My instance, https://feddit.online, is only about 2 hours old and it was a struggle to get it this far. I'm not sure if it's fully working. I too am left with some questions. I hope that this topic becomes more active and we can help each other.

Did you use the bare metal build or the Docker build?

1. I used the Docker build. To answer your questions in reverse, I too do not yet have anything in my "random" magazine. However, last weekend I brought up a test server and today it has 509 posts in that server's random magazine. It took a while to see any. Seems it may take some time to start getting some, I'm hoping.

2. The only configuration that I saw for mailing things was in the .env file. I configured my email provider information there and it's working. Here is the one entry that I have:

MAILER_DSN=smtp://notifications@feddit.online:<password here>@smtp.dreamhost.com:587

I did not configure anything else except the hcaptcha.

One issue, related but important for all to know, is that the confirmation email is only good for one hour. If the person doesn't confirm their email, then they cannot get another confirmation email. If they contact you, and they can send you an email from the email address they want to use, you can manually activate their account by doing this (these instructions were provided to me by Jerry Bell who runs fedia.io)

• go to the kbin directory and run:

         docker compose exec database psql -U kbin kbin
  
  

• that'll dump you to a postgres psql prompt

        run the sql command:
  
        update public.user set is_verified=true where username='$username';
         \q
  
  

• You'll have to substitute $username for the name the person is trying to register. I believe user names are case sensitive because I saw someone post that you can have the same names on a server if the letter cases are mixed up. I hope this is just a defect that will be fixed if true.

**My question for anyone: ** When I use the search icon at the very top of the screen, why am I not finding anything that matches anything from anywhere in the Fediverse, save for maybe a couple of posts? A FAQ I saw says that if you search for "history" then all magazines with the word "history" from across all the KBIN and Lemmy, etc. servers will be returned. For me, no magazines are returned. Maybe it will just take some time to finish federating? Does anyone have experience?

P.S. This is the first post from my instance and so it's also a test. God, I hope you all see this!