Mastodawn

Man van Aarde Jul 12, 2023

/kbin project management costs, financing, future plans

I wrote the first line of code for /kbin on January 14, 2021. Around this time, I started working remotely and decided that the time I used to spend commuting to the office would be devoted to /kbin. Throughout this entire period, /kbin has been a hobby project that I developed in my free time. It was also when Lemmy started... #kbin #fediverse #kbinMeta

https://kbin.social/m/kbinMeta/t/177112

/kbin project management costs, financing, future plans - /kbin meta - kbin.social

I wrote the first line of code for /kbin on January 14, 2021. Around this time, I started working remotely and decided that the time I used to spend commuting to the office would be devoted to /kbin. Throughout this entire period, /kbin has been a hobby project that I developed in my free time. It was also when Lemmy started...

laurens Jul 11, 2023

Thank you for the update and thoroughness! That growth from may to june is insane, massive props for keeping this all working and afloat!

ernest Jul 11, 2023

@laurens That was quite a ride. I can't remember the last time I had to sleep for a solid 12 hours straight :p

JasSmith Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for your efforts, mate! And thanks for not de-federating from everything like Beehaw. I appreciate that you treat us like adults and allow us to craft our own experiences. Reddit had lots of little kings, and it's refreshing to be on a platform where owners respect our agency.

BaroqueInMind Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for the donation links. I was wondering where I could officially go to give you some money other than drugs (caffeine or alcohol).

PabloDiscobar Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for the numbers! It's always interesting for someone wanting to dig more seriously into the self-hosting of fediverse tools.

Well, I think it puts an end to the idea of ever federating with big names like facebook. It would cost way too much money and resources.

ikari Jul 11, 2023

@ernest That's a great project, by the way. And I love we're taking the internet back.

fearout Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for your work! And for great communication too. Just brushed off my old Patreon account :)

Jaysyn Jul 11, 2023

Just joined your Patreon.

artillect Jul 11, 2023

All funds from Buy Me a Coffee will be transferred to this pool, but from now on, I'll treat it as buying me a coffee... or a beer... literally ;)

Get yourself something strong, you’ve earned it!

EROLoLICON Jul 11, 2023

you’ve earned it!
Heh

monotremata Jul 11, 2023

Thanks so much for all your hard work!

BigVault Jul 11, 2023

You’ve got another Patreon supporter in me. Great work Earnest!

EROLoLICON Jul 11, 2023

How much commissions do Patreon and Liberapay take?
I read somewhere that Patreon commissions are high, maybe it was Lemmy.world admin. What about Liberapay?

Cloudless Jul 11, 2023

Would you recommend that some of us move to other kbin instances? Or should we stay on kbin.social to help it grow?

Thank you for all your hard work. I would like more people to discover kbin, instead of the other software developed by the tankies.

AnonymousLlama Jul 15, 2023

I'm pretty happy with the .social instance for now, I assume you'd have to find an insurance with admins who are transparent. Old mate Ernest is pretty upfront so that's a big selling point to me when deciding which instance to start on :)

stevecrox Jul 11, 2023

£85 pcm? Surely such a supporter deserves their posts to be highlighted in gold with big arrows pointing everyone at them!

Remember your time has value, I much appreciate your efforts.

valen Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for your hard work. Kbin is a good project, and I'm glad to be supporting it in some small way.

LegendofDragoon Jul 11, 2023

Appreciate the update man!

jon Jul 11, 2023

@ernest, if Kbin starts making okay money, don't be afraid to give yourself a salary. It's important that you get to eat too.

tburkhol Jul 11, 2023

As I’ve been lurking around the fediverse, running instances seems to be universally a hobby project, and it’s a little concerning. It kind of gives the impression of all being idealistic young kids embarrassed to ascribe value to their own time. I mean, you can do a lot with volunteer labor, especially if it’s a good ecosystem with appropriate recognition and gratitude, but the people are absolutely the most valuable parts of kbin.social, lemmy.world, etc, and they do have to eat, pay rent, go on vacation. It’s tough to respond to a 3am message about your instance being hacked if you have a job to be at four hours later, and leads to a whole different kind of burnout.

It’s early days yet, but I hope the bigger instance teams get some input from people who’ve managed growth spurts in non-profits, and especially the transition to their first paid staff members (even when that staff member is the owner).

melroy Jul 11, 2023

Maybe this was also how the internet was intended.

elscallr Jul 11, 2023

I'm not sure if you're joking but it's not that long that's how it used to be.

melroy Jul 11, 2023

@elscallr Well some history. IPv4 (and later IPv6 now) was meant to connect computers together, ideally without any router/modem in between but each device directly on the web (but ipv6 came too late). So we got an interconnected web.

Later Tim Berners-Lee just want to have a human-readable documents to be linked together, with a distributed architecture that would see those documents stored on multiple servers, controlled by different people, and interconnected. I think the fediverse comes pretty close to this idea.

I also think big companies and centralized solutions might make it easier for the user, but we also now know all the downsides of those solutions from Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft,... you are the product.

@ernest @jon @tburkhol

Rabbithole Jul 11, 2023

The whole internet was basically hobby projects that worked fine before big tech ate everything.

It can totally work if the community's right.

Steeve Jul 12, 2023

I saw my first beheading at the age of 12 on ebaums world. My buddy got targeted by a pedophile and sent child pornography on a messaging board. Half the sites were on angelfire or geocities and featured constant porn pop-ups. My email was absolutely filled with dick pill spam immediately. Newgrounds was a super popular site with kids my age and like half of it was porn games. There was this really annoying emoji banner ad on like every site that would constantly shout “OH MY GOD NO WAAYY” and “SAY SOMETHING” (seriously it happened so much I can still hear it).

I don’t know that the internet “worked fine” lol. I mean, I think I turned out alright, but if my parents knew what I was seeing on the internet they never would’ve let me on the computer again.

Rabbithole Jul 12, 2023

Aw stop, you're making me all nostalgic. :D

Place was wild before they cleaned it up for business interests, for sure.

AnonymousLlama Jul 15, 2023

The good old wild west days

mmaramara Jul 11, 2023

Yeah I donated specifically in hopes of helping ernest live off kbin

rasterweb Jul 11, 2023

Great! I just signed up for monthly donations. Glad to support the efforts and thank you for the work you are doing.

Ronno Jul 11, 2023

Loving the commitment, honesty and transparency!! You have done an amazing job, and I am confident that you are giving your baby (kbin) the best possible care and future.

But do be mindful of your situation and try to take care of yourself, we wouldn’t want you to have another burnout or something similar.

Marks Jul 11, 2023

I appreciate you

Madison_rogue Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for providing the link to Patreon...just joined.

FreeBooteR69 Jul 11, 2023

Did yearly donation, it's a worthy project.

Xeelee Jul 11, 2023

I really like kbin and in very happy that there are alternatives to greedy corporations run by narcissistic morons (you know who I'm talking about). I really hope the fediverse can establish itself as a real alternative to the ad-infested hellscape that is modern social media. You're definitely making a positive impact here.

Helldiver_M Jul 11, 2023

Always appreciate your transparency, and I'm so happy to see Kbin really starting to grow. Excited to see what the future holds.

phareous Jul 11, 2023

Can someone point me to a link to the roadmap?

LollerCorleone Jul 11, 2023

Thanks for the update. In my opinion, your target should be to raise enough funds for you to be able to draw a reasonable salary along with supporting kbin's development.

Lolman228 Jul 11, 2023

I thought that donations going to you were going to be pocketed and spent on hard liquor, not for our benefit. I'm disappointed in you ernest, be better.

TheGreenGolem Jul 11, 2023

Yeah, what about the blackjack and especially the hookers part?

Lolman228 Jul 12, 2023

Can't forget about the hookers

1chemistdown Jul 12, 2023

What about the blow?

operator Jul 11, 2023

First and foremost: Thank you @ernest for your incredible work and dedication.

Pay yourself a salary. Whatever you feel is appropriate & covers your personal costs. Developing and maintaining /kbin seems to be a full time job (or at least will become one)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TRANSPARENCY. That's why we are here. This builds such a huge trust with the community. Whatever you need, we'll be here.

symfonystation Jul 11, 2023

@ernest Thanks for everything you and the team do. I just sent you a few beers. :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/kbin for others wanting to contribute.

Ernest is kbin.pub & kbin.social

Kbin is a modular, decentralized content aggregator and microblogging platform running on the Fediverse network.The initiative aims to promote a free and open internet. https://kbin.pubhttps://kbin.socialhttps://codeberg.org/Kbin

Buy Me a Coffee

ernest Jul 11, 2023

@symfonystation Cheers, man! ;)

hariette Jul 12, 2023

Thanks for posting link. I just sent over some more beers for the team to keep stockpiling!🍻

ernest Jul 12, 2023

@hariette, actually I was the one looking for your coffee link ;) Thanks!

hariette Jul 12, 2023

We can just start taking turns heh 😂

1chemistdown Jul 11, 2023

@ernest, you have my monthly donation. I hope it helps. Let us know how else we can help. The community can support you as much as you're supporting us.

nimrod Jul 11, 2023

Did yearly donation via librapay, it's a worthy project. Really appreciate your transparency and all the good work you do @ernest!

dismalnow Jul 11, 2023

All funds from Buy Me a Coffee will be transferred to this pool, but from now on, I'll treat it as buying me a coffee... or a beer... literally ;)

I'm so happy to see that you're running strongly, and that my measly $50 that was intended to relieve stress will now be allocated to beer - which relieves stress.

Thank you for your continued efforts! 🍻

Grimlo9ic Jul 11, 2023

Then it will be time for the first release of /kbin.

This gave me some feel-good chills. Thanks ernest, you da man.

cthonctic Jul 11, 2023

You're an amazong human being and I am in awe of what you have managed to create! The Patreon was my easiest join ever and I'm happy to hear that buying you a coffee will actually buy you a coffee (or other tasty beverage) going forward :)

iNeedScissors67 Jul 11, 2023

Just joined the Patreon, thanks for all you do.

holycrapwtfatheism Jul 11, 2023

I'm super new here and honestly am pretty impressed with the UI and the cleanliness of kbin. Aside from my own growing pains finding new communities/instances it's been a very nice transition from my previous time sink. The smaller internet feels good, didn't realize I missed it until I came here. Feels like old forums without the vitriol of today in it. Really appreciate the work, enjoy the beer coming.

narF 😵✌️Jul 11, 2023

@ernest Really cool that you accept Liberapay! I activated a monthly donation! It's not much but hopefully if a lot of people do the same, that'll help you a lot! :)

BentiGorlich Jul 11, 2023

I am very happy that I am a part of it, even if it is just a small one 😊

Brkdncr Jul 11, 2023

Do you have backups in place? What is your retention range? To you have copies offsite? In the event of a disaster, how long before you would have services redeployed and restored?

wave_walnut Jul 11, 2023

Where can I donate to buy ernest a cup of coffee?

livus Jul 13, 2023

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/kbin

Ernest is kbin.pub & kbin.social

Kbin is a modular, decentralized content aggregator and microblogging platform running on the Fediverse network.The initiative aims to promote a free and open internet. https://kbin.pubhttps://kbin.socialhttps://codeberg.org/Kbin

Buy Me a Coffee

Cylusthevirus Jul 11, 2023

Kbin has replaced Reddit for me, and for that I am truly grateful. Ernest, you've made something wonderful here. Please do whatever you need to do to make this effort sustainable so that we have a longer term place to talk to others and share the things that bring us joy.