Although the server is no more [it costs a lot to run it, as eg the FT found out], it acted as a dress rehearsal, a feasibility study of the migration of a defined community. For a while it operated very well. Ultimately, as we all know, Mastodon's moment came and went.

Do you recall how many users the instance had at its peak, roughly? And how much it cost to operate it? I fear ActivityPub/Mastodon gave everyone the idea that the costs are just prohibitive and they won't try atproto/Bluesky, which is *much* cheaper to run.