I don’t think that running Mastodon is going to help Gab that much. I doubt anyone in the current Fediverse will federate with them. Most of their users will be using web access, which will continue their problem in keeping web hosting. Some groups (Atomwaffen) will create their own nodes, which will give Gab plausible denial, but then they’ll probably start net-copping each other’s posts. The faction fights will be interesting, and hopefully each of those nodes will make juicy LEO targets, even if they don’t believe in white male terrorists.
eta: and if Gab spawns a Terran Empire of Mastodon nodes, how does their revenue model work? (What’s their exit strategy? They can’t go public for FuckYouMoney. Facebook won’t buy them out, ditto. A massive influx of money from the usual far-right bastard trusts and foundations? Maybe.)
