Unfortunately, due to complexities regarding law in the United Kingdom, there is no way for
transgender.ing and its historical services to remain operational, safely, and fully
compliant with the laws (specifically the Online Safety Act, 2023). These laws would require us to
perform age verification on anybody intending to use our Fediverse or Matrix servers, which we
believe will de-anonymise our users, and in the process reduce their privacy significantly, which
is opposing our core foundations of building an open, free, privacy-centric network.

Anyone who used these services up until 2025-01-23 is urged to migrate their account to another
service provider before 2025-02-28, hopefully one who is more equipped to deal with the legal
issues surrounding online safety and data protection. As mentioned historically, transgender.ing
was run by one individual - I am a student and have very little time or money, I simply do not
have the resources to be compliant with these incredibly overbearing laws.


If you used the Sharkey (Fediverse) server, you can migrate to another instance with the following
steps:

1. Create an account on another fediverse instance (it doesn't have to be the same software!)
2. Add your fedi.transgender.ing account handle as an alias
    2.1. On mastodon, this is typically located under settings -> account -> account aliases
    2.2. On Misskey and forks (such as Sharkey), this is typically located under
         settings -> account migration -> "migrate another account to this one"

3. Log in to https://fedi.transgender.ing
4. In the left-hand panel, scroll down to "Settings"
5. On the settings page, scroll down to "Account Migration"
6. Input your new account's handle (fully qualified, e.g. @nex@tech.lgbt) into the
   "migrate this account to another one" widget.
7. Confirm the migration, and you're all done.

If you used the Matrix server, you can partially migrate to another instance with the below steps.
Unfortunately, Matrix does not have portable identities like the Fediverse, so the recommended tool
will simply act on your behalf, using your transgender.ing account to re-invite your new account to
all of the rooms you are currently in. Note that if you are in rooms that you do not have
permission to send invites in, and it is not publicly joinable, you will not be able to migrate
that room using this tool, and will need to seek manual intevention.

1. Create an account on another Matrix server
2. Visit <https://ems.element.io/tools/matrix-migration>
3. Input your transgender.ing login details to the first two boxes
4. Input your new account's login details into the second two boxes
5. **Uncheck "old and new accounts are on the same homeserver**
6. Set "Old account homeserver" to "transgender.ing"
7. Set "New account homeserver" to whatever your new server name is (the bit after `:` in your
   username)
8. Press `Go`!
9. Once you are happy with the migration, you should deactivate your transgender.ing account:
    9.1. Log in to Element (Cinny does not support deactivation): <https://element.transgender.ing>
    9.2. Visit account settings and scroll all the way to the bottom
    9.3. Press "Deactivate account"
    9.4. Optionally, "Hide my messages from new joiners"
    9.5. Input your password and click "continue". Note that this is irreversable!


I am very sorry that transgender.ing is having to close its public facing services, however, I'm
sure you can understand that the potential ramifications of hosting these public services in the
UK carries a great risk that I simply can't afford, financially or otherwise.

I will continue to make transgender.ing's services available, however, they will be private
registration only, meaning you will need to contact me out-of-band and provide me with personal
information in order to register and use the services, and must be at least 18 to do so.

It's been fun. Please, remember, you are not alone, and the community you are searching for will
always exist somewhere, even if they are repeatedly pushed underground. Take each day one step
at a time, set healthy limits and boundaries, take time for yourself, and drink some water.
You are worth it, I promise.

---

You can contact me at @nex:nexy7574.co.uk on Matrix or follow my Bluesky at @nexy7574.co.uk.

<3
~nex