@Teknevra What about just using both #friendica has a plugin to support #at (as well as #rss and others)

@scrubbles @SuperDuperKitten My advice only host an instance for people you know ansmd trust. Its not hard to self host something like friendica on a raspberrypi or intel n100 machine using something like yunohost

@troyunrau I would say in that most small instances its hosting … so practically thats using your internet connection, providing some hardware and electricity. Server rack? - Nah more like a #Dell micro or #bananapi like router sitting in the corner with an ssd and maybe a couple Tb of hdd inside it. When the user to server ratio is down in the under fifty : one range the hardware requirements are minimal. You can throw in email, Nextcloud and mediaserver while you are there.

In small instances the moderation load is basically zero (how many people in your family volunteer to moderate family/friend discussions IRL? The main thing is keeping an eye on what the kids are up to.

You got an issue with some content - block that person or server on your account/server and move on.

@tofu @Steven_T_Baxter Yeah honestly I found the comments more insightfull.

I do find the saviour complex of some people a bit frustrating. " I set up this instance for you - why arent you greatful and contribute?"

@Steven_T_Baxter So much to say here… Im a member of a sailing club thats run for 125 years.

Yes keep costs down - self host amoungst your users with a distrubuted solution and… really simply… if you want to survive you have to have a very clear and limited policy on freeloaders. As a group decide how much (if any) you are going to offer without contribution.

If you dont ask something of people in return its not a healthly relationship and you people will value what you do at the price you have put on it (zero) . They wont value the operation and will waste its resources.

@frongt Yeah. i like aking for advice but some of the joy is the discovery and figuring out things. its a.balance right? I get heaps of support online but working something out by talking with someone can be fun.