Hello everyone,
I want to answer a couple of frequently asked questions (and some made up frequently asked questions). Also you can ask questions in the comments.
How did you come up with the server name?
A couple of weeks ago I nerd sniped this domain from someone who is also on this instance and did nothing with it until the whole reddit thing happened and I found lemmy. I noticed user names have the instance domain behind them. I suddenly knew what I had to do.
How much does the domain cost?
19$ a year.
How much does the server cost?
~~Currently it's a 7$ a month digital ocean droplet. How is the performance? Should we upgrade? Didn't expect to have over 100 Members already.~~
I upgraded to a 24$ a month droplet. To experiement if some issues go away with it.
Where is the server located?
Currently in Frankfurt, Germany.
What distro does the server use?
Ubuntu 22.10
Who has access do the server and database?
Currently only me.
Can you edit the database?
Yes, but maybe it would lead to unexpected bugs. I don't know. I will not do it unless I have to.
Will you edit comments?
No.
**Will you charge 3rd party apps? **
No.
Is it complicated to host your own instance?
Not at all. The lemmy devs provide an easy to use ansible script. I never used ansible before and now I want to use it for more stuff. You should have some experience with Linux and hosting. But don't be afraid if you have no experience to host your instance. You can probably Google and ask yourself though the setup.
How can I support the server?
You can support the server by being active in the community. You can post, create communities, comment and engage. While I also like to lurk a lot it's important to create content. It's the most valuable thing (without content nobody will visit sites like reddit). Also it probably doesn't hurt to promote the server a bit. Regarding Server cost if the server cost doesn't increase substantially I don't need any financial support. I will try keep the instance alive as long as people are using it.
Should I create my own community?
Yes (as long as it is legal and doesn't harm other people)
Does my community have to be related to Arch Linux?
No, I think it's even better if it's not related. Having some random community with @iusearchlinux.fyi at the end seems amusing to me.
I don't see rules. Is everything allowed?
Nope if we see something that is not okay we will not hesitate to ban someone or remove content. Everyone including the admins and mods should strive for keeping this a nice place for everyone. Everyone should feel welcome. If you argue with someone try to interpret what the person said in the most charitable way. In short try to make a positive impact in this community. We enabled that everyone can see the mod logs with the names of the mod for transparency. If you don't like how we moderate you can write us or make a post but please keep in mind we cannot make everyone happy and if you want have different moderation you can always create an account on a different instance. We have banned in total only one person and have not blocked a single other instance. We are not on the search to find small things we can use as excuse to ban anyone we don't like but we will act on reports. Please use the report button it's better to report someone just in case. We will not blindly ban someone. My other 2 Admins are great people and I trust them 100 percent to have a good judgement.
What's your favorite editor?
neovim with lazyvim
What's your Terminal?
Wezterm
What's your desktop environment?
AwesomeWM
What's your favorite programming language?
Rust (but I am not very productive with it)
Sorry for my bad english.
EDIT:
How can I financially support the server?
You can buy me a coffee on
ko-fi
Nice, this was sort of what I was hoping for, I've seen quite a few instances across the fediverse deferederating with others over things that aren't even that problematic.
This will definitely be the hardest part for most people, not that I expect the people here to be completely closed to discussion and opinion; but holding a proper discussion on reddit or other social media isn't something you can just do as most are simply not open to a view different from their own or act rashly before thinking about the other side.
My opinions are mine to hold and voice, but what they are are simply not relevant when it comes to what other people should be able to say. I strongly believe in free speech (not the Elon Musk kind); but I also believe that you are wholly responsible for what you say and where. Giving people a platform to voice these opinions freely is something I will support even if these opinions do not align with mine, we are still in an era where free speech is a privilege for us who have it and restricting it based on personal views will just create an echo chamber that ends up being blocked by most other instances.
Don't worry about the length, I never expected this to have a short cut and dry answer and I do feel like it is something that is going to be important once this instance starts becoming host to a larger community.