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So where do you suggest people post that is zero cost and advertisement free? These communities were pushed onto discord because there isn't a better place for

by hmcq6 2y ago

So where do you suggest people post that is zero cost and advertisement free? These communities were pushed onto discord because there isn't a better place for them. The regional live music discord I'm in would be much better served by being on a web forum but running a forum costs money. Or they could use facebook but not everyone in the community has/wants a facebook account. Not everyone uses reddit/twitter/insert your favorite social media. > why do you want to keep others from seeing this helpful info? How paranoid would one have to be to think people are moving to discord to be malicious? The garden doesn't have walls to keep you out, the walls are to keep the advertisers/bots out.

shiroiushi 2y ago
>So where do you suggest people post that is zero cost and advertisement free? These days, Reddit seems to be the best option available (unfortunately). Back during better days, we had lots of independent forums running software like PhpBB, which served this purpose well. For some reason that I don't really understand, back then (when computers were less powerful and efficient than now) that worked well enough, but now everyone's screaming about hosting costs and how expensive it is to run even a single bulletin board on the internet so they turn to Discord when they don't like Reddit. Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know.
- xnorswap 2y ago
  Part of the problem is that 20 years ago they weren't being scraped 24/7.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- n_ary 2y ago
  > Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know. Back in the so called "golden days", I actually hosted a forum with a friend. His uncle offered his old office PC(bought at a bargain) and internet with fixed IP for us to tinker with. Our tiny forum has local kids and some "supervising adults" doing moderation. Many of our international members were mostly on dialup, so even if we didn't have lovely CDN, the slowness was accepted as normal thing. We did not face much spamming, grifting and any trouble makers were policed out immediately by moderators. In present days, I am very afraid to put something online, because if the moderators are not vigilant, I could very well expect a police letter by a week or two asking about certain type fo contents and my infra provider banning or null routing my forum. It was easy back in days, now the risks are too high and trouble makers have more resources than well intent folks.
  - shiroiushi 2y ago
    I see, this really sheds a lot of light on things. Thanks!
- hmcq6 2y ago
  I said 0 cost and ad free but your answer does not satisfy those requirements, because your interest are at odds with the interests of these various communities. Communities generally don't need their content to be indexable. People in the community can use Discords search feature. Indexable content is only a benefit to people outside the community. So why should these communities move away from discord to help you? Especially given that you do not respect their interests. Do you get what I'm saying? > Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago? It's not that hosting costs are so much higher now. In the 2020s I ran a forum for ~10$ a year but then I realized exposing my home IP was a bad idea. Then I ran the forum for $50 a year and... no one but me used it. Recently one of my friends paid $500 to set up a forum using a dedicated provider /w a support plan. Fingers crossed it sees more activity than mine did. So you can still host a forum pretty cheap but it requires trading in your personal time or paying $500 and given most Americans don't have $500 liquid you would need donations/organization (which requires more of your personal time). It's not impossible but it's not super easy either.
  - shiroiushi 2y ago
    >So why should these communities move away from discord to help you? Especially given that you do not respect their interests. >Do you get what I'm saying? No, I don't. I guess these "communities" don't want any new members, because if I can't find them with a search, I'll likely never know about them.
    - hmcq6 2y ago
      You're just repeatedly asking that these communities deal with advertising to make things easier for you personally because you think they need your participation to survive. But what if they don't need you? P.s. not every community recruits primarily through the internet.
      - shiroiushi 2y ago
        I never asked for advertising: you're putting words in my mouth and arguing in bad faith. I only asked for openness.

by hmcq6 2y ago

shiroiushi 2y ago

>So where do you suggest people post that is zero cost and advertisement free? These days, Reddit seems to be the best option available (unfortunately). Back during better days, we had lots of independent forums running software like PhpBB, which served this purpose well. For some reason that I don't really understand, back then (when computers were less powerful and efficient than now) that worked well enough, but now everyone's screaming about hosting costs and how expensive it is to run even a single bulletin board on the internet so they turn to Discord when they don't like Reddit. Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know.

xnorswap 2y ago
Part of the problem is that 20 years ago they weren't being scraped 24/7.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
n_ary 2y ago
> Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know. Back in the so called "golden days", I actually hosted a forum with a friend. His uncle offered his old office PC(bought at a bargain) and internet with fixed IP for us to tinker with. Our tiny forum has local kids and some "supervising adults" doing moderation. Many of our international members were mostly on dialup, so even if we didn't have lovely CDN, the slowness was accepted as normal thing. We did not face much spamming, grifting and any trouble makers were policed out immediately by moderators. In present days, I am very afraid to put something online, because if the moderators are not vigilant, I could very well expect a police letter by a week or two asking about certain type fo contents and my infra provider banning or null routing my forum. It was easy back in days, now the risks are too high and trouble makers have more resources than well intent folks.
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  I see, this really sheds a lot of light on things. Thanks!
hmcq6 2y ago
I said 0 cost and ad free but your answer does not satisfy those requirements, because your interest are at odds with the interests of these various communities. Communities generally don't need their content to be indexable. People in the community can use Discords search feature. Indexable content is only a benefit to people outside the community. So why should these communities move away from discord to help you? Especially given that you do not respect their interests. Do you get what I'm saying? > Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago? It's not that hosting costs are so much higher now. In the 2020s I ran a forum for ~10$ a year but then I realized exposing my home IP was a bad idea. Then I ran the forum for $50 a year and... no one but me used it. Recently one of my friends paid $500 to set up a forum using a dedicated provider /w a support plan. Fingers crossed it sees more activity than mine did. So you can still host a forum pretty cheap but it requires trading in your personal time or paying $500 and given most Americans don't have $500 liquid you would need donations/organization (which requires more of your personal time). It's not impossible but it's not super easy either.
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  >So why should these communities move away from discord to help you? Especially given that you do not respect their interests. >Do you get what I'm saying? No, I don't. I guess these "communities" don't want any new members, because if I can't find them with a search, I'll likely never know about them.
  - hmcq6 2y ago
    You're just repeatedly asking that these communities deal with advertising to make things easier for you personally because you think they need your participation to survive. But what if they don't need you? P.s. not every community recruits primarily through the internet.
    - shiroiushi 2y ago
      I never asked for advertising: you're putting words in my mouth and arguing in bad faith. I only asked for openness.