Bluesky app is open source. I wonder if someone would try and replace the ATProtocol API endpoints with Mastodon ones.
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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I think supporter badges would be a good monetization model for each instance. ActivityPub could allow for an arbitrary "badge" field (to my knowledge it doesn't currently have anything like this but I also haven't read the spec), and each server could fill it in however it likes. Other servers/users could limit displaying them if they get abused, à la pig poop balls on hexbear (or whatever it's moved on to being called now).
Non-profits is what we need here.
Ghost have their code open source and offer paid for hosting which is not unreasonable as you'd to pay to send bulk emails anyway even if you self-hosted (although there are free tiers from some providers if your only send a few hundred a month).
Think beyond VC backed companies. Those get tons of attention because they need it.
Investors = bad. I whole heartedly agree.
For profit doesn’t have to be bad. What if it were a worker/user co-op. Have a free product and have a paid product. If you pay for the product you get a (just one) vote. If you work for the company you get a vote. Users won’t vote for maximizing profit. But the profit means you don’t have to beg for donations.
Craigslist would be another example. For profit but no major investors so doesn’t have to prioritize profits.
My home instance is starting to do some of this, it’s talked about a lot in https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/div0
What are they looking at doing for revenue?
People who support the server have greater voting rights; no revenue steam. But I think it would be cool to sell pirate plushies!
Unrelated: If you code it’s not hard to insert ads in between the comments on your own lemmy instance. It would be a cool experience but probably would create significant vitriol and site wide bannings by most, if not all, major instances for trying.
The problem for most monitization is psychological only ; many ideas would be an unwinnable uphill battle. Yes, can put ads in but also be a leper with zero traffic. You could probably put in perks if have good coding skills or can hire good skills; but if public relations done wrong then you are “poison to the community”.
You could try to do awards ( Reddit gold) but may get laughed off the platform. It’s a tough crowd
A for profit worker co-op is very different than a private for-profit. A for-profit worker co-op would be fine ik my book and in fact preferable than a non worker co-op nonprofit.
My own Communick offers managed hosting for things like Mastodon, Matrix, Lemmy, PixelFed, GoToSocial, Takahe for those that want to have their own server but do not want to deal with the hassle of managing it or worrying about security updates. I also offer paid accounts: $29/year gives you an account at all of our "flagship" instances: meaning you can get an account on Mastodon, Lemmy, Matrix and Funkwhale.
There are other providers like omg.lol (Mastodon account at social.lol and some other cool services for $20/year) and mastodon.green (accounts cost $1/month).
All of these servers are of course smaller and less popular than the ones that are open for registration, but unsurprisingly they are stable, well managed, free of drama and (AFAIK) never been linked to spammers or trolls. IOW, "you get what you pay for".
Profits are a bit like internal taxes on wages.
Co-op NPOs should use these taxes to further the company's goals instead of crude extraction into the goals of the owners.
Those aren't perfect, because once they reach a certain size any form of corruption can have big bad consequences. The Fediverse approach to this is "decentralisation", but all decentralisation efforts have an API vulnerability - there needs to be a central body that develops the "language" between the actors.
On the other hand, you might not have an ear for any of this, because you might be dependent on your business' profits.