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Comment on The admin of the third largest Mastodon instance (16k monthly active users) is asking for help to pay rent

I think that the crux of the matter is about whether or not we see this as “just a hobby” or if we really see an investment in the Fediverse as the best alternative that we have for an open (I am not going to say “free” to avoid confusion) web that can take power away from Big Tech and back to the people.

We need the instances run by volunteers.

Why? Are you going to tell me that the 98% of non-paying users are struggling so much with their finances that they can not afford to pay a couple of bucks per month to an admin?

If the numbers were reversed and we had 2% of the people saying “sorry, I really can not afford this. Can I have access still?” I would be a lot more understanding. Hell, the number could go up to even 20% and I wouldn’t mind opening a few free accounts…

But 98%? I can bet that the most if not all find a way to pay for Netflix, or Spotify, or their games but $2.50 a month is suddenly too much for ninety-and-eight percent of the people?

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Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

I can bet that the most if not all find a way to pay for Netflix, or Spotify

Really not sure about that on Lemmy…

Btw, just gave 10$ to my instance today

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- rglullis@communick.news ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Or their games. Or their booze/drugs/cigarettes. Or their whatever they spend their money on without questioning the one providing the goods why they want to charge for it.
  
  Btw, just gave 10$ to my instance today
  
  Good on you! Now, let’s get that to become the norm for everyone else.
  
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dzsimbo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

“just a hobby”

Love the enthusiasm! If anything gives me faith in the world, it’s that we have the Gnu crowd. I thinks it’s hard not to fall in love with it in the gloom of the late-freemium era.

Stop rummaging in other people’s wallet. Money as it is, is a very sensitive topic. Also further down in this thread you bring in addiction, alienating further people.

Reddit is having trouble monetizing, yet you blame druggies from this very community for similar problems we’re facing. What is your point? Where are you going? What do you want?

We have no tools against capitalism besides pushing a friggin ‘buy me a coffee’ button anywhere possible. Maybe Copyleft for those who’d proudly piss in the headwind. If you wanna make the system better, that’s great! It just feels like you are lashing out at the community instead of empathizing. Broadcasting ideals is alright if you only want to vent about it and not actually look for solutions.

Can you imagine me not contributing monetarily but wanting the best for all of us? You are definitely underestimating the number of broke people here, but the things you are campaigning for go straight against the spirit of the movement. Work with what we have to make shit better for all (while somehow hardening against capitalism).

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- rglullis@communick.news ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  My mention of drugs/booze/cigarettes is completely non-judgemental. I am not saying that is bad if people spend money on that. I am just pointing out that, yes,.some people do spend money on it and they are not expecting to keep partaking in their pleasures for free.
  
  Reddit is having trouble monetizing
  
  They do not. They are making hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue with their advertising.
  
  We have no tools against capitalism.
  
  Trade and commerce that prioritizes small business is already a big weapon against globalism and Corporatist Capitalism.
  
  Focusing on closed-loop, sustainable economies is a tool against Capitalism.
  
  Community-led investing that prioritizes long-term wealth building is a tool against rent-seeking enterprises that stimulate zero-sum games.
  
  You are definitely underestimating the number of broke people here.
  
  If I am, then the discussion should be “how can we have a sustainable system that gives a fair wage to those working on it , while not stressing those who can not afford even 2 bucks per month?” instead of this “you can not charge from everyone because you are not empathizing.”
  
  Once we reframe the discussion, we should be able to propose things like:
  
  “pay it forward” systems, where those who can afford more pay for those who can not. Let them become responsible for who to invite. (I have implemented this at Communick, by the way, and so far I had only two people paying for others.)
  
  Selling ad space for ethical businesses. Back in 2007 there used to be a network of bloggers who did not want to pollute their pages with adSense, so they got together and created a system where companies would pay $5k to $10k to have one slot and all bloggers committed to display this banner during the whole month. Something like that could be done here as well, if “making money” wasn’t such a capital sin.
  
  focus on making this normie-friendly. Stop with the political bickering and organize the topic-specific instances (which I already offered for other admins), use them to attract a larger audience so that we have more “actually I can pay a few bucks per month” crowd to dilute the “I am establishment but I can not afford to fight against it” crowd that seems to dominate so far.
  
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  - dzsimbo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    reframe the discussion
    
    Simple solution. Mimic what paid online news does. Paywall, but like don’t raise the perimeter anytime someone finds a ladder. Like we have here with the linked archive posts. Definitely a good way to keep out the heavy commies.
    
    Selling ad space
    
    Go for it! But you won’t get me to uninstall my adblocker until I am convinced ads are any good to me. Like not the piece of shit manipulations that treat me as a skinner box. Many good examples of incorporating ads into shows, but with dignity and taste and a clear indication that it is an ad.
    
    Also, if the admin deserves compensation for their time, why don’t I get a pretty penny for this? Sure, the admin hosts and supports the frame, but they could twirl their short hairs all night without the buzz.
    
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    rglullis@communick.news ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    Mimic what paid online news does
    
    I could easily write an essay connecting the rise of populism and the fall of civic society to our loss of real journalism, and another 1000-word post arguing that paywalls are just a bad band-aid trying to cover the deep wound caused by eyeball chasing “infotainment”.
    
    These “fake” paywalls are just an attempt from the news publishers to have both ways and make revenue both from the paying customers and the ones that may be okay with ads.
    
    Also, if the admin deserves compensation for their time, why don’t I get a pretty penny for this?
    
    People love to hate the Brave browser, but their system pays 70% of the revenues to the end user. If you manage to convince more people to use it, it would be perfect. End users would get some $ from accepting the ads and they could kick some of that back to the sites they wish to support. The whole economy could grow and everyone would have their incentives aligned.
    
    You know what the problem is? People were looking at the 2-5 bucks of crypto tokens that they would get and instead of using them to stimulate the economy they would just hang on them for the speculation of profit. Individual greed and penny-pinching turned one of the most viable alternatives into another tool for crypto grifters.
    
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