# Mastodon with Kris Nova

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2022-11-14
- Length: 1h 30m
- Episode: 35
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/910a12d1

## Summary

Kris Nova, founder of the Hackderm Mastodon instance, explains the technical and social architecture of running a federated social network, including her home lab infrastructure and the ActivityPub protocol. Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal discuss the deliberate design choices of Mastodon, such as the absence of quote tweets and algorithms, which foster higher-quality discourse compared to Twitter. The group explores the sustainability of decentralized platforms through community sponsorship, volunteer moderation, and the potential for commercial support from companies like Oxide Computer Company.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=0) Introduction: Twitter Collapse and Platform Search
- [8:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=486) Kris Nova and the Origin of Hackderm
- [18:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=1090) Federated Architecture and Instance Management
- [22:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=1371) Running a Mastodon Server: Hardware and Logistics
- [28:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=1692) ActivityPub Protocol and Interoperability
- [49:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=2960) Content Warnings, Moderation, and Accessibility
- [1:16:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova#t=4603) Sustainability Models: Sponsorship and Community

## Topics

- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Security & privacy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/security-and-privacy)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Hackderm (product)
- Mastodon (product)
- ActivityPub (other)
- Pleroma (product)
- PixelFed (product)
- PeerTube (product)
- MISKey (product)
- Discord (product)
- Twitch (product)
- GitHub (company)
- Kubernetes (product)
- Rust (other)
- Go (other)
- USAID (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Substack: Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-05-12-substack-chris-best-and-hamish-mckenzie) (How I Built This)
- [Ep. 14 - Owning Your Data](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2024-02-15-ep-14-owning-your-data) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)
- [Live Episode! Reddit: Alexis Ohanian & Steve Huffman](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-08-31-live-episode-reddit-alexis-ohanian-steve-huffman) (How I Built This)
- [Discord: Jason Citron](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-03-07-discord-jason-citron) (How I Built This)
- [072 - EOF?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2024-12-07-072-eof) (Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-11-14-mastodon-with-kris-nova. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.