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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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the problem is most users fear that if they choose a small instance, that it goes down random more likely and their account and everything else is gone. if you choose a bigger instance it feels less likely that the admin of the instance just says fuck it and kills the server random for whatever reason.
as long accounts can't be easy transfered and are maybe even safe somehow without their instance, people will choose the instance that feels the most secure to them. and when i looked at the available instances.. most looked not really long term secure. most did look like they are random ideas of people and they could vanish any second into the void. so i as an example did choose lemmy.world. seemed the most safe option with the best features (nsfw allowed, a lot of users and a big instance)
I understand the logic but its actually backwards. A small instance like mine is easily paid for totally out my own pocket and requires no outside funding or maintenance because I can do everything. If too few people donate to major instances then the costs starts to run away from the owners. In some ways becoming too large is a problem.
i understand that, but think about it - its a random instance from a random stranger on the internet. you don't know that person, and don't know if he is actually serious interested in that project of running that instance.. or if he will shut it down maybe a few day, weeks or months in the future.
and you can't really backup your account and load it somewhere else, so if this happens everything you saved and do is GONE. thats a huge risk if you value your account and contribution to communitys.
so it doesn't really matters to me if smaller instances are not expensive etc.. thats not what fears people (there are still ways to spread users along more instances but more even). its the suddenly vanishing without warning that scares people.
i had this often enough with similiar other projects where i created a account on such a small community / instance, was really active.. and suddenly it was just gone from one second to the next without warning. everything gone. admin didn't told anyone about it.. was just gone into thin air.
so it feels safer to go to instances who are more "trustworthy" in the longterm security of a stable operation.
if lemmy would support export of accounts maybe ever month once or something.. that would change things. also allow spoofing of stuff, but it would help with vanishing instances and people would feel safer on smaller more unknown instances.
“i understand that, but think about it - its a random instance from a random stranger on the internet. you don’t know that person, and don’t know if he is actually serious interested in that project of running that instance… or if he will shut it down maybe a few day, weeks or months in the future.”
Have to be honest with you, that is how all yhe instances started including lemmy.world.
“so it feels safer to go to instances who are more “trustworthy” in the longterm security of a stable operation.”
There is no metric by which to know this yet as lemmy is new. Its not like there are 5 servers that are 10 years old and al the rest are just starting up. Just how it is.
but now they have enough reputation & users to make them feel like the safest option
compared with random instances with 2-3 users or so, a instance who is there since the beginning / relative long compared to other is safer feeling tho.
i'm so worried about this topic, that i even think about maybe setting up my own instance just to keep my accounts etc safe & from vanishing.
I feel like you have missed the points im my previous comments but if you just want to feel safer because in your heart of hearts this instance or that instance just feels safer then go for it.
My advice does not change. Make a backup account on another instance to avoid being burned. If you dont want to, then its now on you.
my backup account was on lemmy.ml.. and we know what happend :p
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36817179
Oof
On a small instance, you have greater opportunities to take action to positively support that instance. You can make friends with the administrator, volunteer to become an administrator yourself, donate cash to offset running costs, lodge helpful reports, welcome new users, etc...
agreed, but i'm already moderating a community with 1,3k members elsewhere and have to do a lot of work daily there (posting content for the members who wait for it daily). also i currently start to build one up on lemmy.world that also takes time from my day. i don't really have time in my daily activity to additonally do stuff which involve moderation or managing of such things like a server instance.
don't understand me wrong, i agree with what you say and its logical and smart to do it. but its always depending on the situation of each user. in my situation, its the best thing to go to a big instance.
My exact same thought process and why I'm here on lemmy.world as well. Once they get the server setup process more streamlined (hopefully dockerized) I'll probably setup my own private use server, but until I get around to that project I wanted to pick one that didn't seem like it would vanish once the guy hosting it started getting those hosting bills.