Mastodon: Permission error and increase post limit

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After upgrading to Mastodon 4.3.7 on Yunohost 12, I started having an issue with images not displaying. I tried everything and finally stumbled on this solution.

It seems an older bug has creeped into the system. So, here is how I fixed the issue.

First of all, mastodon was not in the www-data group. Not sure why, but this matters for some reason. I fixed that by using the following:

sudo su -usermod -aG mastodon www-datanginx -s reload

Then to finish the permission error, I ran the following inside /var/www/mastodon:

chmod -R 750 /var/www/mastodon

Now the images display as expected. Not sure if this is a wide-spread problem, but good to know for the future if anyone else has this issue.

To increase the character limit on Mastodon, I used the following instructions. (This works on Yunohost install of Mastodon up to 4.3.8)

1. Switch to your Mastodon user

Start by logging into your server and going into the root access using:

sudo su -

Then use the following to become Mastodon user. It will not work unless you are root user first. 

su - mastodon

and switch to your Mastodon installation directory. For most people, this should be /home/mastodon.

2. Edit the file compose_form_container.js

nano -w live/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/containers/compose_form_container.js

Look for the line

maxChars: state.getIn(['server', 'server', 'configuration', 'statuses', 'max_characters'], 500),

and change the number 500 to 2500.

3. Edit the file status_length_validator.rb

nano -w live/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb

Find the line

MAX_CHARS = 500

and change the number to 2500.

4. (Optionally, to change the poll limit) Edit the file poll_options_validator.rb

nano -w live/app/validators/poll_options_validator.rb

Find the line

MAX_OPTIONS = 4

and change the number to your desired limit.

5. Rebuild assets and restart services

You are now done editing and can rebuild the live assets. Do so with the following commands:

cd live
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails assets:precompile <- DOES NOT WORK. No idea why, it just doesn't.

Afterwards, exit the mastodon user, and restart the Mastodon services as root:

systemctl restart mastodon-sidekiq
systemctl reload mastodon-web
systemctl restart mastodon-streaming

Congratulations, you should now have an increased character (and poll) limit on your instance. Have fun posting!

The wandering chair

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Today in the life of a non-traditional, queer student in the Deep South, we have ways to make an ADA Accommodation more awkward for the student.

Chair and table setup

Because of my size and my arthritis in my spine, I have to have special chairs in my classes. Most of the time, these chairs work well with the tables already in the classrooms.

However, my fellow students think it is funny or their right to move my chair all over the classroom. Many times, they move me from the table my chair is at to a spot on the wall without access to a table. Why? Because they want to sit next to their friends and talk all during class and I would be in the way.

Last semester, Student Disability Services put large RESERVED stickers on my chairs because the students thought the chair was for their use. After that, they just started moving them around the classroom.

As you can see from the picture above, today was no exception. A student decided they wanted to sit next to their friends and move my chair away from the table to the side of the room. I was forced to used stacked chairs as a makeshift table in order to do my classwork. All the while, said student looked very happy and pleased with themselves.

I have reached out to Student Disability Services for help, but I am not holding my breath than anything will change. After all, people with disabilities are the lowest of the low in the eyes of the college and the students. We should be honored that we are even allowed to be in the same room as the normies.