@zaskoda @gerwitz Gotta disagree on the 'running your own server' point.

Running your own *physical* server, in your own garage? Sure, maybe. But I think it's easy to say most people wouldn't want to do that anyway. They'd go to a service provider like any of the zillions of web hosts and even dedicated email services we have, and those are all dirt cheap. No ads, pro-privacy, etc.

(Contd)

@zaskoda @gerwitz Do most people want fedi/masto to be free? I think that's a tough call. The network is designed to prefer lots of small instances (over 1,100 now), which are relatively cheap to run.

Many of them start up Patreons to cover the costs. If they get large enough, it grows to cover mods. It seems to be working quite well so far. I don't see any imminent threat of advertising or other insidious funding mechanisms.

@zaskoda @chartier I frankly expect an email-like future if Mastodon grows to threaten the ad companies, where e.g. Meta wakes up and makes an easy to understand instance.

The race is on to establish a resilient enough network that this future looks like Gmail’s, where a *lot* of people are happy (or ignorantly) captive but to remain viable is nonetheless compelled to participate in open protocols.

Or to stop before it becomes a threat to the attention monetizers.