Trying to wrap my head around the fediverse. Is each instance like another person with a server? Could that person just shut it down whenever they wanted to?

Are there any companies that have invested in hosting Lemmy/ other fediverse servers?

Sorry I’m sure I messed up some of the terminology, I hope my questions make sense! I love the idea of the fediverse as I understand it, but I like to dig into these details.

  • @solrize
    4•9 months ago

    Users are like coffee drinkers and servers are like decentralized coffee shops that talk to each other (“federate”). Anyone can open a coffee shop and many do. It’s harder and more expensive than simply drinking coffee, but not that bad in the scheme of things, and within reach of average hobbyists with time on their hands and a few bucks to spend.

    If the instance stays small, it’s cheap to run. If it gets popular, you can ask users for donations and volunteer help. Lemmy.world is the current biggest, and stays afloat that way.

    Right now there’s not much corporate presence, but that may change soon, unfortunately.

    • @whoreticultureOP
      2•9 months ago

      Nice analogy, thanks. Good to know Lemmy.world is donation run. Are decisions about the instance made by a collective body?

      • @solrize
        2•9 months ago

        Theoretically there is community input but at the end of the day, one guy owns it and can do stuff unilaterally. There is occasionally drama over that, like recently the piracy community was removed (from lemmy.world, not from the whole fediverse) due to concern over possible legal hassles. I’d say Lemmy world tries to be friendly and mainstream, while edgier stuff tends to live on other instances. So you can still find what you want.

        Nothing stops you from using multiple instances of course. It’s no different from drinking at more than one café. But people tend to have a main one that they visit the most.

        Edit: clarify about piracy community.