π“πˆπ“Ξ”πππŽπ‘π 

  I want to start the conversation.  

"How can we help #Mastodon servers maintain independence and pay the bills?"

This is a great service. But we will need to pull together and help maintain it. This stuff isn't free. We are many. It's only a matter of time until we overcrowd the place and we also don't want ads.

Please post your answers below. Boosts are appreciated to get the conversation going.πŸ”

Dec 1, 2022 at 11:24pmWeb
Show threadNona #DarkGrannyDec 1, 2022
@thetitanborn I found out how to support my local instance via Patreon. It's easy to set up a monthly donation.
Show threadGrepDec 1, 2022
@thetitanborn I'm happy to pay my fair share (or more). Have already donated to a couple of instances. I would like to see financial statements or a budget to be available, to have a better understanding of income vs. expenses.
Show threadGwynDec 2, 2022
@grep @thetitanborn Yes! This would be great. Get the community involved (even passively) with how an instance is run and the financials. We'll treasure it even more. ❀️
Show threadNeal Babcock (he/him)Dec 1, 2022
@thetitanborn Bigger instances should be able to set up their own fundraising efforts (and probably without giving someplace like Patreon a cut), but I'm concerned about the smaller instances. It seems like fundraisers (online "garage" sales, art sales, auctions, donation asks, etc.) could be done for a group of instances with the funds distributed according to how many members they each have.
Show threadParade O’ Crapβ„’Dec 1, 2022
@thetitanborn I recommend an automated donation of $8 a month for… reasons.
Show threadKate TarotDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn I sent a paypal donation to whoever is running Universedon... and I will continuing doing so.
Show threadStephen CerrutiDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn like it or not, commercial entities are a huge part of social media and engaging them to help fund servers has a place. I also think there is a role for professional organizations that have traditionally been conference focused but are now venturing into message boards and the like. However the vast majority of people are trained to not pay so I suspect we will need premiums like vanity usernames and other like features to get individual funding.
Show threadDopeGhotiDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn
If on an instance with 100,000 users (because I like easy maths), 5% of users can make a donation of $5 per month, that would give the server operator $25,000 a month to cover hosting costs. Even 1% of users donating $5 would cover $5,000 in costs. Which is I imagine a lot more than it costs to run an instance of even that size.
Show threadInfrapink (he/his/him)Dec 3, 2022
@DopeGhoti
For want it's worth, #Mastodonie has ~17000 users and an annual maintenance cost of a bit over €26000.
@thetitanborn
Show threadDopeGhotiDec 3, 2022
@Infrapink @thetitanborn
In that case, some quick napkin maths show that if five percent of that Instance's population donated €2.55 monthly, for a monthly accumulation of €2,175 , that would just about cover the annual cost of €26,000
Show threadAlf DDec 2, 2022

@thetitanborn reading the replies, agree on Wikipedia approach being annoying, esp after £££, but pester power does work & I'm sure Admins will have the means to +/- DM all users or pin a post to their home feeds(??)

Also if we non tech, end users realised what server etc costs are, it'd make the idea a bit more real & prompt more to willingly volunteer.

No promotion here is v nice & maybe that's it, like Apps on G-Play.
Ads may have to support instances costs, but we can pay to suppress them?

Show threadAlf DDec 2, 2022

@thetitanborn another thing that may need more clarity for newbies / non techies.
Is the variant on the toot that does the rounds warning that payments to 'Mastodon' go to some seeming central place rather than the instance admins/owner.

If this is right then it is a put off for a couple of reasons I can think.
Ppl are more likely to support *their patch than the wider entity &
This apparent corporate Mastodon is not explained & seems the antithesis of the decentralised fediverse ideal.

Show threadAg TerraneDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn The confusion for me is to whom should I contribute. Of course, my instance, but where can we chip in for the software developers and the non-instance hardware?
Show threadmmietDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn It’s certainly not a perfect corollary, but Wikipedia asks for donations. I’d be happy to contribute to a non-profit that distributes based on some reasonable metric of use.
Show threadBay Area JayDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn I would think ads are inevitable.
Show threadRobin from Colorado πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Dec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn should be funded like Wikipedia
Show threadE L L ADec 2, 2022

@thetitanborn this is the essential question.

Servers cost money to run. People using their productive time to manage them also ought to be paid.

I guess donations is the first step, but if donations are insufficient then other options have to be considered.

I am not a tech person but would a paywalled instance even be possible?

I'm not saying that would be a good thing - just asking.

Show thread3 Squirrels In A CoatDec 2, 2022
@brightlightart @thetitanborn There are paywalled instances. cloudisland.nz has such an arrangement. I'm sure there are others around.
Show threadBlippy the Wonder Slug (MOVED)Dec 2, 2022

@thetitanborn I followed the link on my planet's home page. It was easy enough to find (as it should be).

πŸ‘ Which reminds me...

Show threadAlexDec 2, 2022
@thetitanborn
I would happily pay to remove ads
Show threadChickenhatDec 3, 2022
@alex same
Show threadTheFatCyclistDec 3, 2022
@thetitanborn I'd pay a monthly fee...
Show thread Adzie Dec 3, 2022

@thetitanborn donating seems good to me, but it would mean being pedagogical about it. We were so used to "free" social network than it seems weird to have to pay for the bills, even if it's just how it works. Many independent sites use a monthly gauge pinned on their header to show costs vs how much has already been donated.

That would be a totally acceptable instance management model for me. Also, if there's some excess, pay the moderators or keep it for the next month bills I guess.

Show threadEdward BarrowDec 3, 2022
@thetitanborn many different flowers will bloom. But sooner or later we're going to need subscriptions, or maybe even adverts. I said a week or so back that a likely but undesirable outcome will be a few giant big tech commercial servers running proprietary ActivityPub implementations using AI moderation, while Mastodon self-destructs with admins in endless vitriolic theological debate about the ethics of federating with them.
Show threadFlag59Dec 3, 2022
@thetitanborn I like the idea of holding specific giving days (quarterly?) and make it easy to pay.
Show threadPankhurst2Dec 3, 2022
@thetitanborn
Annual $5 fee and frankly not against limited advertising. It may get bigger accounts to leave twitterfascism and implode Musk's apartheid media he is creating.
Show threadEsperanto PoodleDec 3, 2022
@thetitanborn Does your instance have a Liberapay or Patreon page? Always a good first thing to look for!