I’m fairly new and don’t 100% understand it yet, but instances are run on servers that require money. Are we heading towards seeing ads or subscriptions to raise funds instead of relying on donations to cover overhead?
Especially with the influx of new users. Hardware upgrades are needed.
IMO whatever comes next needs to be decentralized from the get go, like a torrent system where the network sort of automatically scales with the user count. The fediverse is pretty cool right now but it’s bound to get shitty real soon as people get tired of fronting the costs purely out of goodwill. Either the cost need to be spread around such that the individuals paying it really don’t mind, or there needs to be an incentive to pay / way to monetize that is aligned with the common goal of a decentralized social network. Otherwise we’ll end up with either a network of insignificant size (arguably what this is now) or a monetized shit hole like what Reddit has become
I keep thinking about how a system like that could work but I’m sure someone smarter than me has already figured out that it can’t
Even with these servers being paid for that’s kind of rough. It’s very hard to decentralize something reliable with solid data retention without paying.
well it kind of works for piracy, but that’s because there are some very based people out there who take a lot of pride in seeding content that they want to keep available. Sort of like how the fediverse currently rests upon the shoulders of a few dedicated people who work hard to keep their instances alive under the onslaught of reddit refugees. I’d much rather have a system that doesn’t depend on people’s goodwill to survive though