Please, tell me how “paying for hardware costs is enough”…

  • rglullis@communick.newsOP
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    7 months ago

    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?

    • Blaze (he/him) @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 months 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

      • rglullis@communick.newsOP
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        7 months 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.

        • Blaze (he/him) @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 months ago

          You see people here running 5 years old phones with custom ROMs, 10 years laptops on minimalist distros

          Pirating every show or movie they watch. I really don’t think the average Lemmy user is a frivolous spender

          • rglullis@communick.newsOP
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            7 months ago

            Once again you are using points on the extreme end of the distribution curve and trying to pass it as the median case.

            Also: pirating is an act of moral rebellion, not of lack of means to afford the shitty product offered by the movie industry

            • Blaze (he/him) @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              7 months ago

              Just taking into account the platform audience.

              I wasn’t surprised by the Pixelfed Kickstarter success, as IG is much more popular than Reddit. Text based forums are a much smaller audience.

    • dzsimbo@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      “just a hobby”

      Love the enthusiasm! If anything gives me faith in the world, it’s that we have the Gnu crowd. I think 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).

      • rglullis@communick.newsOP
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        7 months 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.