How do people feel about donating to keep things running smoothly and making sure there are adequate resources and compensation for those involved in running .world instance?

I’m curious as I think this kind of rapid growth will be the first time the model is really being tested - as in, large rapid growth in users and activity resulting in sudden higher running costs.

I feel transparent engagement would be good to understand what the current costs are, how that scales and how people involved in keeping things running are fairly compensated for their time and effort.

Also having an issue tracker, roapmap etc public and real engagement let people see who and what they are investing in.

It’s an awesome job to see the server still standing after such a huge influx!

  • Gray
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    1 year ago

    Since “Web2.0” or rather, the VC backed tech businesses that ran on potential value rather than realized value over the past decade seem to be dying out this year, I think the new model of internet we’re heading towards will involve users understanding the costs to run a server (both literal costs and labor costs) and paying their fair share. I think this model is much cheaper for everyone though because it doesn’t involve corporate greed. These new companies won’t be on the stock market trying to turn into profit machines. And we don’t need a huge staff producing unnecessary new features - that’s the beauty of open source tech. We’re all working on making those new features together as a gift to everyone. But the server costs are there and donations will be needed at an affordable price. The more generous donors will fill the cost gaps that those without the financial means to pay leave. But yeah, everyone who can afford to should help pay a portion of the monthly costs to their admins. At the same time, admins should be nakedly transparent about what those costs are and any shady attempts to make an extra buck by not being transparent should be met with users moving to different servers.

    • trouser_mouse@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Very much agree - and potentially a new concept for a lot of people, which is why I thought this was an interesting question!

    • kiddblur@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I agree that it’s needed, and I plan on supporting my instance (although as of right now he has made it sound like there’s plenty of donations coming in), but I’m skeptical that the average person will chip in. I couldn’t even get my family to chip in on our shared {streaming service} subscription before they got kicked off it for not being in my household.

      • Gray
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        1 year ago

        Oh yeah, this will undoubtedly end up being a fraction of us. As long as it pays the bills it’s enough. I’m sure the admins will sound the alarms if they’re falling short on funding needs.