The server is still catching up to all the activity overnight and could be doing so for the next few hours.
You may find some replies take awhile to come through or your posts might need a couple tries. This will clear over the next 6-12 hours.
The Server continues to recover and we are actively tweaking settings for optimal performance. That said, you should be experiencing normal activity and response times. This will be the last update posted barring any unforeseen issues. Thank you so much for your patience as we achieve this important milestone for SocialBC! Onward we go!
We started very small. (we didn't know if this would fly!). And since there are not a lot of mastodon servers out there, we had to use masto.host, which is a shared server space meant for exactly our situation. They are well respected and trusted to start a mastodon server space for a low cost. However, we knew two things: they were in Europe, and we wanted something hosted in B.C.; and if we were successful, we would need to find a more scalable, and cheaper, solution since masto.host gets expensive for larger spaces
The SocialBC.ca website and mastodon server will 'go dark' sometime after 9PM. Do not expect any interaction after that. It could take anywhere from 3hrs to 24hrs for the migration to be completed. Our goal is Sunday 12PM. We will update at the top of this page if anything else is going on.
Our last bill (January 13, 2026) for hosting at Masto.Host was $US77. This gives us 28GB of Database space (we are near the limit at 26.7GB) and 280GB of Media Storage (we are using 106GB). It also includes search functionality and extra processing threads for speed.
Our new server is being provided by Sandwich.net in Vancouver at no cost and will offer us all the same functionality plus the ability to scale up to larger capacity and the full suite of customization for Mastodon which masto.host kept 'under the hood'. We are very grateful for this very generous donation of hardware and software space and expertise provided by our very own James Renken.
Of course, that doesn't mean all our costs go away. That's why we're also launching our 2026 donation drive! You can contribute here!
It's the thing that makes socialbc.ca happen. It's the software behind what you see. Twitter is software, Facebook is software, and so is Mastodon. It's just that in the case of Mastodon, it is an open and free software platform (available at github.com/mastodon/mastodon) so anyone can install it and create their own server and community. SocialBC is just one of thousands of Mastodon and other "Fediverse compatible" servers out there (You can see a list of Canadian Fediverse servers at TheSocialWeb.ca). If you are familiar with the popular blogging software Wordpress, it is also now Fediverse compatible. That's why you can see Wordpress blogs on your SocialBC feed!
If you're on Mastodon feel free to contact any of the team at the socialbc.ca/about page. If the server is down and you have questions, feel free to send an email to help @ socialbc.org which will be active during the entire migration.
This is your three day warning of our migration to a new server.
SocialBC.ca is moving starting Saturday, January 24 around 9:00PM (Pacific Time) and should be complete on Sunday morning!
As previously announced, we will be moving our infrastructure from the shared host system at masto.host which has its servers in Europe, to our own servers donated by friends here in Vancouver, B.C.!
SocialBC.ca will be unavailable starting at or after 9PM on Saturday.
This means you will not be able to access the website or your social media account at all, and mastodon clients will not be able to retrieve your feed. We are doing this so that we can make a full and complete final backup of the system and migrate it over. When complete, it should be as if nothing has really changed.
We anticipate the migration to take anywhere from less than 3 hours to as much as 24 hours. Our goal is to be up and running by noon on Sunday. If everything goes well it could be ready long before that time… if there are challenges, it might be awhile after that. We will post updates at: https://socialbc.org/socialbc/migration.html
We are very excited to be achieving this milestone of hosting our first mastodon server domestically as part of our first anniversary of operation! Another huge thanks to James Renken of sandwich.net for donating the space and the significant time and effort to make the migration happen!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us through socialbc.ca or email us at help@socialbc.org
Thanks for coming along on this journey with us.
Cheers
Chris and the SOSSBC/SocialBC.ca Team
Jan 13 2026 Migration Update!
In the summer we announced that we would be standing up a new BC-located server to host SocialBC.ca and migrating away from the shared host we began this little project on at masto.host which is located in Europe.
We are very near to that migration happening! This will involve some downtime as the migration actually happens.
Why? Because this is a BC instance and we want to be hosted in BC. The masto.host space is a wonderful choice for people and businesses who might want to start up their own servers at a very reasonable cost with very low maintenance, but given our goals to build the Social Web in BC, we wanted to find a local provider. It didn’t take long to find a number of people willing to help over the past year!
Our new arrangement will be with Sandwich.net based in Vancouver. @jrenken, who’s been with SocialBC since the beginning, is donating the space at no cost so we’ll be immediately saving more than $70/mo in hosting fees. We will also have a lot more room to grow sustainably if and when socialBC reaches into the hundreds or thousands of members (we are currently at just over 100 accounts). We’ll also gain full control over the features of mastodon and what we can offer you as users.
Please keep an eye out in the coming days or weeks for a "3 Day Warning". This will be your warning that we are 3 days away from migration day. That announcement will also go out by email so no one is missed.
What will happen?
If all goes well, you won't notice much. After the 3 day warning, we'll send a final announcement on the day of the migration, again including by email.
On the day of the migration, the socialbc.ca website and Mastodon server will be unavailable for hopefully less than 24 hours as the migration takes place and the internet catches up to the change in geography.
We will make status updates and an FAQ available at https://socialbc.org/socialbc/migration.html and you can always contact us at help@socialbc.org or find @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca if you have another mastodon account.
Exciting times are ahead! Cheers from the Team at SocialBC.ca