@dansup thanks...
this is a managed hosted instance, so I can't access the logs afaik.
I have to ask the admin.
the question I asked in the closed bug ticket:
my info says, I'm using Database: mysql (10.11.13-MariaDB-ubu2004)
the variable itself says: DATABASE - DB_CONNECTION - "mysql"
should the DB_CONNECTION varialbe be mariaDB or mysql?
see this bug report for more information: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed/issues/6042