@leo I thought you could make being a member of Club TWiT a part of the verification process. That way you get your $8 verification. :ani_clubtwit:

@leo Are you going to set up donations or tip-jar for the twit.social instance in future?

Would be helpful for those of us that want to contribute but are anxiously waiting to see if Santa brings a Club TWiT subscription this year...

@leo okay I found my first real need for a quote toot. Feels weird to do this in replies but @andresmh is there any way to support the HCI.social server directly?

@leo for those on MSTDN.SOCIAL go to @stux Patreon: www.patreon.com/MSTDN

@leo Hmmm. Can we @ some of the admins here and boost it?

@leo dot-social and which other?

tbf throwing money at dot-social *does* finance the busiest instance, and dev to keep that site up should ripple back into smaller instances being able to run better/more cheaply.

But if you aren't on one of those big two instances, definitely worth checking if your own instance needs the money first :)

@leo i support both @mastodon and my instance

@leo nice to see you are on here Leo.

@leo I'd say if you are able and want to donate, maybe split your donation between the devs and your local host. The $1 per month plan for the devs seems like more of a tip / pat on the back for them to keep up the good work. Then maybe see if your host has a donation page and kick them as much as you wish, maybe $5 (cup of coffee) per month seems reasonable. A nice 1:5 ratio for devs to host, increase the amounts as you see fit.

@leo It's wild that the decentralization is the part that people can't wrap their heads around. Like what do you MEAN there's no Mastodon, Inc.? How can that be?

@leo how?

@leo@twit.social that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t donate to the Mastodon team though. As long as Mastodon development is happening, and your instance is actively being updated by your administrators, then the donations you provide can help

And even if your admin doesn’t update the instance all the time, your donations will still help the development of the app, which is developed separately from your instance as just a viewer

@leo I like your post, but, there's actually an officially registered Mastodon company, and the lead developer of Mastodon is its CEO. :D

But I get what you mean.

@leo A fine point.

@leo I happen to be one of the few (many?) on Mastodon.social that is hosted by @Gargron so two birds, one stone for me

You *should* be able to find your server host by looking here (on the web interface). Hope that helps someone. :)

@leo How do I find the place to donate for my instance?

@leo @elicitizen Indeed. Although donations going to @Mastodon team enable further development, which is open source and benefits all servers / instances. Case in point: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/109356239312833647

@leo I’d happily add a bit extra to my twit club monthly to go towards twit.social - could there be another tier of membership? :ani_clubtwit:

@leo I'm donating to both open collective and my admin's Kofi account

@leo why not support mastodon dev people and your local server?

@leo Totally agree -- I have done this myself . Also -- follow your mod. They're the one tooting about outages and the like. And they'll have something on their profile or somewhere about how to support your instance.

@leo Yesss!
Especially this Atomicpoet guy has been spreading severe misinformation about 'Mastodon’s survival is at stake': https://chaos.social/@frumble/109368049465410897

@leo There is a Mastodon gGmbH, but it's a non-profit, and its Patreon is already double its already lofty goal. It doesn't do them any good to just have more income unless they're actually asking for it.

@leo good point, how does it scale cost wise i can imagine if you where running an instance on cloud the costs good be greatly increased by a massive increase in users.

@leo I was confused about those posts as well. I donated to my instance server account my 2nd day after realizing I would be staying. If all #twexit blue ppl took that $8/mo and apply it to their instance/server, that seems to be the best way. I was skeptical at first when I saw the link though and had to research it and the account posting it thoroughly. I’ve been jaded by other platforms

@leo @mdhughes it makes sense to donate to both Mastodon itself and your instance admin because obviously if the two largest instances and the devs run out of funds this will affect all of the instances in one way or another (we all follow people there).

@leo I hear you. I’m so donating to the Patreon for now while I’m on the big Social, but I hope to launch my own instance soon. Or maybe join the Twit social when I re-up my membership soon.

@leo - newbie here... thank you for that info... what about sign in credentials...? does each 'instance' (server?) need its own sign in credentials...? that bit is kind of confusing...

@leo I'm sure that the developers could use the support as well. I've seen an interesting trend with some instances that are quite niche where they work together to try to get folks signed up to sister instances say closer to people geography. Helps with load balancing and probably is better for the whole ecosystem.

@leo Even for a lot of people on mastodon.social it would be more ideal for them to migrate to a smaller server and contribute there (if not host their own server )

@leo thank you. Working had to keep mastodon.education running.
World/Europe

Donations, great. How? here for outside the Netherlands
https://ko-fi.com/ericredegeld
Or here
https://paypal.me/redegelde

@leo Where's the link to donate to Journa.host?

@leo just contributed to mstdn.social via PayPal, which charged $0.99 international fee. Thoughts on the most efficient way to contribute? PayPal, Patreon, Ko-fi, …

@leo
The development is still an expense for Mastodon
But yes, also support your local hosts. I am just waiting for my local host to set up a Patreon account😉

@leo and therefore: #TipYourServer

@leo the best way to explain Mastodon is to compare it to a co-op or a Credit Union/Caisse Populaire with no membership fees

@leo There was some guy on my instance being really aggressive about donating to the Mastodon non-profit because of the "millions of new accounts" and how we need to support.

Supporting the dev team is fine but it really has nothing to do with keeping up with the new accounts unless you happen to be on one of those instances.

He was insulting people trying to explain the nuances and replying to every donator calling them a hero. It was super bizarre.

@leo I would go so far as to say that no one should give more money to the official Mastodon patreon. Eugen is making close to 6 figures a year and very little of that is reinvested in his Servers aside from monthly bills.

Money will always be better spent on helping small instances pay their bills than putting another drop in the bucket.

@leo thank you. Quite true. I've given modestly to Mastodon @ Patreon, but more thoughtfully to my own instance. Thx for the reminder!

@leo It is important to support both the development team and your home server admin/host. Even if it is just $1/month, it adds up if we all participate. 🥳🖖🏼

@leo many instances are on open collective. https://opencollective.com/search?q=Mastodon

This is accurate.
If you're on Twit.social, looks like @leo has a fundraiser/membership thing going at https://twit.tv/club

@leo someone suggested $5 I presume US, and equated that to a cup of coffee? So I would suggest, to be equitable to people in different countries, etc., what would a cup of coffee cost in Your country? And would that expense be something you would normally pay? Or would you think of that as more of a luxury?

@leo what is a ‘server’ chose something at random

@leo Patreon is (IMO) poorly structured. It offers two options at the lower end (where I live): $2/month (not enough, I saw — I was hoping to give $6/month) and, next up, $14.50/month (whoa! can't afford that!).

So I look for where I can set amount. Cannot find it. Look for an email or contact link to suggest a "set your own amount" option. Cannot find it.

Finally decide I'll do $2/month 3 timres. Do it once, then not allowed to repeat.

They have set needless barriers against receiving money.

@leo Ah, thank you. I haven't seen any of those posts but I probably would have donated there without further thought (because I already follow some artists on Patreon.) Mind you, I'm on a big instance here, so I might have accidentally supported the right one anyway. (I'll check it out now, for I'm more than willing to help the folks running this out a bit.)

@leo I re joined #ClubTWiT this morning to do my bit. Thanks to you and the crew for the ~18888 episodes (787 pages of 24 episodes on the All Twit.tv Shows page) of the various “net” casts #TWiT has produced over the years.

@leo I can’t figure out how to contribute to the admin of my instance. I don’t know where to even go for it. Need my password reset and that link isn’t working.

@leo
OMG Leo ! I'm New to Mastodon but a very very long time listener HELLO 🤗

@leo this is the ad I responded to and donated - is it correct for my instance zirk ?

Thanks for all your support in making this arts/humanities space on Mastodon a reality.

You can donate on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zirkus/

@leo great #newbie info. Having seen several posts about supporting Mastodon, thanks for clarifying donations to #mastodon vs donations to (in my case) our excellent admin @stux.

@leo Disagreeing here Leo. While it is nice to help the team of your favorite instances, the real support should be pushed in the direction of the development of the Mastodon software. It requires a lot more money to develop the server app than to run an instance.

@leo I solo host so supporting the Mastodon Patreon is not a big deal. I do concur that folks should support their local host first if they are using it for free. Every little bit helps!

@leo Indeed! I recommend supportong the main and one's own server instance! Both need and deserve our support. 😃

@leo Long live open source!

@leo who supports the development of the Apps?

@leo for complete picture: there is actually Mastodon gGmbH, non-profit entity registered in Germany, which received money donated to Mastodon Patreon.

But that goes to development and as you’ve said - hosting of few instances. If you’re not on those instances, and your instance accepts donations - money is likely better put there or at least split to both sides.

@leo

It's not an Inc, but it is a gGmbH.

@leo why not both?

@leo I feel like Mastodon is run by a bunch of Linux users eating raspberry pi and suddenly their invitation to migrate in was accepted by a ton of casual party goers with good hearts who are wondering what an instance is. So, what's an instance? There should have been an onboarding video!

@leo

Thanks. I took your advice and donated to the server I'm on (which is mindly.social --> $50 CAD, which equals $35.80 USD, via paypal).

@leo thank you. I shared - or re-tooted -or whatever it’s called here.

@leo 💯

Support your local instance first- it's like your local newspaper (yes I'm that old)

If you can, support the nonprofit too, so they can compensate otherwise volunteer devs to keep making improvements.

@leo @tchambers I supported both Mastodon and my instance. Oh dear

@leo well thank you very much. That’s actually helpful…challenging trying to sort all this here

@leo our local instance here in NZ (one of a number in NZ) has transparent open finances which is quite refreshing - I don't know if this is a model that other instances have adopted. https://opencollective.com/nz-federated-services

@leo @waltbaldwin how do we support mastodon.energy overhead specifically?

@leo Maybe support both? 😉
@Gargron created a great software which in result has created a great community. We want updates, fixes, new features and software maintenance. He and his team needs food as well 😬.

#Twitter was not free as well. Tons of personal data and loads of ads is a quite high price tag.

@leo Hello. I’m new so probably in the wrong place?
I’m seeing the little notify me bell on some accounts but not in others.
Is that something we activate ourselves?

Thank you.

@leo Oops...

@leo I'm running my own server where I'm the only user. I believe it still makes sense to support the "largest" servers because that's where most of the content comes from at the moment.

@leo Mastodon is a bare bones early version of a social network. The dev team has a LOT of work cut out for them going forward.

@leo I myself donate to both Mastodon and Fosstodon (the instance I'm on) on Patreon.

@leo for those on kolektiva.social https://kolektiva.info/donate/

@leo I mean I'm on the big one so it's pretty easy.

@leo I went with a split donation - $5/month to Mastodon for software dev, $5/month to my instance for hosting and headaches.

Good to see you again Leo :)
(I was the BeOS guy)

@leo If I join Club Twit does it help to fund the twit.social instance as opposed to contributing to patreon? I am not bothered by the ads on this week in tech or Google but would like to support your running of this instance.

@leo Maybe people are thinking it’s Twitter when they see your Elon Musk Twitter handle.

@leo mastodon.social is my instance 🤷‍♂️

@leo For now on a large (and I guess somewhat more findable) instance. But what the future will hold is unknown.

As someone once wrote 'where will the river take me in time?"

It is likely a smaller instance, or my own instance.

@leo I'll do both once my instance admin gets something set up.

@leo it is about supporting its development than the instances, right?

@leo whynotboth.gif!

@leo

So I am donating to both my instant administrator and the core development.

I'm happy to pay a little (about a meal per month) to keep both solvent and functioning.

Feels like a real community that way.

@leo I imagine the distinction would be like "if you like mastodon and want to see where it goes, support the official patreon. if you're concerned about keeping the lights on, donate to your server." is that close?

@leo can you talk about how we donate to our own instances? I've only seen the link for the official dev team. Thanks!

@leo How does one donate?

@leo Good advice!

@leo fair point with the exception of wanting to support the general development of the platform vs supporting a given instances hosting fees. it would be good to have a way to differentiate what donations would be for.

@leo
But slipping a little money to the Mastodon dev team is also a good thing. Obviously our local instances should get most of our support, but the dev team deserves it too.

@leo I support my instance

@leo @philshapiro Thanks for expressing that so clearly. I have posted about supporting the Mastodon Patreon and am supporting, but I also support, at much higher levels, two of the servers/instances I’m on. That feels right to me: $10 a year to the big org, at least for now, to support what they do, and $5-10 a month to my homes here.

@leo Well said, Leo. I can't wait for that day (not long from now) when we all stop talking about what we had or did on Twitter, and start luxuriating in all the things we can do here that were never possible there. Not ever. And Twitter was was never really a very good microblogging app. It's been stilted, walled, and innovation-free for most of its existence. It was never all that. It was all that we had, so all that we knew.

@leo Maybe best to donate € 2,-- or so per month to Mastodon Patreon and € 1,-- to your local service?

@leo Just did! yay! #MastodonNZ

@leo I don't understand.
I am honestly operating under the belief that stux is paying to host the server (or whatever you call it) that my mastodon posts are hosted on
Is this inaccurate?