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I am thinking about subscribing once I see how well it performs, I have not been super enthused about the existing Mastodon apps. To answer your questions: 1)

I am thinking about subscribing once I see how well it performs, I have not been super enthused about the existing Mastodon apps. To answer your questions: 1) I don't support Mastodon directly, but I do support the server I am using monthly. 2) Personally I am a bit worried about instances gaining unique features and I hope we don't see too much deviation on that front.

rglullis 4y ago
Follow-up questions, if I may: > I have not been super enthused about the existing Mastodon apps. Have you considered donating to the existing/contributing to the development of the existing open source clients? > I do support the server I am using monthly. If I may ask: how much? And what if I told you there is a commercial instance where accounts are priced at $10/year that for all intents and purposes is managed to your satisfaction, would you consider it? > instances gaining unique features I am not thinking of protocol level differences, but some type of improvement that could help people be more at ease when migrating to AP servers. E.g; a better search system, or a server level bridge that can let you (or other users of the same instance) follow people on twitter/instagram/youtube "transparently"
- nerdjon 4y ago
  Regarding the first, I have been considering it but I just have not yet. My use of Mastodon is still somewhat low so I kinda see it as... there is a monthly infrastructure cost associated with running servers but less so for the apps. So the last thing I want to see is a server shut down and to need to scramble. I have been doing $8 a month right now, it doesn't get me any benefits on the server and it is through Patreon. I have been wondering if that is too much but I can afford it and I know this can be expensive to run. Search system I am not really sure about how I would feel, I would not want to feel like I need to switch instances. Just like I wouldn't want certain instances to have different media support. Sill not fully sure how I feel about that really. Edit: Regarding the commercial instance option. I don't really see the point? Since all (most) of the instances are connected there isn't any value in an exclusive club... and tbh I am not really sure the other servers would not just block it. My server seems to be moderated just fine, I think its better that those that can support while most can use it for free.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    > Regarding the commercial instance option. I don't really see the point? Because of "I have been wondering if that is too much but I can afford it and I know this can be expensive to run." Yes, $8/month is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. But I'm yet to see any more efficient and fair method for price discovery than having different commercial instances trying to acquire users through a straightforward business model where accounts are paid. I wrote a bit about that on https://raphael.lullis.net/community-is-not-enough/ https://raphael.lullis.net/community-is-not-enough/. I am reasonably sure that I can have a profitable business on communick if I have enough people paying me ~$0.50/month, as long as all of the users pay me at least that much. More importantly, I am absolutely sure that our society and level of civil discourse would be better if we got rid of "ad-funded/freemium/donation-based" services, and instead we let market forces act and if we could vote with our wallets. The way I see it, you shouldn't be paying $8/month to make up for the 15 freeloaders and your server admins shouldn't be dependent on your generosity to be able to continue providing the service. Everyone, without exception, should be paying just enough for the admins to feel like it's a worthy endeavor and willing to compete for your patronage and to improve their service. And because the service is built on free-software and has no strong lock-in, any improvement would quickly be shared and spread throughout all services.

rglullis 4y ago

Follow-up questions, if I may: > I have not been super enthused about the existing Mastodon apps. Have you considered donating to the existing/contributing to the development of the existing open source clients? > I do support the server I am using monthly. If I may ask: how much? And what if I told you there is a commercial instance where accounts are priced at $10/year that for all intents and purposes is managed to your satisfaction, would you consider it? > instances gaining unique features I am not thinking of protocol level differences, but some type of improvement that could help people be more at ease when migrating to AP servers. E.g; a better search system, or a server level bridge that can let you (or other users of the same instance) follow people on twitter/instagram/youtube "transparently"

nerdjon 4y ago
Regarding the first, I have been considering it but I just have not yet. My use of Mastodon is still somewhat low so I kinda see it as... there is a monthly infrastructure cost associated with running servers but less so for the apps. So the last thing I want to see is a server shut down and to need to scramble. I have been doing $8 a month right now, it doesn't get me any benefits on the server and it is through Patreon. I have been wondering if that is too much but I can afford it and I know this can be expensive to run. Search system I am not really sure about how I would feel, I would not want to feel like I need to switch instances. Just like I wouldn't want certain instances to have different media support. Sill not fully sure how I feel about that really. Edit: Regarding the commercial instance option. I don't really see the point? Since all (most) of the instances are connected there isn't any value in an exclusive club... and tbh I am not really sure the other servers would not just block it. My server seems to be moderated just fine, I think its better that those that can support while most can use it for free.
- rglullis 4y ago
  > Regarding the commercial instance option. I don't really see the point? Because of "I have been wondering if that is too much but I can afford it and I know this can be expensive to run." Yes, $8/month is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. But I'm yet to see any more efficient and fair method for price discovery than having different commercial instances trying to acquire users through a straightforward business model where accounts are paid. I wrote a bit about that on https://raphael.lullis.net/community-is-not-enough/ https://raphael.lullis.net/community-is-not-enough/. I am reasonably sure that I can have a profitable business on communick if I have enough people paying me ~$0.50/month, as long as all of the users pay me at least that much. More importantly, I am absolutely sure that our society and level of civil discourse would be better if we got rid of "ad-funded/freemium/donation-based" services, and instead we let market forces act and if we could vote with our wallets. The way I see it, you shouldn't be paying $8/month to make up for the 15 freeloaders and your server admins shouldn't be dependent on your generosity to be able to continue providing the service. Everyone, without exception, should be paying just enough for the admins to feel like it's a worthy endeavor and willing to compete for your patronage and to improve their service. And because the service is built on free-software and has no strong lock-in, any improvement would quickly be shared and spread throughout all services.