Legitimate feedback for the survey.
Comment on Self-Hosting Survey 2026: What are your favorite self-hosted apps?
reader@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I can’t self host I’m not smart enough :-(
SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
IronKrill@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
A lot of it is doing what other people tell you to do. This may be encouraging or not, but I consider myself fairly versed in tech and there is still troubleshooting where it feels like trying things at random rather than any skilled insight to a solution. The take-away is it’s okay to skip an app that has terrible documentation and you can’t figure out. Start with something that has good tutorials and if that doesn’t work, try something else. If you can get that up and running those skills will carry over.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Whether you think you are or aren’t smart enough, you’re right!
If you want to do it, read up and just try it. Throw a Linux install on an old desktop or laptop and try to follow a guide and make it work. It seems daunting, but most anyone can follow a guide and get to a usable product.
gdog05@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m not either but I still do it.
ItsNotImportant24@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I didn’t know anything about self-hosting when I started either. There is a learning curve but it’s not difficult, juat takes some time and is totally worth it to own your data, have a little more privacy and to stop shelling out money for subscriptions, etc. Totally worth it.
njordomir@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m a year or so longer on my self-hosting journey than you, but also get humbled like a noob on a regular basis. I was a Linux user for over a decade when I first started self-hosting but I knew nothing about networking because I always lived places where someone else managed the internet. I’ve learned a lot since then, but I have a lot left to learn. It really does take time to get a comprehensive understanding of what you are doing and why, but the good news is you can learn a lot through osmosis and we are already doing it just by being here.
ItsNotImportant24@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Exactly. I’m actually the opposite. I was a Windows user for years and years since the days of 3.1. When I started my self-hosting about 2 years ago, I switched my pc and server to Linux and have been using Linux fully now. Aside from Linux being better for self-hosting, I wanted to finally get away from the mess that Windows has become and the dirty crap Microsoft pulls now.
njordomir@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Did you have any exposure in Linux before eventually switching, or did you just step straight from the Windows world into the great Linux unknown?
Windows 3.1 has a bit of a fond spot in my heart. Even though we didn’t have 3.1 at home, the school computer lab used it. We used to scare the teacher by typing “dir stat” or something like that into the terminal to make the text scroll like we were hacking stuff in a movie 🤣 (she didn’t know anything about computers, just there to make sure we didn’t run off with them). I also recall those colorful all-in-one Macintosh computers making an appearance at a different school.
lokalhorst@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
We are all learning and we all make mistakes. It’s part of the journey.
habitualTartare@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
yunohost + ebay or old office desktop (or literally any computer you can get your hands on for cheap). There’s a lot of people with very strong opinions but you really don’t need much.
slazer2au@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t be so down on yourself mate, start with the Linux upskill challenge then look at some Docker YouTube tutorials. You will be there in no time.