archive isn't currently readable by Mastodon, but it is readable by other software. Another Fediverse platform Calckey is currently testing a feature that lets you import posts from your old Mastodon account to your new Calckey account, and this uses your Mastodon archive.
@feditips I'll have to look into that - I'm running the beta version of CK on my personal instance (the one I'm posting from) and that would be a useful thing to have.
Doubly useful, since I don't see a technical reason that would preclude archives from multiple servers being imported.
Apparently you need to activate this CK feature manually in admin settings. It's not on by default, possibly because post transfers can use a lot of resources?
@feditips Haha, there is only so much time before people start poking at your sentence building, isn't there? 😅 I was internalizing as well, thinking that it's just implying that archiving is not necessary in migration process.
-You are interested in another server's features, perhaps because it has better moderation or higher character limits or local-only post visibility or whatever.
OR
-You want to be part of another server's community features, perhaps you are interested in its Local timeline etc
@feditips@mastodonmigration That kinda sucks though, that that archive can't be uploaded to #Mastodon. The migration process makes little sense in the first place, because generally you want to migrate when your existing server shut down. To me it seems the only way to do that is to periodically download an archive. The migration process is to migrate from one working server to another. But it doesn't work if you're banned or the server is down.
@feditips Let's say I've successfully migrated, and leave the old account redirecting for several days/weeks.
What happen if I log into the old account and I click cancel migration? Can do that to repurpose my old account for something else and leave the follower/ing data on the new account?
Yes, you can reactivate the old account as long as you don't delete it.
However, the followers which transferred over to your new account will be gone to your new account. Also, people finding old links to your old account will stop seeing the redirect to the new one.
The reason it works like this is to stop someone gathering a load of followers and then duplicating them multiple times to strangers without the followers' knowledge.
@feditips I believe this is mastodon to mastodon right? Might want to throw in a tiny disclaimer if needed. I believe the process might be different for something like #calckey.
(Also I might have dreamt this, but doesn’t calckey transfer posts as well?)
You can copy Calckey posts between Calckey servers ( akoma pleroma too iirc)
Copy Mastodon posts to Calckey servers.
Soon copy Twitter posts to Calckey.
Soon copy instagram posts to Pixelfed.
Various other platforms working on post upload portability.
It is difficult to fit everything in one post, I am at the character limit! 😁
The post transfer on Calckey is still on the release candidate, not on the release version. I'll wait until it's actually released before including it in instructions.
However, I've added a second post to make a mini-thread which mentions why someone would want an archive and that Calckey is testing post transfers using the archive.
@feditips ... "be careful not to press it" sounds like it will cause a problem, when in fact why wouldn't you want a copy of your data for yourself? It's your data, and it will go away if that server fails.
You will get the archive file, but it won't be any use in transferring.
I'm mainly trying to reach people who had been trying to upload that file in the transfer process. Several people had brought it up so I thought it would be good to do a post about it.
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