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2025 Year-in-Review
announcement community year-in-review

2025 Year-in-Review

Michael (@admin)

(Image above is of my dog, since I couldn’t think of what to put here. 🐶)

Hey theATL.social (TAS) members! It’s certainly been an eventful year. I wanted to write an end-of-year update to let you know where TAS has been, what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s happening next.

First, by the numbers

  • 70-80 Active Members (depending on the month)
  • ~15GB of data transferred daily
  • ~300k page views and API requests daily
  • ~30 monthly financial contributors
  • One amazing community!

The biggest thanks go to our financial contributors. Y’all make the magic happen, and your funding is what keeps this ship going. And a special thank you to @DecaturNature, our lead moderator, who does an amazing job keeping our community safe.

theATL.social Services

Core platforms: Mastodon, Lemmy (yall.theatl.social), Bluesky, and Pyfedi (peachpie.theatl.social)

Extras: members.theatl.social, the Discord server, the Lemmy [Atlanta] newsbot, and marta.fail

2025 Reflections

TAS is over three years old. I started the original Mastodon service when [what was] Twitter was taken over by you-know-who. Early on, I had high expectations of hundreds, if not thousands, of users. That, of course, did not happen. Instead, we have something even better—a community that on a month-to-month basis is around 75 members engaged in Atlanta (and other topics) on our supported platforms.

What we accomplished

  • Implementing Pyfedi/PeachPie
  • Increasing the cadence of updates to our core services so you get the latest versions and features
  • Even more behind-the-scenes work to keep the underlying services and systems reliable
  • A fantastic presence at Streets Alive Atlanta!

What didn’t work out

Some plans didn’t come together this year, and I want to be transparent about good intentions that didn’t pan out:

  1. PDS migration (moving a Bluesky account from bsky.social to theATL.social) — should get finished in 2026
  2. Digests of Mastodon posts — turned out to be too expensive to implement, for now.
  3. Custom Mastodon feeds — should be addressed by the Mastodon software itself and/or third-party tools in the future.

What’s planned for 2026?

First, as US media is increasingly devoured by oligarch-controlled conglomerates, independent spaces like TAS are essential—particularly for communities facing censorship and unchecked toxicity. However, this commitment to free expression has limits: while all voices are welcomed, advocating violence, hatred, or the dehumanization of others remains unacceptable. That philosophy will continue to guide TAS in 2026.

Second, keeping the servers running reliably and economically, updating software frequently, and ensuring that y’all’s interests and preferences drive decision-making forward. Whether it’s new software, new features, etc., I want to ensure that whatever is new and feasible can be integrated into the platform.

Third, growing the community. This has always been a bit tough. I did try online advertising through Google before, without much luck. The only other avenue would be highly targeted advertising on Meta (eww, I know!), which could be a more economical way to conduct outreach. And, I’d like to bring back some in-person gatherings. Those have been sporadic over the years, but starting in Spring 2026, it’s as good a time as any to restart them.

So, with that, I bid 2025 adieu. I am truly grateful for the trust you place in me to keep this digital home running, and I can’t wait to see some of your faces in person this spring. Here’s to a fantastic, independent, and connected 2026. Happy New Year, y’all!

P.S. If you are not yet a financial contributor to theATL.social, consider joining at join.theatl.social!

All the best, @admin (Michael)

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