Folks who're annoyed about the inability to move to another instance without being able to take your followers with you:
"Account migration" has been a feature request on the Github issue list for quite a long time. https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/177
It is a BIG job, but it is on the list and the devs are aware of it. It could take a long time.
Clicking through to the issue on Github and clicking "thumbs-up" and leaving a comment about your suboptimal new-user experience is really helpful.
CC @chuckwendig
@RyanStates @chuckwendig Well, I do think it is a concern for existing community members *and* new members, and it does make things a lot harder. Like, a friend just asked me on Twitter if it would be bad to find out later that they'd picked the "wrong" instance, and I'm like... yeah, actually, moving is not easy and you can't take your toots and followers with you. It's not great!
@cassolotl I hear from the grapevine that account redirection (i.e. account A points to account B in some obvious way) is on the roadmap for the next version ^^; Not sure what form it will take, though.
@Skirmisher GASP that would be VERY COOL :o
@cassolotl @chuckwendig
It does beg the question: is bringing your followers to a new instance even relevant if they aren't also on that instance? (Mastodon newbie here)
@Eenewton @chuckwendig Yes! Because anyone can follow anyone else on any other instance.
@cassolotl @chuckwendig In the interim, I have a Python3 script that can migrate follows, if anyone is interested.
@snoot @chuckwendig Follows, or followers?
@cassolotl @chuckwendig
It grabs everyone you follow from one account/instance and follows them from the other account/instance. Followers. . .nothing can be done there at the moment.
@snoot @chuckwendig That seems like a lot of work when you can manually export and then import in about 30 seconds! Is there an advantage to doing it with a python script? *is not a coder*
@cassolotl @chuckwendig
1. I was already working on a command-line Python full client, so this was simple to implement.
2. I didn't see the import/export feature until just now and I feel somewhat silly. :)
@snoot @chuckwendig Ohhh fair enough! :) It is a bit hidden away, to be fair!
@cassolotl @chuckwendig For my part, not so much annoyed as concerned that this issue will foil the migration. Not that that needs to be the main concern of the existing community, etc.