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How to contact a Lemmy instance administrator if server seems to be down? (geddit.social)

submitted 1 year ago by UnanimousStargazer@geddit.social to c/lemmy_support@lemmy.ml

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The instance feddit.nl (a Dutch Lemmy instance hosting the largest Dutch communities AFAIK) appears to be down. None of the communities can be accessed anymore.

It made me wonder if the current system of Lemmy/Mastodon decentralized servers isn’t too weak with regard to continuity. I don’t know what’s going on with feddit.nl, but if the administrator doesn’t respond to an issue, hundreds or thousands of users can be cut off from the fediverse without them being able to do anything about it.

And what if an administrator suddenly decides to quit, go on holiday, falls ill etc.?

Does anybody know how one can contact a Lemmy administrator in cases like this?

But also: how do you know if an instance is stable enough to rely on?

Shouldn’t there be some kind of backup, where administrators can contact each other in case of some problem?

And what happens to the communities and content if an administrator permanently shuts down an instance?

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[–] godless@latte.isnot.coffee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I can reach it just fine. Maybe you need to flush your cache / DNS?

Generally speaking though, unless they have provided alternative means of contact and you saved them prior to the outage, there's nothing you can do. Same if they decide to shut down - the instance and your account would be lost, and that's that.

Edit: you can look up the owner of the domain on sites like https://who.is, but more often than not they use anonymizer services to not reveal their residential address. The given email address there might however serve as a forwarder to their actual one.

[–] UnanimousStargazer@geddit.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not a cache or DNS issue as far as I can tell, but it’s obviously interesting you are able to reach the instance.

If I open feddit.nl in a web browser and click on the communities tab, none show up.

Same if they decide to shut down

Exactly, which is a continuity issue of course. I know Mastodon administrators can vow to uphold a code of conduct allowing users to migrate after they warn them they want to shut down.

Again, I don’t know what the issue is with feddit.nl (although it might be on my side if you are able to view the communities), but AFAIK you cannot migrate an account on Lemmy.

To make it more illustrative: imagine the administrator(s) of lemmy.ml or lemmy.world decide(s) to quit tomorrow.

It would be a good reason to return to Reddit IMO. What’s the point of decentralization if you’re completely unsure your account is still there tomorrow?

[–] wmassingham@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you really want to be sure, create your own instance. Reddit could also up and disappear tomorrow. Less likely, since they're trying to make it profitable, but Advance Publications could certainly say "no, we're done, shut it down" and it would be gone.

[–] UnanimousStargazer@geddit.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, setting up a personal instance isn’t a solution for the potential problem I’m describing here.

I’m not discussing whether an instance owner or commercial platform is at right to shut down an instance (an instance administrator probably is in most if not all countries), but the risk of a loss of continuity and the seemingly absence AFAIK of a continuity mechanism in the design of the Lemmy platform.

As explained: it’s possible to migrate a Mastodon account from one instance to another including followers.

Is it also possible for a moderator of a community to move a community from one instance to another including all subscribers? That would be a solution. Setting up one’s own instance isn’t beside keeping your account. But that’s not the issue.

[–] wmassingham@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

No, that is not currently possible, but there is an issue open for it: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/3057

You're welcome to contribute to the project.

[–] RoundSparrow@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

And what if an administrator suddenly decides to quit, go on holiday, falls ill etc.?

I'd view it like a locally-owned sports bar/tavern having similar problems.... impacting the social community. Or a sports team.