Randahl FinkAug 16, 2023

Mastodon.

Number of users:
13,891,828

Number of ads displayed:
0

This is the way. 🙌🏻

Show threadEswarAug 16, 2023
@randahl Definitely feels nice, but i fail to see how this can be sustainable in the long run.
Show threadRandahl Fink
@eswarm thousands of users sponsor Mastodon servers. It works.
Aug 16, 2023 at 2:31amIvory for iOS
Show threadEswarAug 16, 2023

@randahl I would love that to be the case, where its publicly funded and supported, e.g Wikipedia. But there is another side too, people don't pay(majority) if it's voluntary. Look at open source projects languishing without funding even though they have a vast amount of users.

Again, I am not saying it won't work, it's working currently. But I have my doubts on this business model especially when this scales.

Show threadw111Aug 16, 2023
@eswarm @randahl Recent events have made it more likely for me to contribute to more projects - maybe others will feel the same.
Show threadRicAug 16, 2023
@eswarm @randahl it's important to remember that Mastodon isn't one single business with a business model. Anybody can spin up their own server and either open it up for free, or monetise it, or just run privately. So it'll keep going for as long as there are people wanting to use it, and that's exactly the right length of time.
Show threadKaiser Bill’s BatmanSep 5, 2023
@dev_ric @eswarm @randahl Indeed! There are even coops and formally registered nonprofits. And computing power tends to become cheaper and cheaper over time. I think this will work out fine.
Show threadforesterrAug 16, 2023
@eswarm @randahl scales in which sense? If it's about resources to run the servers, then I think it's pretty important that it's Fedi, and it scales (honestly, more like "grows") horizontally. If yuge instances will start running into such constraints... eh whatever. I don't think mega-instances are too good for the platform as a whole, anyway.