Seems like a lot of the science/humanities/academia instances are closed or getting really big. I'm thinking of making my own instance. Some aspects I'd like it to have:
* domain blocks for hateful sites
* longer text limit to promote deeper discussion (maybe 20k characters)
* latest mastodon+glitch ( https://glitch-soc.github.io/docs/ ) with all the nice features
* culture welcoming especially to people identifying with LGBTQIA+ and PoC
I looked into the technical and financial aspects and I can do this!
Would anyone be interested in this? Any suggestions on the last point?
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@neurolili Happy to help you set it up... All of the points you listed apply to QOTO as well so seems we would work well together as instances (though we dont domain block at the request of our LGBTQ community which is a priority for us, see here: https://qoto.org/@freemo/109319817943835261 )
One thing to keep inn mind... small servers have small voices. Federation is based on the collective following of your whole server. So bigger servers show up in the federated timeline of far far more instances than small servers. On a small server your largely screaming into the void and no one will hear you till you get a large following.
Anyway let me know how I can help.
@freemo Thank you for the reply! The second point about longer limit is definitely from me being spoiled here and seeing how much nicer the discussion can be.
I'm curious about two things:
1) If you can share, how much does it cost to run qoto.org per month? How big of a machine do you use?
It helps a lot to see cost breakdown from other servers for planning.
2) Do you have advice on setting up a welcoming culture?
#1 fioor us is quite high, but not the norm. We pay several hundred a month USD. The reason it is so high is we are one of very few servers, perhaps the only one, who retains ALL history from the beginning of the fediverse (Availible through search).. this includes nearly all images and toots every tooted in the fediverse. This is only possible because we have a HUGE server and because we have been here from the beginning with one of the largest footprints in the fediverse. so our search history is more complete than nearly any other server.
Basically last I checked we are in the top 10 in terms of reach (the number of users that will see your toots). This is specifically due, in part, to the fact that we dont block any servers and the vast majority of servers that block us are small with huge block lists themselves.
#2 All I can say is be kind, talk to people, interact, and listen.. But keep in mind you cant please everyone, if you try you will just piss off everyone in the process. Do whats right, stick to it, and accept the people who like you (and dont block you) will be the good ones and in the end it is only the toxic ones who will block you if you are a good person who treats people right.
@freemo Oh wow, I didn't realize that the cost for storing and searching past posts would be so high! It's good to know this in advance.
Also that's a great point about listening to people but not pleasing everyone. I'll keep that in mind as well!
@neurolili As long as you keep a rather modest search history it can be pretty affordable. Most instances clear history older than a few months.
If you want to keep costs to a minimum then consider running pleorma rather than mastodon. It is fairly ok with features and is far more light weight. You can run it much cheaper for the same level of activity.