 A lot of Mastodon instance admins are either getting their first hosting bill or getting a very increased bill from extreme growth and usage. Some may be experiencing bill shock. Please make sure your paying/supporting them! Twitter was free because you were the product. Mastodon doesn't work this way. Many instances list a patreon or donation links on their about page. 223 comments
@rastilin Sure, it's cheaper.... Until a hard drive fails at 3 am or you unexpectedly need to scale up. And of course once you've scaled up you can't trivially scale back down again because you may be stuck with a minimum lease/commitment. Not to mention all the administrative overhead of having to run a hypervisor for virtual machines and all that jazz yourself. There certainly is a point at which dedicated hardware makes sense, but for a professional setup imo it comes much later. @rastilin (After having read the blog post I do agree though that that particular instance is overengineered compared to the number of users it has to an almost comical degree) @Veticia @rastilin @xssfox @aurynn Yeah the way I see it, the cloud is for very small or very large workloads - attractive to get in because if you are not doing much it doesn't cost much, and attractive to large businesses because it costs more to pay your employees (not to mention dealing with headaches that can happen) to maintain infrastructure than to purchase that service externally. But the middle ground isn't so rosy.   @princelysum @xssfox If your instance's about page/owner's bio has a Patreon link, use it. Else, ask the owner how you can help @princelysum @xssfox Had to look it up. Here's a post from your instance's admin: https://medium.com/@mrshlee/aus-social-welcome-to-thundertoot-59d881ad573 Shlee says there may be a donation drive at some point? If you're really eager, there's a patreon linked off of the admin bio. at https://aus.social/@aussocialadmin My instance had a link off of the about page. I am, alas, coming across instances which may be in some sort of failure mode as a consequence of Birdplace-sourced expansive and overload, though I can't rule out problems here. @princelysum @xssfox Your instance does not seem to receive payments https://aus.social/about You can support the one hosting me if you want π here https://opencollective.com/libreops @princelysum @xssfox My instance has a $3/mo subscription option and just sent out notifications with a link. @gertrudethesquid @princelysum @xssfox I imagine that subscription services for servers will become more widespread over time. I have no issue with that as long as it's not a profit making venture.    @david @lafnlab @xssfox Glad to hear it! I remember a goal that you set when you introduced tiers that should cover direct incurred cost, is that still right or did that go up? Because your time is worth something too! And that of any other people involved. Anyway thanks for your service, itβs a good place to be :BlobhajHeart: @h5e right now it's covered, but since it was just in the month of November that all of the real growth happened, we'll be giving it a bit more time to see cost changes and needs for more services @xssfox https://opencollective.com/search?q=mastodon is one good place self-organize. #adminSupport @opencollective  @AnthonyUplandpoetWatkins The details are on the about page of your instance! https://masto.nu/about there are funding options listed if you want to contribute :) @xaphania i dont know what an instance is, but it looks like i can go find out at .mu @AnthonyUplandpoetWatkins @xaphania A instance is a server. Mastodon isn't one social media platform, you can sign up on one server like the one you're using to read this message and use the same account across multiple servers. It's really cool. @AnthonyUplandpoetWatkins The "About" page of your instance usually gives you a clue. You find it as a link at the bottom of the front page, or by simply typing it into a web browser: https://masto.nu/about  @AnthonyUplandpoetWatkins @xssfox itβs the last part of your handle β masto.nu β. If you go to their βaboutβ page at https://masto.nu/about down near the bottom youβll see ways you can support them financially. Another approach all together is to lower the load on the servers that are in pain. Find another instance or better start your own. Which is why I try to post as little media content as possible and use *text only*. With text it's very economical. Telegraph was the first means of long-distance communication for a reason. @xssfox If you're unsure, try googling the name of your instance plus the word Patreon. I wasn't sure how to find mine to donate, but this worked for me. Now I feel better π You can also check the about page of your instance. Just add "/about" to your instance's name in your browser's address bar. Donating to developers of Mastodon server software is also helping, as they will optimize the code which will affect and benefit *all* instances. @xssfox I'm looking to test a privacy-friendly solution to covering the bill! If you want to help out, please take a look at http://adless.net/products/activitypub or reach out to me directly to talk π I'm specifically looking or server admins and it will only take a few minutes of your time. I think it would be helpful if operators gave users an approximate amount per person to cover the cost. And, of course, a counter that indicates whether this point has been reached. On the instance I use, there is something similar, but you have to know the location where that is. Maybe it could be more visible? Somewhere I read that there is an approximate cost per user of one β¬/$ per month. Whether this amount is sufficient? Β«Sorry, I have to use DeepL as I don't know English.Β» @rizzo @xssfox They have Patreon, Paypal and Ko-Fi options. @rizzo https://universeodon.com/about has contact info for the admin and a donation link, is that what youβre asking for? sorry if iβve misunderstood @hakamadare β€οΈ I gave via pay pal. I hope everyone supports since this site is important to challenging racism/sexism/homophobia... @xssfox Well I only have 15 users right now so I am at a whopping $10/mo with backups enabled but we'll see where this goes...  @xssfox the day I created this account, I said to myself βWith no ads, thereβs no revenueβ - and set up monthly donations to BOTH to my local instance admin and the Mastodon open source project. @xssfox Apologies for this dumb question, but how do i find my instance's About page? Happy to make a donation to them  @SiegePerilous on the website its at the bottom left with all the other links. Not sure if you're in an app of some kind. @pieceofthepie Ah-ha, thank you..I see it...I've never looked bottom left on a page before...looks like that's where all the good stuff isπ @xssfox Thanks..I also got pointed towards the bottom left of the Notifications page (when on pc)...I clicked on 'About this server' and it was there @xssfox is there a way to make a detailed video of how to donate? I need to make sure this server gets my donation.   @xssfox @supernovae Wherefore art the link to the coffee links etc mentioned in thine profile? :) @xssfox ...or pick a paid instance ran by a hosting company who has this calculated... @xssfox i fix this by hosting mine on the same box with a multi million concurrent user open bittorrent tracker
@Bunkunin @xssfox you can find your instance's information on it's About page - in the web view, that's at the bottom, under where the Publish button is, or (if the view is collapsed) at the bottom of the menu on the right. For convenience, that's https://mstdn.social/about ! :) Your admin is Stux, and there are a list of ways to contribute back to the instance listed on the about page. Hope this helps!  @xssfox @xssfox https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/p31mae/comment/irr0vt3/  @xssfox Thanks for the timely suggestion! I just pledged a small monthly amount for #DisabledSocial on #Patreon  @xssfox Yikes! Thank you for reminding me to check and pay that bill! π I'm just grateful that my gigabit fibre-to-the-home is unmetered, from an east-coast backbone provider. So far not a perceptible increase in traffic, but I host a few things out of here. (YTβpodcast mirrors and a few complete channel archives, various data archival and historical seeds, a mirror of Gutenbergβ¦) October ran ~5.5T, July ran a slightly more impressive 9.9T. Decemberβ¦ may be a doozie. @juliatherese3 you'll probably find it on the about page mastodon.sdf.org/about  @xssfox are instance admins able to make money by advertising to the users on their servers? @troymcclure maybe but many servers have a defederate with servers that display ads policy. Basically users have said "I don't want my toots next to add"  @xssfox @xssfox Super important. Also for people who aren't used to paying for their social media, it may feel wrong because 'it's been free for so long'. Remember, it was never free. You data and being bombarded with ads was the price of entry. I'd rather contribute to someone's patreon any day. #mastodon #patreon @xssfox @xssfox Super important. Also for people who aren't used to paying for their social media, it may feel wrong because 'it's been free for so long'. Remember, it was never free. You data and being bombarded with ads was the price of entry. I'd rather contribute to someone's patreon any day. #mastodon #patreon @xssfox@cloudisland.nz ez solution, run one yourself for $6/mo! youll forget about it in 2 weeks and wonder why the fuck you keep getting charged $6 every month from some site called "leenode"? @xssfox As I keep saying on Twitter we were not the customer we were the product. Let's prove Lippmann wrong! strange.. i have a fixed server. It has a constend price... I have to decide to increase its capacity, if it is too smal.. @xssfox Great idea! I just donated $10 to #universodon for making it possible to join a safe and friendly online platform.  @xssfox Yes, it is time for people to realize that using and maintaining a system like this does take #money and we will not mine your data to sell to advertisers to make money off of you. We will also make sure we make good decisions based on the user's experience and #not our #BottomLine @xssfox Where and how can I find my instance admin? Iβve looked everywhere. Itβs not obvious to noobs. Thx! @xssfox I'm making regular Patreon contributions to the administrators of both instances I am part of. Huge appreciation of the admins of #zirkus & #MstdnSocial !! @xssfox If anyone can guide me to whomeverβs server Iβm using, I d be happy to make a donation to help. A secure location. @xssfox Done! I've been on Mastodon <1wk & it feels like I found a digital home. I can post my photography & people interact with me, boost, & favorite it. I can talk about free open-source software (FOSS) & people engage. Speaking of FOSS, which I've run since the late '90s, I often donate to projects to support their work. FOSS is "free as in freedom, not beer," right? So today I was happy to kick down a few bucks to @kev for the #Mastodon instance I use: fosstodon.org #FOSS #Fosstodon #Linux Today I started small monthly donations to #Mastodon that will not break my wallet. We need more to join in.  @xssfox how do we find out how to contribute to our server? Still pretty new here but want to make sure Iβm part of the solution! Advise welcome!  @xssfox Thanks for the reminder. It took a minute, but I was able to find the link for the server Iβm using.  Perhaps iF per instance the donations page spelled out the amount needed to keep ppl informed on the goals / budgets involved for supporters I would suggest this could aid, transparency wise, costs associated with this #web3 phenomenal growth to help sustain this public square free from algorithmic manipulation timeline wise, _that_ would be helpful. #web3 #InfrastructureBudgets #mastadon ππ¨  @xssfox Yes. As a new member I felt obligated to donate, however it cannot be on a recurring basis due to my financial situation. I will make an effort to pitch in when I can, of course! @xssfox i got a 50$ bill from AWS for S3 storage. My calculations before assumed 5$... But moving content away from AWS to Linode just exploded in costs... @xssfox It's important that we scrutinize people asking for money. @xssfox  @xssfox On top of that: Some people just need that little push to donate. Some do not know, that such the maintenance of such a service takes time, effort and money. π |
Gregory's Server
The very wonderful @aurynn wrote about what it takes to host cloudisland.nz which is hosted in New Zealand on Catalyst (and not AWS/Azure/GCP)
https://cloudisland.nz/@aurynn/109440864686384321