5 ms·

Not satire! You're providing a real service to your friends - a mastodon server. It takes real time, real skill and real money (buying hardware or renting a vp

Not satire! You're providing a real service to your friends - a mastodon server. It takes real time, real skill and real money (buying hardware or renting a vps) to do this. Your friends should compensate you and it's fair to ask them to do so. How you do this is up to you. I host a gameserver for my friends. This is a really nice bit of hardware in a datacenter. It costs me $600 a year directly and maybe 4-6 hours a month. I have about 8 folks who play on it with regularity. For my friend group, we "compensate" via trading food, either cooking for each other or catching dinner out. That works well for my friend group and I perceive this as fair. Your friend group may be different. You may literally ask them to throw in $5 a month or maybe you trade services (your barber friend gives you a free haircut on occasion, whatever). There isn't a magic equation of what is fair or right for your circumstance.. and it's ok to experiment. Part of why the fediverse is good is that these experiments can be run.

BoorishBears 4y ago
Then it's not really a good faith reply to their point is it? The problem presented wasn't how you pay, it's the fact that you pay and take on moderation duties and curation. Getting reimbursed by friends doesn't change that, and if anything it convolutes the latter part of the problem by leaving the door open to some awkward dynamics. A centralized group chat that needs funding to stay alive sounds like a pretty awful product.
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  All things require funding. There are no exceptions. My discord guild also requires time and money. So it goes.
  - BoorishBears 4y ago
    I don't think you have any reply to the topic being discussed. The point is that people went from an experience where they didn't take money out of their pocket every month unless they wanted to, and didn't have to curate for others or moderate for others. I pay for a game server and won't accept a dime from my friends for it not so I can feel like king of some fiefdom, but so we can enjoy a game amongst ourselves. If moderation is the part of that experience that you're cherishing, it's no wonder you can't relate to the complaints others have.
    - vorpalhex 4y ago
      > The point is that people went from an experience where they didn't take money out of their pocket every month unless they wanted to, and didn't have to curate for others or moderate for others. That was basically a vivid hallucination. You offshored the mod work to underpaid contractors in foreign offices and paid by selling your focus and privacy. You didn't have to feel guilty because some nice folks in fancy clothes with a big PR department told you it was cool. Those folks in the fancy suits are realizing it's too hard to make money that way. You can still chase that bargain. You will see more and more ads. Your privacy will only get more invaded. Eventually you will have to pay.

BoorishBears 4y ago

Then it's not really a good faith reply to their point is it? The problem presented wasn't how you pay, it's the fact that you pay and take on moderation duties and curation. Getting reimbursed by friends doesn't change that, and if anything it convolutes the latter part of the problem by leaving the door open to some awkward dynamics. A centralized group chat that needs funding to stay alive sounds like a pretty awful product.

vorpalhex 4y ago
All things require funding. There are no exceptions. My discord guild also requires time and money. So it goes.
- BoorishBears 4y ago
  I don't think you have any reply to the topic being discussed. The point is that people went from an experience where they didn't take money out of their pocket every month unless they wanted to, and didn't have to curate for others or moderate for others. I pay for a game server and won't accept a dime from my friends for it not so I can feel like king of some fiefdom, but so we can enjoy a game amongst ourselves. If moderation is the part of that experience that you're cherishing, it's no wonder you can't relate to the complaints others have.
  - vorpalhex 4y ago
    > The point is that people went from an experience where they didn't take money out of their pocket every month unless they wanted to, and didn't have to curate for others or moderate for others. That was basically a vivid hallucination. You offshored the mod work to underpaid contractors in foreign offices and paid by selling your focus and privacy. You didn't have to feel guilty because some nice folks in fancy clothes with a big PR department told you it was cool. Those folks in the fancy suits are realizing it's too hard to make money that way. You can still chase that bargain. You will see more and more ads. Your privacy will only get more invaded. Eventually you will have to pay.