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Emacs.ch Admin (@emacs@emacs.ch)
emacs.chAfter careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to discontinue the operation of Emacs.ch.
After almost two years of dedicated service to our community, I'm tired. Tired of taking the legal responsibilities of hosting potentially illegal content, proactively removing CSAM and porn, hate and racism. Tired of remembering adults that they should stick to our server rules. Tired of yet another personal attack by random people who hide behind their pseudonyms, yet eagerly dox others and threaten their families. Who demand, but never give. Who think they are better, because they are different. Yet have nothing better to do than destroy what they can't agree with.
In accordance with the Mastodon Covenant, we are providing a three-month notice period. Emacs.ch will officially cease operations on December 9, 2024. So, take your time to find a place that reflects your values - I'll keep the engines running until then.
For those who have recently made donations, I will be reaching out individually to discuss appropriate arrangements.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to all who have contributed to making Emacs.ch a unique and valuable space over the past two years. Your participation and support have been deeply appreciated.
A big "Thank you" goes to our four moderators, who have spent a lot of time approving sign-ups and handling reports swiftly and in a fair manner. And to all users of the first hour, who helped to make this such a great place.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support during this transition period.
Emacs.ch was a very special place for me. ❤️
1$ per year per registered user would be more than enough to pay the hosting costs with a very good amount of pocket money per admin. 1$ per year per MAU would be enough to pay the hosting costs indefinitely.
To actually pay the admins and sysadmins according to their effort, it would require something close to to 10$ per month per MAU
I think we already established that hosting is not the real cost, right?
But then why do you keep doing this for free??
Because someone has to, and not everything is about money
Harsh realization for the person you are talking to
Why? What is the moral imperative here? Why do you have to do it?
Sure, if you don’t care about any meaningful impact and just treat it as a glorified hobby.
Because people need social media and we need a way out of the centralized ones and most people just won’t pay 10 for a reddit alternative.
I believe managing to draw people away for explored walled gardens into a system controlled by the community will have massive impact
People also need phone service, drinking water and energy to heat their homes, etc. Are we just going to keep expecting that someone should do this work for free to them?
No, they won’t. But some of them will pay $30/year (like they are paying me) and I’m sure that I can could serve 10000 users at this price point. There are also others (like mastodon.green and social.lol) who are charging even less - but offering less services.
I am pretty sure that our problem is not competing with each other, but competing to those who keep offering things for free.
If I’m being completely honest with you, anyone that subsidizes the real cost for the users - whether is Big Tech offering free services and making money on ads or a bunch of idealistic kids running servers for people they don’t really know - are effectively making the open web less sustainable.
Talk real numbers.
I really don’t mind people running servers for free. I think that if this is something they enjoy doing it and it makes them feel like they are helping, fine. But it is delusional to think that this alone will be ever be able to make a dent in the overall system.
As an anarchist, that’s what I’m driving for, yes. And they would be giving their effort back for free as well
OK that’s what I’m doing as well, only it’s donations and not payment for a service? Like I’m not sure what you’re trying to argue here if paying customers would subsidize non paying ones.
No, they make the open web possible. We can’t get out of this situation we’re in by trying to squeeze the last bit of disposable income from people for the social media. We’ll get out of it by proving that we can handle this through mutual aid without any money in the process.
Nobody can speculate those numbers. We’re in uncharted territory. I’m down to experiment.
Whats delusional is thinking that doing the same Ole Capitalism will change they capitalist system it’s delusional to think that keeping money involved would mean anything else than those with the most money will win always.
So, it comes down from a fundamental difference in worldview.
This is a misrepresentation of the argument
Sorry, this is honestly the type of sentence that I can only expect to come from a basement-dwelling teenager.
Money != Capitalism. Also, I dare you to find one single economist in the world that can claim that a barter-based system can develop a global economy as wealthy and developed as ours.
Again, “Money != Capitalism”. Besides that, “Capitalism” (to which I think you really mean “profit motive”) is not the problem. I can bet that even your anarchist utopia where people “mutually help each other” would end up relying on some form of monetary-based system to make resource allocation fair and predictable.
Nothing has been found to be a better and fairer driver of social and economic development as free trade. We don’t need to throw away the baby with the bathwater. There is nothing immoral about the profit motive.
Corporativism is the problem. Globalism is the problem. This is the thing that we should be fighting against, and not making villains out of someone that just wants to make a living out of a fair business offer.
Did you really have to write that? What did you aim to accomplish with it?
Who said anything about barter? Also most economists are just glorified paid apologists of the status-quo at best, of techno-fascism at worst.
You cannot have capitalism without money. While you can have socialism with money, I doubt Mutualism (or monarchies) is what you’re thinking of either.
You’d lose.
Literally on the brink of climate collapse and with multiple fascist parties on the rise and you still gargle the delusions of “free trade” that never existed. There’s everything immoral with the profit motive. In fact, you incessant drive for profit on the fediverse is what alienates people towards you.
Corporations and globalization, monopolies and monopolies re the natural evolution of “free trade” and capitalism. I will never support what you’re trying to achieve and will agitate against it from every angle. Make of this situation what you will.