Stewart JohnsonSeriously thinking about running my own instance so I can use something that’s not running pre-release codebases with bugs
Grandalf 
@Stewart or just register with another instance and move across?
@AenesidemusOZ Yeah I could go either way on that. Part of my thinking is that I also have the technical skill, time and funds to be able to host a moderate-size instance (say ~1k-10k users) so maybe as a community service I should do that?
Pros & Cons table please, annotated, on a single A4 sheet
I’m have been leary of joining an instance that is run by someone who might just get tired of it / run out of time / run out of money / die
But if you’re up for it, why not?
I would love to set up an instance in the cloud – inexpensive and no technical support overheads – but I know I will run foul of at least one of those items in only a couple of years 🤷♂️
@AenesidemusOZ It definitely seems like the kind of thing that would work best if you had a group of like-minded people who could run it together. The type of group would dictate the type of audience and accepted sign-ups:
- group of friends (social, small)
- group of people into the same hobby
- group of people in the same sporting club or league
- group of people who live in the same geography
On balance probably not the kind of thing I should do by myself, unless it's a private instance.
@Stewart During the hunt for a new home, I used a federation map to have a look-see for low-ping instances, meaning (for me) in Australia. There are around 60 here, nearly all of them single or dual user.
I suspect that’s what they’re doing – running a private instance that lets them federate but remain their own thing.
@AenesidemusOZ Have you got a link to the Federation Map that you used?
@Stewart sure.
https://fediverse.observer/list
Use the “Map” button to show instances on a map. Each pin is clickable to get the instance info.
Use the “List” to show all instances and filter them by version, language, location, user count, etc, etc. Very powerful.
@AenesidemusOZ That's awesome, thanks!