#POLL - PLEASE VOTE AND BOOST

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

#POLL - PLEASE VOTE AND BOOST
TO CONVINCE @Gargron it is time to make Mastodon character limits admin-configurable in the Mastodon interface.

It is only configurable now through custom modification of the mastodon code which limits who can do this to those who have direct access to the server installation of their instance and complicates updates and maintenance.

PLEASE vote YES for Admin Configuration.

Below is the comment I made on GitHub for the feature. I suggest a default of 500 with the absolute maximum tracking whatever is highest in the industry (currently 25,000 X Premium). Feel free to upvote here https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/12265

— GitHub comment —

The world has moved on from character limits being set in stone. Most importantly, and still most influentially, X, TikTok, Facebook, Insta and LinkedIn now allow over 1000 characters. Comparison below from [this buffer post.](https://support.buffer.com/article/588-character-limits-for-each-social-network) as of October 31, 2024.

In the spirit of ease of decentralization and independence, it makes sense that this would be configurable at the admin level so that the owner can make this choice without touching the infrastructure server level.

I would suggest that the best course of action would be for Mastodon to make it a configurable option with a default of 500 and an absolute maximum that tracks the highest of other platforms which would currently be 25,000 (X Premium).

This should be a high priority to increase the competitiveness of the platform as people move away from corporate social media.

Thank you
Chris
@chris
@[email protected]

Channel Character limit
Facebook pages & groups 5,000
Instagram accounts
2,200 for post/reel captions
2,196 for first comments
X/Twitter profiles
X Free users: 280 characters
X Basic, Premium and Premium + users: 25,000 characters*
LinkedIn pages & profiles
3,000 for posts
1,248 for first comments
Pinterest boards 500
TikTok Business accounts 2,200
Start Pages 5,000
Mastodon accounts 500
YouTube Shorts 5,000
Threads 500
Bluesky 300

Mike Fraser :Jets:

@[email protected] @Gargron @[email protected] I'm definitely the minority but I loath long posts. It's called microblogging for a reason. If you want to write an actual blog there's entry of platforms. The character limit is already plenty generous.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@mike @Gargron @[email protected] this is less about big or small, and more about *choice*.

Richard [ˈrihaːˈrd]

@[email protected] @Gargron @[email protected] who the hell votes 'no' on this? why???

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@Gargron here is an example justification for this from my SocialBC instance.

https://socialbc.ca/@chris/113816616298663805

@[email protected]

ClickyMcTicker

@mike @[email protected] @Gargron @[email protected] I also loathe long posts on microblogs, but I would like admins to have the option to set it a little higher if they like. 500 characters can get eaten up quickly, especially by multiple lengthy tagged users. I’d rather write and read one 1000 character post than three 500 character posts.

25000 on the dead bird site is absolutely ridiculous. No surprise there.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@ClickyMcTicker @mike @Gargron @[email protected] agreed 25000 is bonkers. But really the specific limits are irrelevant. Lots of arguments for and against any specific number. I just want that choice to be available for any owner. Maybe we would see some instances pop up with 50 character limits? super-micro-blog

:PUA: Shlee fucked around and

@[email protected] @Gargron @[email protected] this is a good one... while I have personally made PRs to fix this.... the developers arguement is -- this is a really low hanging fruit which exists to kind of get administrators to motivate themselves to read the code (I do not agree but that is one of their points).

bonus: right now, you only need to change the number in one place now, instead of the 4 locations so it's not as complex as it used to be.

Emil Jacobs - Collectifission

@[email protected] I never understood the argumentation to not just implement it myself. "It doesn't look good" is just nonsense, I say with my instance having a character limit on 5000.

There's even a case to be made for compatibility with Bluesky, if you're on an instance caring about that: you should be able to set it on 300.

@Gargron @[email protected]

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@shlee @Gargron @[email protected] but as I said in the thread comment. Some hosting services do not, as a matter of policy, modify the distribution code. Which is a reasonable policy.