Welcome to SocialBC.caThis instance is run by the non-profit, registered,
Society of Open Social Servers of British Columbia (
socialbc.org). If you live in British Columbia, Canada this is a regional Mastodon instance for you!
We are an X/Twitter and Corporate Media alternative connecting to thousands of other servers and
over 14 million users on the Fediverse and #OpenSocialWeb plus Bluesky.
User registration is now open!
We are
fundraising $2500 for 2025 right MEOW! You can also subscribe as a member! Info in the "Money" section below!
Our Team@Chris,
@photographyElf,
@arbutus,
@jrenken, Matt, and Blaine!
Use the Web or an AppWe are a public access server, there is no paywall or limitation on the general public seeing posts here through the website except for what users choose to keep private.
Any Mastodon compatible app will also work with SocialBC.ca.
We have an emoticon for your community!We have created emoticons based on the flags and logos of every municipality, town, village, First Nation and Band Council that we could find in BC.
You can see them all in this thread. Users can invoke the emoticons by typing : portalberni : or : Tseshaht :. We also encourage the use of community hashtags like #yvr #kamloops or #wsanec to increase the visibility of our diverse communities.
Connecting to Bluesky.How do I post into and follow people on Bluesky from socialbc.ca?Make sure whoever you want to follow has enabled Fediverse sharing on their Bluesky (explained in next section below).
To post into Bluesky: Search for and follow @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy. After it replies to you with confirmation, your future posts will automatically be sent to Bluesky as "@you.socialbc.ca.ap.brid.gy".
More info here.
To follow someone on Bluesky: Search for them here with @[handle].bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy
How do I see or make myself seen to people on SocialBC.ca from Bluesky?For Bluesky, search for and follow the account @ap.brid.gy on Bluesky. This will 'bridge' your Bluesky account and make you followable for people here on the Fediverse.
More info here. To follow people who are already bridged here search for eg. @chris.socialbc.ca.ap.brid.gy
How Do You Make This Go (ie. Money)We are
fundraising right now to help us get through 2025 Please Donate and Share!
SOSSBC and SocialBC.ca are currently completely run by volunteers but it does cost money to “keep the lights on”,
you can see our financials so far here.
- Donations can be made by e-transfer to: help at socialbc.org
- Individual Donations can also be made at: paypal.me/SOSSBC
Suggested Monthly Subscriptions:We have suggested donation amounts for personal, professional, and corporate members. These are not required for registration but we do hope you will help us keep the lights on:
We will periodically publish information about the Society and the finances of SocialBC.ca so that you can see how things are going and how your contributions are used. As we grow, our hosting costs will grow as well. We want to be transparent about that growth and how we use the money we have.
ThreadsSocialBC has made the decision to block connections (Federation) with Threads.net. This was done in response to the policy and moderation changes announced by Mark Zuckerberg in January 2025. Threads is also likely to soon be on the IFTAS list of blocked servers. We use the IFTAS service to automatically update block lists that protect our server and users from abusive and illegal content. The following is a quote from the
IFTAS FediCheck update of January 15, 2024.
"We are aware of growing community concerns around Meta’s threads.net domain, which is approaching the 51% threshold for inclusion on the CARIAD list. If more of our observed servers choose to block this domain, it will likely cross the 51% and possibly the 66% threshold in the coming weeks, which may then be reflected on your server.
To accommodate varying approaches, we are temporarily withholding the domain from the list until February 17, 2025. If you wish to remain connected to threads.net, please disable automatic updates for your server before this date by visiting cariad.fedicheck.iftas.org and disabling automatic push to your server."
As an inclusive and proactive space,
SocialBC has chosen to prioritize the health and safety of all current and future members and will block Threads.net as of 9AM January 20, 2025 until such time that policies at Meta change.
What Is This PlaceOur intent is to create community driven, grassroots, #OpenSocialWeb spaces for all people that call British Columbia - or the First Nations territories it owes its existence to - home. This space is connected to Bluesky through services like
Bridgy Fed.
Yes, we said "spaces"! In time, we can envision and would like to encourage groups and communities within British Columbia to create their own Mastodon/Fediverse spaces using this space as an example and possibly under the 'umbrella' of SOSSBC and socialbc.ca.
Moderation and General OutlookThis is a lightly moderated instance. We commit to be open and transparent on any moderation decisions. We expect people to be civilized. We do not condone or accept any violence or illegal behaviour and will block instances without warning that appear on Fediverse community block management lists like
IFTAS. This is done both for your safety and protection but also to ensure we adhere to the local laws and regulations on hate speech and other online content.
We welcome all people and strive to make a safe space. We do not tolerate dogpiling, spamming, trolling, or other forms of online or offline harassment including racist, and other discriminatory content. We follow the
Mastodon Server Covenant.
We do not limit people for expressing their views in ways that may be challenging but we strongly encourage people to use the "Content Warning" features built into Mastodon to protect others from unnecessary or unintended harm. Some simple guidelines for conduct are in the "Server Rules" below. We strongly encourage the use of alt-text for media, use
@PleaseCaptionBot for helpful reminders!
We reserve the right to limit, suspend, or remove any account at any time without recourse.
Bots and Pseudonymous AccountsBotsPeople and organizations are welcome to use socialbc.ca to create automated accounts or "bots" for news, weather, emergency services, and other useful public information.
Some guidelines:
- All bot accounts must have "This is a bot account" checked in its settings.
- Posts from bot accounts must be "unlisted".
- "Automatic Post Deletion" must be set to a maximum age of one month. (Pinned and DMs not included)
Pseudonyms or Parody AccountsPseudonymous accounts for activism, information, and entertainment are OK in general as are parody accounts but any account found to be in violation of expectations for civil behaviour, harassment, dogpiling, etc., or are found to be disseminating false or misleading information may face suspension.
First Nations and Indigenous PeoplesThe people behind socialbc.ca and the Society of Open Social Servers of BC deeply acknowledge that we are conducting this endeavour on and for people on the Traditional and often un-ceded Territories of Indigenous Peoples in the colonial province of British Columbia, Canada on Turtle Island.
We open our arms with humility and respect to Indigenous members joining this space.
We welcome and would be honoured to have the participation and direct input of Indigenous members and communities in this space and in SOSSBC as well!
As part of our goal to promote the #OpenSocialWeb generally, we would like to offer to help Indigenous-led communities and groups create spaces like socialbc.ca for their own communities.
The greatest thing about the #Fediverse and the #OpenSocialWeb is that it emulates the human landscapes that we all live in as a network of social spaces.
If this space is something you would be interested in creating in your community please don't hesitate to ask us for help.
Expanding SocialBC, SOSSBC, and the Open Social Web in BCIt's SOSSBC's goal to promote the use of non-corporate, community-driven, grassroots spaces.
To put it another way, our goal is not to be the one and only Open Social Web or Mastodon instance in BC for all people to use, but rather to be a stepping stone for people in different communities to find each other but also to find each other in the same community and perhaps in time create their own spaces in the Fediverse.
Community-run instances like this one often get too big to be manageable by volunteer teams so the best way to grow the Fediverse is with the proliferation of regional or interest based instances. We at socialbc.ca want to encourage that.
We see our mission not as one to take over everything, but to enable and empower others to create their own Open Social Web spaces in British Columbia.