Cows Look Like Maps

YSK: Lemmy has 53k monthly active users but only 1172 have ever donated

https://sh.itjust.works/post/16660167

YSK: Lemmy has 53k monthly active users but only 1172 have ever donated - sh.itjust.works

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/16660104 [https://sh.itjust.works/post/16660104] > Consider supporting Lemmy [https://join-lemmy.org/donate] development or donating to your local server if you have the means. Peace! > > Liberapay (preferred) [https://liberapay.com/Lemmy] > Open Collective [https://opencollective.com/Lemmy] > Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/dessalines] > Crypto [https://join-lemmy.org/crypto]. > > > Stats source [https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/stats&months=6]

Mar 23, 2024 at 5:20amWeb
Show threadNotBadAndYouMar 23, 2024
I’m assuming 1172 is a count of donations to official mainstream servers. I have definitely contributed to my local server.
Show threadMacMar 23, 2024
It’s quite nice running it myself
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
I think it’s only donations to the development team. Summing up the donors across Liberapay, Open Collective and Patreon gives close to the number in the title.
Show threadAndyMar 23, 2024
I am a Patreon supporter of the developers. It’s that the best way to support the project?
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
The Lemmy project - yes. You want to check if your home instance is sustainably funded too. I think lemmy.world for example is well funded. So is lemmy.ca - my home instance.
Show threadWeirdGoesProMar 24, 2024

I know for a fact that DB Zer0 could use some love, and their admin has created a lot of extra tools that have helped the Fediverse manage abusive instances. If your instance is well funded, but you would still like to donate somewhere to show your support, I highly suggest you check them out.

Their donation links are in their sidebar.

Divisions by zero - Be Weird, Download a Car, Generate Art, Screw Copyrights, Do Maths

Lemmy

Show threadotterpopMar 23, 2024
I believe they prefer Libera pay over the other options last I had checked
Show threadBrkdncrMar 23, 2024
I’ve been stating since I joined that Lemmy needs to find a way to sustain itself beyond donations.
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
If you’re not paying with real money or work, someone else is, or you’re paying with something else.
Show threadBrkdncrMar 23, 2024
If you need to show me an ad every once in a while I’m all for it. I’m not saying go full Reddit, but as a non-profit, please try and break even. Financial instability is just as bad as getting hacked or ddos’d.
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
Wikipedia managed to do it on donations only. Federated social media is similar in many ways and I think it’s entirely possible that we may get development and hosting to be funded in a similar fashion.
Show threadBrkdncrMar 23, 2024

Wikipedia is different. It’s a lot more static to begin with.

You need a whale to keep this thing afloat, and if you get a whale, you also have to bend the knee.

I’d rather see some ads and reasonable employee compensation than relying on a wealthy benefactor.

Show threadTrickDacyMar 23, 2024
And yet here we are, years in, Lemmy still growing
Show threadsquid_slimeMar 23, 2024
And most open source projects run under this model. I’m leaving if ads appear tbth
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
I think the lesson that should be beginning to crystallise in people’s minds these days is that we have to pay. If we don’t, we get Facebook, Digg, Reddit, etc. We get inevitable enshitification. I mentioned Wikipedia because I think paying for it has sunk into many people’s minds already. And generally we don’t need everyone to pay. If the ones that can afford to spare a few bucks a month, do, it’ll be enough.
Show threadBrianTheeBiscuiteerMar 23, 2024
The more this looks like Reddit the more likely I am to just switch back.
Show threadWizMar 24, 2024
What are you referring to “looking like Reddit”? And why would you want their API lock-in, paid ads disguised as content, and obvious AI bot posts?
Show threadAnnoyed_🦀 Mar 23, 2024
Anything beyond donation is asking for ads.
Show threadsquid_slimeMar 23, 2024

Its important to view this through an economic scope, what is the cost of a regular user to a server. Then how much are donors giving and does that supplement the cost of non paying regular users.

Also these non paying regular user add to Lemmy by buffing out numbers and attracting more donating user to the platform.

If we can donate then we definitely should and that way we can run under this model.

Show threadDark ArcMar 23, 2024

I’ve wondered if it would be possible to have a federated award system for funding… Similar to what Reddit was doing at one point. I actually kind of enjoy that and the fun emoji-like things that you’d see on interesting posts and comments.

That sounds like it’s asking for some crypto currency mess though, or some (most?) instances just hanging them out for no charge.

Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
Word. The large instances are well funded at the moment. I think the funding is lacking on the developer side. Subscribe if you can. I have. :)
Show threadThrashyMar 24, 2024
Frankly, given the conflicting priorities and attitudes of the two primary Lemmy devs compared to the needs of instance admins, I’d rather the better-funded instances pooled some of their excess and funded an independent contributor to work on mod tools, GDPR issues, and other things that operators are concerned about that have been backburnered by the current devs.
Show threadFractalsInfiniteMar 24, 2024
Wasn’t there some guy who wanted a total of 8 dollars to fix the GDPR issue and they didn’t get funded? Something tells me the operators aren’t too concerned
Show threadassemblyMar 23, 2024

Using this as my opportunity to brag that I have been a donor since the Reddit exodus! Hopefully I am donating to the right place:

liberapay.com/dessalines

dessalines's profile - Liberapay

I'm one of the developers of Lemmy, a federated reddit alternative based on activitypub.

Liberapay
Show threadAvid AmoebaMar 23, 2024
The official Liberapay link now points to liberapay.com/Lemmy/.
Lemmy's profile - Liberapay

Lemmy is a selfhosted, federated social link aggregation and discussion forum. It consists of many different communities which are focused on different topics. Users can post …

Liberapay
Show threadvoxelMar 23, 2024
yeah that’s the main dev of lemmy, but there’s a separate lemmy liberapay too now (both are ok probably)
Show threadfuckingkangaroosMar 23, 2024
Aren’t they a tankie
Show threadAtmaJnanaMar 23, 2024

Have a look at their profiles and decide for yourself.

lemmy.ml/u/dessalines github.com/dessalines

lemmy.ml/u/nutomic github.com/nutomic

Notice a theme?

@dessalines - Lemmy

Lemmy

Show threadrockSlayerMar 23, 2024
I need my union contract before I can afford donating 😭
Show threadvikingMar 23, 2024
I’ve subscribed to patreon in the beginning, and one of the perks was supposedly access to a private group with the devs on discord or matrix, forgot which one. After 3 months and a few questions on how and where to gain access that went completely ignored, I stopped. Not because of the money; but because empty promises don’t sit well with me.
Show threadjacktherippahMar 23, 2024
I would donate if I wasn’t so broke =)
Show threadleanleftMar 23, 2024
i was once told to hotlink images from other hosters… as opposed to uploading to lemmy. (to save on resources!)
Show threadsun_is_raMar 23, 2024
Hotlinking is stealing. Besides servee owner could change the images your hotlinking to. Or he coukd delete it altogether
Show threadPotatos_are_not_friendsMar 23, 2024
Haha I remember seeing the geocities threats about hotlinking.
Show threadnickMar 24, 2024
The web is built on hot linking hypermedia. It is more fragile obviously, but it distributes the bandwidth and storage load. If nobody hotlinked, then small forum admins/Lemmy admins/etc. have considerably more cost to bear.
Show threadWeirdGoesProMar 24, 2024

This meme is hotlinked, as God intended.

Show threadFractalsInfiniteMar 24, 2024
If the server owner isn’t fine with others hottlinking they can simply deny requests not related to there website(s). On that note, I hope you are donating to your instance, otherwise by your logic you are stealing there resources.
Show threadsun_is_raMar 25, 2024

I hope you are donating to your instance, otherwise by your logic you are stealing there resources.

How is that my logic? Admins of my instance are fine with people using their instance without donation so there is nothing unethical here. If people must pay to use their instance then it can’t be called “donation”, it’s called “payment”.

If the server owner isn’t fine with others hottlinking they can simply deny requests

Can I use same logic to say if you are not fine with people robbing your home, you must lock your door?

Show threadFractalsInfiniteMar 25, 2024

Admins of my instance are fine with people using their instance Fair enough, it appears they are completely happy for you to use up a small piece of there resources

If you can’t be bothered to spend 5 minutes to put up the magical “do not use my resources” message (origin: Same-site) in your site’s headers, then I think people would believe that using up a portion of your bandwidth is fine and act accordingly.

Show threadtheherkMar 23, 2024
Ugh! Can’t they just monetize the sale of our personal data and push nauseating ads every other post… like any other respectable post aggregation platform?
Show threadumami_wasabiMar 23, 2024
Ads they won’t. But I won’t be surprised that some marketing agency have a server set up to collect all the data and post, aggregate, and sell it. Lemmy is an openly federated platform after all.
Show threadSorteKaninMar 24, 2024

sell it

Sell it? For what, 0 dollars? If anyone wants the data, they can just set up an instance themselves.

The data is freely available. Just like open source stuff.

Show threadumami_wasabiMar 24, 2024

The vaule of the data totally relies on the aggregation process. It involves grouping, categorizing, and linking the unstructured data into a relatable and structured format. For example, A data harvesting company can use their own existing data and link a Lemmy user to a known identity or the probability to a known identity, using techniques like NLP and statistics. That’s value.

Data most of the time are free, but there are also datasets sold for a price.

Show threadඞmirMar 23, 2024
I’m on Lemmy.ml, so I’ve been donating €10 monthly for the past year to dessalines!
Show threadqdJzXuisAndVQb2Mar 23, 2024
Lol, what a waste
Show threadfuckingkangaroosMar 23, 2024
Might as well just send the money straight to Putin’s propaganda department.
Show threadfossphiMar 23, 2024
Totally uncalled for
Show threadvoxelMar 23, 2024
I’m poor af alright?
Show threadlockeMar 23, 2024
Yeah I’m definitely not gonna donate money to people who are publically and proudly communists.
Show threadbionicjoeyMar 23, 2024
Nothing wrong with being a communist. Being a tankie on the other hand… Fuck them
Show threadAdmiral PatrickMar 23, 2024
Yeah. And for tankies, sorry, “communists”, the Lemmy devs do whine about money an awful lot.
Show threadNOT_RICKMar 23, 2024
You know there is money in communist nations right? The Soviet Ruble was a thing. This comment reeks of “You criticize society, yet you participate in it”. The Lemmy devs need money to survive, especially in a cutthroat capitalist world. I don’t find it hypocritical with their beliefs. Criticize them for their waving away authoritarian actions, for spreading propaganda, or silencing wrongthink on their instances, but I don’t think it’s fair to come at them for wanting to be fairly compensated for their labor, that’s Marxism 101.
Show threadAngryCommieKenderMar 23, 2024

The end goal of communist theory is a stateless, moneyless society. The fact that no country has been successful in transitioning to such a society doesn’t matter here, the end goal remains the same, when speaking about theory.

I personally maintain the major downfall has been putting one person in charge. That’s never gone particularly well. I’d like to see a country try it out with a council at the top, preferably 9 or more members, but always an odd number to prevent ties.

Show threadbionicjoeyMar 23, 2024
Unfortunately executive power tends to coalesce in a single person whenever an emergency situation occurs. Rome tried rule by committee like what you’re describing but gradually slid into dictatorship because of various forces that are basically just human nature.
Show threadAngryCommieKenderMar 23, 2024

The Six Nations pulled it off for 15,000-25,000 years. That’s just based on the limited archaeological evidence and oral history, but still. I don’t think it’s human nature so much as a lack of viewing war/violence as a failure of society. The Romans outright celebrated their generals, and many other societies have done so as well.

I’m sure that having the major religion of the last couple millennia in Europe being based on a god of war from the bronze age collapse era didn’t help us any either.

Show threadlockeMar 23, 2024

Nothing wrong with being a communist.

That’s debatable.

Being a tankie on the other hand… Fuck them

This is not.

Show threadMagnorMar 23, 2024

Communism is a political philosophy which in and of itself does not advocate for oppression. There is indeed nothing wrong with it, at least if you advocate for freedom of thought.

The Stalinist version of authoritarianism has been conflated with communism by american (mostly) media during the cold war. It is however a very specific ideology.

Apologists for authoritarian regimes, whatever their political leaning, deserve no platform or tolerance. Plurality of thought however is needed and essential.

Show threadPotatos_are_not_friendsMar 23, 2024

Communists are people who live on a commune.

A commune is a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.

On one end, a group of friends who live in a house sharing food and living space, you can absolutely call them communists. And the other end of all the bad shit. Same with capitalist.

That bad shit is tankie, where its authoritarian communists.

I hope I helped.

Show threadlockeMar 23, 2024

Communists are people who live on a commune.

That’s perhaps not a commonly agreed definition of the word.

Show threadJacktheladMar 23, 2024
The Lemmy devs are a bunch of tankie weirdos, so I’m definitely not going to give money to them.