How do people feel about donating to keep things running smoothly and making sure there are adequate resources and compensation for those involved in running .world instance?
I’m curious as I think this kind of rapid growth will be the first time the model is really being tested - as in, large rapid growth in users and activity resulting in sudden higher running costs.
I feel transparent engagement would be good to understand what the current costs are, how that scales and how people involved in keeping things running are fairly compensated for their time and effort.
Also having an issue tracker, roapmap etc public and real engagement let people see who and what they are investing in.
It’s an awesome job to see the server still standing after such a huge influx!
Since “Web2.0” or rather, the VC backed tech businesses that ran on potential value rather than realized value over the past decade seem to be dying out this year, I think the new model of internet we’re heading towards will involve users understanding the costs to run a server (both literal costs and labor costs) and paying their fair share. I think this model is much cheaper for everyone though because it doesn’t involve corporate greed. These new companies won’t be on the stock market trying to turn into profit machines. And we don’t need a huge staff producing unnecessary new features - that’s the beauty of open source tech. We’re all working on making those new features together as a gift to everyone. But the server costs are there and donations will be needed at an affordable price. The more generous donors will fill the cost gaps that those without the financial means to pay leave. But yeah, everyone who can afford to should help pay a portion of the monthly costs to their admins. At the same time, admins should be nakedly transparent about what those costs are and any shady attempts to make an extra buck by not being transparent should be met with users moving to different servers.
I agree that it’s needed, and I plan on supporting my instance (although as of right now he has made it sound like there’s plenty of donations coming in), but I’m skeptical that the average person will chip in. I couldn’t even get my family to chip in on our shared {streaming service} subscription before they got kicked off it for not being in my household.
I would be happy to donate, however I would like to be differentiated from users who haven’t donated. Maybe with a status symbol, some thing like a blue checkmark beside my name perhaps?
yes, one of the .world donations tiers ($8) specifically says that you will be allowed to put a blue check mark next to your name, but also that you’re already allowed to do that lol
On that note, I think a post view limit would be good too. Maybe 10 posts a day for accounts who haven’t donated and 100 for those who have?
I’ve seen the idea of a “reddit gold” being thrown around - eg you pay to get a post or comment a different color or effect and the money goes to the instance admins
Nah, I don’t care. I don’t wear a gold star to basketball when I sweep the court, bring the pennies, or we use my ball - it’s part of being able to play.
Could I stand up my own instance? Yes. Do I want that headache? Fuck no. I’ll chip in any time my instances think they’ll need the cash. It’s what a community does.
Oh and, for the record, Fuck Spez. I’m never giving that money grubbing whore a single cent.
I already do… https://opencollective.com/mastodonworld
This! They provide estimates of the cost as well as current income so you get a sense of how bad/gold off they are. Just donated this morning.
I already cancelled my Reddit Premium and joined the Lemmy.world Patreon. 👍
I already do, and towards the overall cost of Lemmy development. I’d much prefer to kick in a bit of money each month and get something ad free, open source, etc than the alternatives
