this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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You don't need a subscription for instances to stay around long term - you need to use them. Instances without users shut down, naturally.
Instance owners don't do this to get rich or have someone else pay the bills I believe. They just want users.
And I think many of us hate subscriptions. :)
I understand, and for the most part, I agree, but I would still like to find a paid instance.
It seems like most instances have a donation link, so you could just donate on a regular basis.
I already do.
Why if I may ask?
I prefer paying for a service rather than donating. When you pay for something, there is an expectation of a service in return. I think the fediverse could benefit from creating an economy for this sort of thing.
I use free, donation and paid services happily. Not against any model.
I do not think paid services are as stable as you are imagining. Lots of paid services go dark all the time. Even major ones.
I think the most stable would be to either run your own or pay someone to run one for you on a VPS. And for community stability, donate to various servers.
For long term, government/nonprofit funding would be good to have I think.
I kind of feel the same way. When someone is offering service in exchange for pay, it signals that they're serious about this and see it as a part time job at least, as opposed to someone just doing it as a hobby or just for a learning experience.
In my search I found 3 that offer multiple services for a single donation/subscription:
I really wanted a smaller instance, but I just couldn't find one that I was happy with.
I think the ideal provider would give you a package deal with an identity on a Mastodon, Lemmy, Pixelfed, and whatever else comes along servers.
There is also just using one of a thousand free instances.
If you think a meager subscription from your part could pay for about anything (dev wise), I think you are wrong.
He's talking about just hosting fees though and those could easily be covered for a few $/mo per user unless the instance becomes massive which isn't likely since most people hate subscriptions and most people even aware of Lemmy are technical enough to host their own if they are willing to invest actual money into it.
Well, my point was that even is he pays hosting fees (for example) the big job is managing it all, which we (mostly? all?) do for free. If a company wants to ear money hosting Lemmy, it's gonna be either some big thing (host your own Lemmy for 5€/m) or one big instance like world, but it would cost a lot having paid people running it.
Guess my point was that he can pay a bit per month, but it won't guarantee anything at all. He's probably better off joining a medium-big free instance in the short medium and long run.
Now, this is just what I think :-) !
Market research to start their own paid instance likely.
That would be tough lol 😆
I mean one day maybe but it'll be like paying for Linux, which exists, but you have to work for it and propose an important benefit.
For what purpose? Why not a free one? I mean, if the price is right I'll host you one.
I've been considering hosting one myself, this would give me a push in that direction.
Absolutely, I think people are still thinking in the mindset of web 2.0. The fediverse is the internet before capitalism ruined it.