On the Fireside Fedi interview with Jerry ( the admin of Infosec.Exchange Mastodon instance ) a scary truth was suddenly revealed ( on 34:11 ): Just to keep the instance up and running he needs to spend up to $5000 a month, pretty much out of his pocket. Donations to the instance barely cover any of that. And if he will ask people to pay to use it, they will, rightfully so, switch to a different instance.
  • Blender Dumbass@lm.madiator.cloudOPEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    I think that we need to have a panic making notification when some instance is below a comfortable ( of it’s operator ) level of money. So that people could direct their money into stopping the panic. Basically I want automatic sense of urgency when and where it’s needed. FSF does it well. When they are low on money they just make a progress bar on every page they operate, with a link to a donation page. It works amazingly for them, because it immediately creates a sort of soft panic about the health of the FSF.

    • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      I still feel like you are talking about one “ideal” scenario, but all your examples fall short of it. I’d really have a hard time to see anyone working on any of the projects from the FSF that is “worthy of envy”.

      • Blender Dumbass@lm.madiator.cloudOPEnglish
        21·
        22 hours ago

        That is because the problem is not solved yet. Again “We have to solve the money problem!”

        That means it is nowhere near being solved. It will be solved when FSF staff ( from donations ) will have a life worthy of envy. And any fediverse admin too. And any libre software developer too.

        • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
          1·
          17 hours ago

          Right, so the problem is not solved and you are talking about “solutions” that have been tried before and do not work.

          You know that quote about “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? This is what is happening here.

          Expecting to fund commons infrastructure through donation do not work in the long run. It’s that simple. You can try to come up with all sorts of flashy gimmicks to make the issue more visible,.but the issue will continue to exist.

          • Blender Dumbass@lm.madiator.cloudOPEnglish
            21·
            17 hours ago

            If there is a new gimmick there is, by definition, a change of some kind. Which means maybe all we need to do is tweak a few very easy to tweak parameters and that will unclog the flow of money. I don’t know if that is what going to help. But not just try and see what happens?

            • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
              2·
              15 hours ago

              But not just try and see what happens?

              • Because it has been tried before, and there are no significant results to show.
              • Because these types of changes take time and effort that would be better spent elsewhere.
              • Because it is solving the wrong problem. The problem is not “how to unclog the flow of money”. Sending money around has never been easier. The problem is not the flow of money, the problem is that most people are not willing to give money for something unless they absolutely have to, so there is not a lot of money to be sent around.

              I’m sorry. When I first saw your blog post I thought you were closer to what I’ve been saying for three years already , but it seems that you don’t have an actionable proposal.

              • Blender Dumbass@lm.madiator.cloudOPEnglish
                2·
                15 hours ago

                Maybe I am just overly optimistic. I don’t know. But it seems like with enough gimmicky advertising tricks we could get enough people excited about giving money.

                • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
                  2·
                  14 hours ago

                  Again, I’m sorry. This is not “optimism” but baseless wishful thinking.

                  If you want to talk about actual strategies to get people to see the value of a free Internet and how to educate them, I’m all ears. But I’m not interested in continuing the conversation if you are just arguing what you wish would happen.