<![CDATA[So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters.]]>So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters.

On the standard Mastodon web client, the UI is shouting at me that I can't edit it unless I reduce it to 500 chars.

I am guessing ActivityPub has no specific limit on a bio for a user, but can anyone tell me the risk/reward (and/or pros/cons) of making my bio > 500 chars?

Like, will some clients/federated servers truncate at 500 chars?

]]>https://citiverse.it/topic/575f801e-c4d5-4403-9dd0-5aaa19630da7/so-um-tusky-on-android-let-me-make-a-mastodon-bio-longer-than-500-characters.RSS for NodeSun, 06 Sep 2026 11:24:17 GMTSat, 29 Aug 2026 14:33:09 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:08:04 GMT]]>@aspensmonster

It's not really a client bug per se, since philosophy is to keep the 500 char limit for everything (which I fully support, as one of the big reasons I enjoy (which we all once upon a time called -ing, remeber?) is that it helps me practice concision in my writing — a skill I struggle with.

I think it's just a UI bug on both sides: should warn but not stop you at 500, & web client should indicate you have to edit with a different client.

]]>https://citiverse.it/post/https://fedi.copyleft.org/users/bkuhn/statuses/117190510832938993https://citiverse.it/post/https://fedi.copyleft.org/users/bkuhn/statuses/117190510832938993Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:08:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 07:51:16 GMT]]>@bkuhn @TerryHancock Glad to see I'm not the only one that noticed that. I had written up a somewhat lengthy bio in , then a few months later, wanted to tweak it on the desktop web client. Got a complaint upon trying to save about the 500-character limit. Presumably it was just a client-side restriction, since the existing bio displayed in full.

But I didn't want to wrestle with it, so I just pared down my bio to less than 500 characters.

]]>https://citiverse.it/post/https://tenforward.social/users/aspensmonster/statuses/117189029164518550https://citiverse.it/post/https://tenforward.social/users/aspensmonster/statuses/117189029164518550Mon, 31 Aug 2026 07:51:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 14:44:47 GMT]]>@TerryHancock

Yeah, I do have stuff of importance in pinned posts already. But ultimately I suspect that a lot of people stop reading at the end of the bio.

What fascinated me and led me to ask was that Tusky (which AFAIK is a Mastodon-specific client) let me edit the bio past 500 chars, and the web client does not.

I see posts from non-Mastodon ActivityPub implementations that do display with "Read more" in Mastodon, but never seen that in a bio (yet). My > 500 char bio displays in full.

]]>https://citiverse.it/post/https://fedi.copyleft.org/users/bkuhn/statuses/117179330576424570https://citiverse.it/post/https://fedi.copyleft.org/users/bkuhn/statuses/117179330576424570Sat, 29 Aug 2026 14:44:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to So, um, Tusky on Android let me make a Mastodon bio longer than 500 characters. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 14:42:12 GMT]]>@bkuhn
Mastodon still displays long posts from other platforms with longer limits (1500 on my Hometown, 3000 on my Misskey). I would guess it's probably the same with account bios?

If you have a doubt, it's possible to extend it with a pinned post, which will stay right after the bio and get seen by people who visit your profile.

]]>https://citiverse.it/post/https://realsocial.life/users/TerryHancock/statuses/117179320406730158https://citiverse.it/post/https://realsocial.life/users/TerryHancock/statuses/117179320406730158Sat, 29 Aug 2026 14:42:12 GMT