Deviant OllamNov 18, 2022

So, I definitely want to see Mastodon remain healthy and continue forward, but I wouldn't mind if someone could explain this to me a little more...

https://atomicpoet.org/objects/edff069b-bc28-4b18-ac37-a3173723c31e

... Aren't the posting and operational costs associated with the Fediverse borne by all the individual instances? What costs does the overarching org have? (Not being snarky, I'm sure they exist, I just wish I understood more)

Show threadDeviant Ollam
Ahhh... I was only thinking of the hosting costs which are going up with increasing user load, but there are of course also the overall development costs of the project. For some reason I thought it was an open source platform but in fact it is a project with paid developers and such.
Nov 18, 2022 at 11:34pmWeb
Show threadRobert ThauNov 18, 2022
@deviantollam It's an open source project with paid developers, a formal governance structure, and at least one friendly fork for those whose preferences don't completely line up with central leadership.
Show threadMrs Mouse at workNov 18, 2022
@deviantollam and mastodon. social is run by the central developers.
Show threadf00f/eris/continuum/etcNov 18, 2022
@deviantollam Mastodon is an open source platform, open source platforms can have paid developers and development costs. "Open source" doesn't mean free-as-in-price or even volunteer developed, it just means that the source code is made available to all users, and users have the right to spin up their own instance and make whatever changes they want.
Show threadDouglas KilpatrickNov 18, 2022

@deviantollam As far as I can tell, the linked Patreon supports:
* The development of the open-source project

AND ALSO

* Hosting mastodon.social

I'd suggest biasing giving toward your instance first, and hit up the main patreon second.

Since I'm on that instance, I hit that one first.

Show threaddprk_ebooksNov 18, 2022
@deviantollam It's open source under AGPL
Show threadChris BrownNov 18, 2022
@deviantollam Eugene (@Gargon) runs 2 servers mastodon(dot)online and mastodon(dot)social, and he is the main coder on the Github branch. So the donations from Chris's post will go to help support the servers and Eugene's time in improving/maintaining the code/features of Mastodon.

Each instance will have it's own costs associated to it's bandwidth/space/hosting/etc. There are other Open Source projects on the Fediverse that also accept donations, some for alternative backends (Pleroma, Freindica, HubZilla, etc) and some are for alternative front ends/applications (Glitch-SOC, Pinafore, Sengi, Toot!, Soapbox, etc.)

There will be load on each of these servers as their Local and Federated timelines continue to grow. And Chris's biggest point is to make sure people are aware that there isn't any Advertisers or Data Logging/Selling going on to facilitate these costs. Many of us would say donate where you wish, but to always try to support your local instance's admin since they help your experience more immediately.