I wanted a server that wasn't likely to close I don't really know for sure, but I imagine it's easy to underestimate how much money or time is required to run a server. And I'd really prefer not having to worry about migrating. The 'run by Lemmy's developers' part makes me think that either the risk will be lower or the people running the server will know how to prevent reaching a point like that.
I didn't want to join a very specific instance As I see it, there are two possible scenarios:
- The instance I join will affect the content I'm exposed (and not exposed) to, in which case I want to experience 'the whole internet' rather than a section of it.
- The instance I choose is irrelevant to the content I get, in which case, (apart from community rules) it shouldn't really matter which one I choose, so I would just join the biggest instance.

Still something that could help with the choosing-an-instance process is to display in the list of servers the community rules and if they are blocking certain communities.

[–] Landrin201@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This was pretty much exactly my thought process. My biggest concern here is account stability-from what I can tell, if your instance gets taken down by its owners, your account is gone.

So until the devs figure out a way to centralize account credentials so that isn't an issue, I'd much rather join on a big instance than a small one, especially one that the devs of lemmy themselves own. They have a clear interest in keeping it running, so the chances of my account vanishing are small, just like with bigger social media sites.

The hard reality here is that, much like in real life markets, federated social media will likely tend toward a small number of very large instances and lots of significantly smaller ones. Most people want a stable, consistent experience and don't want to worry about losing communities or accounts. And unless an instance is STRICTLY policing it's communities, like lemmygrad for instance, then I think we will see the same thing happen with communities-right now there are lots of communities that are basically identical, and I think we'll see one or two of each become the "main" ones people use-and those will likely be on larger instances.

[–] rothaine@beehaw.org 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

so the chances of my account vanishing are small

As long as you don't mention Tiananmen Square or the CCP's ongoing genocide of Uyghurs 🙃

[–] Landrin201@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I keep seeing people joke about this-do the mods here really ban people for talking about it? It seems like it's a bit of a meme here...

[–] rothaine@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago

Short answer: yes, the mods consider criticism of the CCP to be "orientalism" (ie, racist against Asians).

There was a bit of a kerfuffle the other day: https://beehaw.org/post/457546

[–] cambionn@feddit.nl 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You worry it'll close if you choose a smaller server, but you don't mind your server being instable due to being over capacity (something it's already having issues with, hence asking people not to join)? Like, no matter if the servers goes down due to it being over it's capacity or due to quiting, you still can't use it... Sure it may come back up, but why not join a stable (semi-)big sized instance instead that run smoothly for you and doesn't cause more trouble for the devs?

I mean, you trust the developers to keep things running smoothly, but you don't trust their message to not join because they currently can't...

[–] original_reader@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but being over capacity will likley get sorted. Quitting is permanent.

[–] decksdark@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I don't think a server is bound to close because of being small or big necessarily, but I think that the average person is more likely to overestimate their capacity to run a server for a lot of people. I'm no expert, but I imagine the cost a reddit-like server that is open to the public can only go up over time. Unless you delete content periodically on purpose, and especially if you allow users to post images, audio or video.

I can picture someone (understandably) creating a server with good intentions and then after 2 months saying "guys, I didn't think it would cost this much. And I also need to focus more on work/university so the server will close. You have 3 days to move."

It's not like I trust that the developers will have infinite resources, but that they will know what to do to avoid something like that or even take other measures if they know they are reaching a limit. For example, limiting the amount of people that join while they upgrade the servers may be one way to do that (although I don't know if that's what they are doing).

As for the server running smoothly, I had a couple of small issues in the little time I've been trying to use lemmy, but I assumed they were because of the whole project still being in development rather than a server problem.