They may want to add a description of what the hell it is, instead of just linking to a website that is only an email gathering prompt. Right now all I can gather from comments on it is that it monetizes the fediverse "somehow", but there's zero explanation of where the money comes from, who it goes to, who the whole thing supports, etc etc. If they don't want to seem sketchy as hell, they should be forthcoming about who they are and how they work.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
60 points (98.4% liked)
Fediverse
18520 readers
7 users here now
A community dedicated to fediverse news and discussion.
Fediverse is a portmanteau of "federation" and "universe".
Getting started on Fediverse;
- What is the fediverse?
- Fediverse Platforms
- How to run your own community
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
From the related post linked by op, it's described as just a portion of the managed instance hosting fee going back to the project devs. So if you pay them to host a lemmy instance, a small cut goes to Lemmy devs. Doesn't seem sketchy at all. Seems to have nothing to do with monetizing the instance itself, which could be funded by voluntary donations as normal or you could probably do membership fees as some instances do. It seems this is just about giving funding to the software devs. Hopefully this encourages other managed hosting providers to also give a cut of their revenue to the software they are using for their business.
To be clear, I'm not saying it is sketchy. I'm saying that giving absolutely zero information on a service they are ostensibly promoting makes it look sketchy. Giving even a simple breakdown of their goals and process is really the least they could do.
That's actually a really cool incentive. Lemmy seems like a relatively easy target, too, since each node can help stabilize the overall network.
@maegul there should really be a license for that, which allows for free use in a non-commercial manner but triggers a responsibility to contribute back financially, even in a small way, when there is commerce involved.
This could provide a funding model for #FOSS #OpenSource projects that are exploited by the likes of #amazon etc that could and should be supporting them, for the value they bring.