Problem with subdomain and my profile in follower-lists

#1

Hopefully I can describe the problem properly :sweat_smile::

Some days ago I installed mastodon on my VPS (using a subdomain: mastodon.rustysoft.de). I did create a user for me and started following some people. Then, after some time, I’ve learned that it’s possible that users can be identified with user@example.com. So I did the adjustments in the config files and everything seemed to be ok. But now I realized that my profile on some instances still refers to my subdomain (I clicked on a users profile I was following, then looking at the followers of that user looking for my own one). And changes I did to my profile (which I made perhaps after the config adjustments) are not seen. For example I specified a header image in addition to the profile image and changed the display name.

As you can see, there’s no header image:
Bildschirmfoto%20von%202019-02-13%2012-23-58
But others do see it:
Bildschirmfoto%20von%202019-02-13%2012-26-55

Then I tried to un-follow these users and re-follow them. But still I’m listed in their followers-list with my full (sub-)domain and without the changes I did to my profile. But I guess the changes I made to the config files are ok since other users list me correctly (perhaps all people I started to follow after the adjustments).

So, now I’m not sure if this problem is fixable?

#2

We do not support changing the domain of a mastodon installation once it has begun federating, as this can leave very conflicting records in remote systems, as you’ve seen.

My understanding is that this warning is very clear through the docs, but I’m happy to hear feedback if you have suggestions on other places it can go!

#3

My reading of the docs suggest that, “changing the domain means your instance is seen as a different instance.” I found this to be the case. But I also feel it goes a bit beyond, because this would create two different ways to see the same account, and unless the server in question is able to correct or say, “your request isn’t understood” because of the changed domain, it likely would go beyond being a new instance.

#4

Understood. But how can I solve the issue now? Currently, I’m the only user on my instance (and nobody is following me). Can/should I re-setup the instance? Is there a clean way to do that without causing further conflicts?

#5

The cleanest way to do it is to wipe your whole postgres database and start over. The second cleanest way to do it is to unfollow everybody you’re currently following and follow them again. (you can do this somewhat easily by exporting your following csv in settings, unfollowing everybody, and then importing it)