I don't feel as if the amount of content within an instance matters, right? Since you are able to view content from all instances, the experience should be mostly the same.
pproe
AFAIK this is true. But expect the site stability to be improved as a result.
Putting 'reddit' in a Google search is genuinely the only way to find a good discussion on most things nowadays.
Let's hope lemmy gets to this point in the future.
Blockchain has been used previously (see dogetipbot) in a similar concept and worked well.
Since tips would be given at the discretion of users finding certain comments particularly good, a bot would only be able to abuse the system by creating good comments.
I have seen of many instances not being funded sufficiently through donations. If the level of user donations is able to cover only 50% of operation costs for an instance, if monthly upkeep is say $60, then it is reasonable for an owner to subsidize the rest. But, as lemmy (and consequently each community) grows in popularity, a 50% coverage of operational costs is simply not sustainable. That is, without a tactic such as Wikipedia's notorious pity-ware ad banners.
Providing an alternative method of funding could assist instance owners to keep the community running.
Yes I agree.
One alternative is something similar to awards on reddit. However one could argue that it would impact the visibility of awarded posts by making them more 'eye-catching'. The only way such a system would not impact post/comment visibility is if it is a private transfer of value.
I know that it is not a popular topic in 2023 but a blockchain currency that allows users to 'award' posts/comments (similar to tipping in /r/dogecoin days) could provide instance owners with a source of income by taking a small portion of tips on their server.
Such a system would likely scale alongside user activity (read server load) and would encourage higher quality content. Would love to hear peoples thoughts on this.
If you haven't already, subscribing to the hackernews RSS feed seems to cover most news stories in the tech space.