I agree that everyone running an instance, that they expect to gain any users at all, should form a non-profit, at the very least for liability reasons. But trying to find a business model for running an instance is exactly against the point of why we are all here in my mind. If users like an instance and want to make sure it stays around then they should donate to it. That will make sure they have funding to keep paying the monthly server costs.
Perhaps, then, I’ll reframe this: I hope for greater attention and transparency to aid in navigating available servers by business model. An opt-in directory which may actually help people find independent private servers if that’s what they’re looking for.
One example I quite liked was the instance run by archive.org. It is strictly for their own employees and not available to the public. If I worked for them, I don’t know that I’d opt in – but I appreciate that it’s offered!
Oh thats super cool that they do that. It would definitely be cool if there were more things like that or even publicly run instances that could be searched through.
I agree that everyone running an instance, that they expect to gain any users at all, should form a non-profit, at the very least for liability reasons. But trying to find a business model for running an instance is exactly against the point of why we are all here in my mind. If users like an instance and want to make sure it stays around then they should donate to it. That will make sure they have funding to keep paying the monthly server costs.
Excellent point!
Perhaps, then, I’ll reframe this: I hope for greater attention and transparency to aid in navigating available servers by business model. An opt-in directory which may actually help people find independent private servers if that’s what they’re looking for.
One example I quite liked was the instance run by archive.org. It is strictly for their own employees and not available to the public. If I worked for them, I don’t know that I’d opt in – but I appreciate that it’s offered!
Oh thats super cool that they do that. It would definitely be cool if there were more things like that or even publicly run instances that could be searched through.