- Mastodon 4.5.0 introduces changes that may encourage self-hosting Fediverse communities.
- Media storage is a critical decision due to local caching, security, and privacy benefits.
- The author recommends self-hosted S3-compatible storage, specifically SeaweedFS for better performance with small files.
- Detailed setup steps include creating a FreeBSD jail, installing SeaweedFS, configuring buckets and users, and setting up an Nginx reverse proxy.
- Mastodon configuration involves setting S3_ENABLED and related variables in .env.prod to point to the SeaweedFS server.