Por cierto, aprovecho para informar públicamente.

Viendo que el servidor de Pixelfed.social recibía cuentas de SPAM y de estafas, decidí mudarme de servidor. Cuál ha sido mi sorpresa cuando he visto que... No podía. No se puede migrar un perfil de Pixelfed.social a otra instancia. Al parecer, desde hace más de un año, por otras quejas que he visto.

El desarrollador principal ha dicho algo así como que está arreglándolo, pero así lleva tiempo...

Pedí explicaciones a @pixelfed hace varios días. Han publicado cosas, pero a mí no me han respondido.

Mientras tanto, tienen una de las principales funcionalidades del Fediverso capadas en el servidor más grande (y el "oficial") de #Pixelfed.
Es decir, tienen rehenes a todos sus usuarios, en contra de la filosofía del #Fediverso.

Pero es más, Pixelfed tiene función para exportar tus datos. Aunque exportar las publicaciones siempre falla.

Pensé, bueno, al menos importo la gente a la que seguía. No, porque la única herramienta de importación que han diseñado es una para importar tu cuenta de Instagram. Deshabilitada en el servidor principal de Pixelfed.social, por cierto.

Llegué a pensar incluso que era porque estaban una versión por detrás del servidor al que me quería mudar (que ya sería raro, siendo el servidor principal).

Pues no, tienen la misma versión. Pero sólo puedes migrar tu cuenta a Pixelfed.social para entrar. No para salir. A mí me deja clara la intención de todo esto.

Resumiendo: JAMÁS os creéis una cuenta en Pixelfed.social, o seréis rehenes. Os recomiendo otro servidor (Luzeed, Fotolibre, por ejemplo). Y también existe @vernissage para compartir fotos.

Podéis seguirme todos de nuevo en esta cuenta: @andrewblasco@luzeed.org. Porque claro, sin migración de cuenta, pierdes a todos tus seguidores 🤷🏽‍♂️

Attention please! (Clears his throat).

Seeing that the Pixelfed.social server was receiving spam and scam accounts, I decided to switch server. Imagine my surprise when I discovered... I couldn't. You can't migrate a Pixelfed.social profile to another instance. Apparently, this has been the case for over a year, by other complaints I've seen.

The lead developer has said something like they're working on fixing it, but it's been like this for a while...

I asked @pixelfed for an explanation several days ago. They've posted things, but they haven't answered to me.

Meanwhile, they've disabled one of the main features of the Fediverse on the largest (and "official") #Pixelfed server.

In other words, they're holding all their users hostage, which goes against the philosophy of the #Fediverse.

What's more, Pixelfed has a function to export your data. However, exporting posts always fails.

I thought, well, at least I can import the people I follow. Nope, because the only import tool they've designed is one for importing your Instagram account. Disabled on the main Pixelfed.social server, by the way.

I even started to think it was because they were one version behind the server I wanted to move to (which would be strange, since it's the main server).

Well, no, they have the same version. But you can only migrate your account INTO Pixelfed.social, not the other way, OUT of Pixelfed.social. That makes the whole thing crystal clear to me.

In short: NEVER create an account on Pixelfed.social, or you'll be held hostage. I recommend another servers (Luzeed, Fotolibre, for example). And there's also @vernissage for sharing photos.

You can all follow me again at this account: @andrewblasco@luzeed.org. Because of course, without account migration, you lose all your followers 🤷🏽‍♂️

Por fin, tras esta publicación, he tenido una respuesta de @pixelfed. Me han bloqueado 😂

Finally, after this post, I have an answer from @pixelfed. They have blocked me 😂

@andrewblasco @pixelfed hey, @pixelfed this is not cool. #Fediverse

@diraquel @andrewblasco @pixelfed That’s bad customer service. Please reconsider unblocking the user and constructively address the issue. Otherwise, we’ll have to let others know not to trust you.

#Fediverse

@andrewblasco Jeez. That’s very telling, both of the quality of service and of the people running it.

@andrewblasco Weirdly, I can't see your profile through Mastodon web or using Ivory, I search for luzeed and I see a few profiles there but not yours. Might be because it's new, but it's a bit strange.

@diraquel Pixelfed doing pixelfed things once more. Just getting back to this again and again: Stay away from it, at least from this particular instance. And keep a fallback strategy in place to compensate for the lack of export / migration tools. 😔

@andrewblasco @pixelfed

@z428
Had the same problems when switching from Pixelfed towards greener pastures, Like 2 years ago.

On the positive side, you're not losing much when switching to different software. I mean… even Mastodon is better at uploading/tagging images than Pixelfed. IDK what they think their use case might be.
@diraquel @andrewblasco @pixelfed

@andrewblasco@masto.es @andrewblasco@luzeed.org yeah, that tracks. Dansup is not a good person or a good developer. Vendor lock-in on his supposedly "open" pet project doesn't surprise me.

Lo más "gracioso" de todo esto es que el desarrollador de @pixelfed recaudó unos 138.742 dólares canadienses (unos 86.000€) en marzo de 2025:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks

Fue mucho más que lo que pedía en un inicio: 50.000 CAD (31.000€). Entre las cosas que prometía con lo recaudado:

- Un nuevo diseño web, del que incluso enseñó conceptos.

- Acelerar el desarrollo de Pixelfed tanto en la web, iOs y Android.

- Mejorar la moderación y seguridad de las plataformas (Pixelfed, Loops y Sup).

Un año y medio después, nada de esto ha ocurrido. Y esto me decepciona enormemente, porque fui uno de los que doné a este Kickstarter.

#Pixelfed #PixelfedDeservesLove

The "funniest" thing about all this is the main @pixelfed developer raised approximately 138,742 Canadian dollars (around €86,000) in March 2025:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks

This was much more than the initial goal of 50,000 CAD (€31,000). Among the things promised with the funds raised were:

- A new website design, for which they even shared concept art.

- Accelerating Pixelfed's development across the web, iOS, and Android.

- Improving moderation and security across the platforms (Pixelfed, Loops, and Sup).

A year and a half later, none of this has happened. And this disappoints me greatly, because I was one of those who donated to this Kickstarter.

#Pixelfed #PixelfedDeservesLove

No sé si este desarrollador se da cuenta del daño que hace al software libre que recaude miles de euros y luego ni siquiera dé explicaciones sobre sus proyectos. Tan sólo eso, responder y dar explicaciones.

En vez de eso, prefiere bloquear a cualquier persona que pregunte, que diga "oye, esto está estancado"...

#Pixelfed

I don't know if this developer realizes the damage he's doing to free software by raising thousands of euros and then not even offering any explanations about his projects. Just that: answer and provide explanations.

Instead, he prefers to block anyone who asks questions, who says, "Hey, this is stalled"...

#Pixelfed

@antoni
Anyone who has come into contact with dansup already knows.

@starlily @antoni hey @welshpixie he's at it again

@WizardOfDocs @starlily @antoni heh, was just reading this from your boost.

I am, alas, not surprised that dansup continues to be a fuck.

@andrewblasco This is, very much unfortunately, par for the course with dansup. He takes childish to a whole new level.

There is a very very very large thread here about all of the ways in which he's an abusive, racist, transphobic, bully. https://weirder.earth/@thief/113953830104994490

@andrewblasco @pixelfed @vernissage

I recommend another servers (Luzeed, Fotolibre, for example).

Do these support migration? I thought the problem was that Pixelfed simply doesn’t support migration, not that pixelfed.social in particular has it disabled

@noisytoot Yeah, problem is the developer knows that feature (a key feature at the Fediverse) is broken for a year or so and he didn't fix it.

Instead, simply turn off at his server. Other servers has the feature available, but it could work inconsistently. I am already regretting of make another account at Pixelfed (another server), because it's just abandoned... 😅

@andrewblasco @noisytoot

I had 2 Pixelfed instances, one for testing purposes only. Although migration was enabled, it didn't work. The account I tried to migrate lost all its followers/followings, and the new account didn't get them. Now both accounts were empty. This means not only that it didn't work, but that you lost your followers from your old account. Other people have reported this issue on GitHub. I saw that a fix had been deployed, but I haven't tested it again yet.

@andrewblasco @noisytoot

Therefore, I recommend that everyone backs up their followers and followings before trying to migrate on other instances where the feature is enabled.

@veroandi @noisytoot I did it a back up but... There is no way to import manually either 🤷🏽‍♂️

Not developed, that's it.

@andrewblasco @noisytoot

Yes, it's almost useless, but it helps you to have a list of the people that you followed so you can follow them "manually" again, but no guarantee that your followers will follow you again. :o/

@andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @welshpixie @drwho @z428 @aegir @veroandi

What do we need Pixelfed for, anyway? My Mastodon feed is already full of photos and the occasional short video.

@argv_minus_one @andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @welshpixie@mastodon.art @drwho @z428 @aegir @veroandi I want to see photo only. I do not want to see short videos. Mastodon will never prioritize photo centric features.

@hiphopheaven I also then and now am looking to have a photo-centric client but things are ... a bit more complicated as far as I see. Like, even on pixelfed I used to have a somewhat difficult timeline because even pixelfed has a hard time making a difference between an actual "photography" post (one or more pictures, maybe with some additional text or hashtags) or, in example, some sort of Unix tutorial or news article post that is more lengthy and has a few screenshots, photographs, ... attached to it. There's currently no good way to say: Please just show me photographs that are /actually/ photographs of some sort. Not even on pixelfed.😬

@argv_minus_one @andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @drwho @aegir @veroandi

@z428 @argv_minus_one @andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @drwho @aegir @veroandi as long as you stay on the local feed you could be fine with mostly photography and art

@hiphopheaven Ah, yes, true, but then again wouldn't that work against the very idea of the federation? (I'm still feeling very ... torn about the absence of actual content types on the Fediverse to explicitely describe whether there's an "image" / photography or some long-text-with-screenshots in a post or timeline but maybe that's only me...)

@argv_minus_one @andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @drwho @aegir @veroandi

@z428 @argv_minus_one @andrewblasco@masto.es @vernissage @andrewblasco@luzeed.org @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @drwho @aegir @veroandi yeah you are right. It just that personally federation was not the reason I am on fediverse but because of the algorithm free feeds and open sourcess

@hiphopheaven I'm with you on that. I regularly see complaints about some fediverse applications not pulling in all posts and only focussing on one content type, but at the end of the day, I don't want yet another mastodon client, which is all they'd end up being.

@z428 @argv_minus_one @andrewblasco @vernissage @starlily @antonio @WizardOfDocs @drwho @aegir @veroandi

@andrewblasco ya tengo entretenimiento para el finde, crear una cuenta en #luzeed migrar todas las fotos y seguidos, y eliminar la cuenta de @pixelfed

@sergiofdezsaez En cuanto he visto que me tenían rehén sin dar ni explicaciones, sabía que no había vuelta atrás...

Tú que te dedicas a fotografía más profesional igual podrías mirar @vernissage.

Tanto Pixelfed como Vernissage funcionan con @Pixelix, te la recomiendo! (Gratuita en F-Froid, de pago en Play Store)

@andrewblasco lo de @vernissage me ha llamado la atención, pero no entiendo la diferencia entre estar ahí y seguir en Luzeed. Veo que en su editor's choice hay fotos de Pixelfed.social, por lo que tampoco ganaría mucho moviéndome allí, ¿no? Soy un abanico de dudas con el fediverso

@sergiofdezsaez

@antonio @andrewblasco @vernissage ahí yo me pierdo también. Y como ya estoy pendiente de validación en #luzeed pues ahí haré la migración

@sergiofdezsaez @antonio Voy a tratar de explicarlo de forma muy sencilla.

El Fediverso es una federación. Es decir, todos los servidores pueden ver lo que se publica en otros servidores (bloqueos y silencios aparte).

Hay servidores y software enfocado en texto (Mastodon, Misskey...), otros centrados en fotos (Pixelfed, Vernissage) y otros incluso en vídeo (Peertube) o compartir lecturas (Bookwyrm).

Desde tu cuenta de Mastodon tú puedes verlo todo. Por ejemplo, puedes ver mis toots y seguirme en esta cuenta, puedes ver mi cuenta y seguirme en @AndrewBlasco@vernissage.photos y puedes ver lo que leo en @AndrewBlasco@comelibros.club. Es verdad que dependiendo de cada servicio, se verán mejor o peor unas cosas y otras, porque estén más preparados para centrarse en texto, fotos etc...

Digamos que todos comparten una base de lo que se ve entre ellos, pero luego hay diferencias en función de en lo que se centren. Hasta ahí, bien, ¿no?

Por eso desde Vernissage puedes ver cosas de Pixelfed. Y al contrario. Incluso la gente puede seguir las fotos que publico sin hacerse cuenta en Pixelfed, desde luego. Yo tengo perfiles separados para no publicarlo todo junto, nada más.

Es decir, lo que cambia es la presentación, pero todos son ActivityPub.

Por qué estoy pensando que prefiero Vernissage sobre Pixelfed? Me permite seguir a la gente de Pixelfed igualmente, o de Mastodon.art, por ejemplo, y de paso parece que su desarrollador se preocupa por desarrollarlo y que funcione bien. Cosa que el de Pixelfed no.

Básicamente la diferencia en cuanto a interacción no va a ser mucha (y eso es lo mejor del Fediverso!), pero prefiero apoyar proyectos que parezcan mejor gestionados, nada más.

@welshpixie thank you for sharing! Do you have any alternative Pixelfed server recommendations by any chance?