Sooo if you skim the previous posts on here, you’ll know that Feddit.uk’s only Admin (@Tom@feddit.uk) has been missing for a couple of months and in that time we were defederated by lemmy.world (although we’re back now) and we are one upgrade behind (just a minor fix) with one much bigger one whistling down the pipeline that may defederate us from other instances that upgrade (it may not but I know most of us don’t want to roll those dice).
We’ve tried various ways of contacting Tom and had no reply so we are forced to move forwards with moving to a new instance.
So, this is the plan:
Phase 1: Register a domain hndone by greatalbatross.
Phase 2: Sort out hosting - done by me.
Phase 3: Start instance - pending a final inspection of the hosting in the next day or so.
Phase 4: Onboarding - this will happen in waves:
Wave 1: Admins go in and make sure nothing is broken.
Wave 2: Moderators sign-up and re-start communities, get any bots running and just generally get a second set of eyes on things so we can be happy that we are ready to let people in.
Wave 3: We’ll start adding people already on Feddit.uk by hand - invitations will presumably have to go to inboxes on feddit.uk so we can ensure no-one is poaching a username for devilment. This will give the system a bit of a stress test.
Wave 4: We’ll let people apply to join and this should get things moving quicker.
Wave 5: Open registration.
Phase 5: Shuttering Feddit.uk - the Moderators will post pinned messages in their communities directing people to the new ones and then we’ll start the sad process of closing down the communities that we can.
Events should all start moving pretty quickly and, whole I may be being optimistic, we will likely reach the point of no return (specifically Tom’s return) in a week or two.
Current Admins:
- Domain: @GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
- Hosting: me @Emperor@feddit.uk
- Instance: 20cx12 and @flamingos@feddit.uk
- Finance: TBD
- Ambassadors: TBD
- Customer services: TBD
There’s a Matrix space that we’ll keep as a fallback in case if problems with the instant (although it will be renamed at some point). It also provides secure encrypted communication if anyone needed to flag anything up privately (and Matrix is built into Lemmy - add your Matrix ID into your profile and it provides a secure messaging button in your profile, so if you need to contact an Admin you can do it directly from there too, at least for me).
Sorry about all hassle, none of us wanted this but it is forced upon us and the feeling from everyone’s previous comments is that we didn’t want to lose what we have here, even if we have to rebuild in a new instance.
I’ll throw the floor open to comments and questions.
0.18.5 isn’t all that great, lots of other instances are waiting until 0.19.
Oh indeed. I think it was just a quick fix (for kbin.social spam?) they just put out to tide things over until 0.19.0. It’s that upgrade that is the concern.
We were kind of using the 0.18.5 as a sign.of activity from Tom as he quietly implemented a previous update.
Yeah exactly, I wasn’t trying to say that it wasn’t a valid point towards the admin’s presence, just that the new UK lemmy may as well wait until 0.19 before it launches.
With the time it’ll take to switch everything over and get people onboard we really need to have the new instance ready well before then because if it does break then it’ll be a lot more if a mad scramble rather than a dignified exit. We will want to be gone and have this place shuttered by the time 0.19.0 comes out
It’s really unfortunate it has come to this, but I’m glad people are putting in the effort to ensure the continuity of a UK-focused instance.
Will be unfortunate to lose the “feddit.uk” domain name, as I found it pretty neat and there are several other localized instances with a similar domain. Hope the new one’s decent also.
Just wanted to add my thanks…
This is a sanctuary for me as life’s too crazy for me to contribute meaningfully to this instance at the moment, but I really appreciate the effort going into this.
I hope Tom’s ok in the real world, and maybe we can get the same domain name back one day.
Thanks again.
I hope Tom’s ok in the real world
I’m sure he’s fine just busy. Life happens, often unexpectedly.
and maybe we can get the same domain name back one day.
Unfortunately, getting the domain name back won’t really matter as it is difficult to change without knock on federation issues (I believe). It would let us establish redirects to the new communities and might help pick up any stragglers.
Hello,
Not a user of this instance, but good to see that you guys are handling this is a structured way. It’s a shame that you cannot just get the website from Tom, but at least this time it should be managed properly.
but at least this time it should be managed properly.
Yes, whether Tom came back or not we were drawing up plans to ensure there isn’t a single point of failure and that everything is more open and transparent. Plus we want to make sure the finances are all in place. All of which should mean any one of us could be hit by a bus and the instance keeps going.
Thanks to all the people working on saving the day! I’ve taken a break from the instance for the time being because of the uncertainty but looking forward to, hopefully, joining you on wave 3.
Looks like we aren’t going anywhere.
