• @juh
    link
    52 years ago

    We, a hosting cooperative in Germany, mentioned Lemmy in a book about free software that we published two weeks before. It is in German and targets clubs, non-profits, foundations and cooperatives. It’s free to download. https://www.hostsharing.net/publikationen/vereinshandbuch/

    I really like your idea of promoting Lemmy by providing a limited free hosting offer. It gives people the chance to find sustainable funding.

    In the book mentioned above we recommended Lemmy as a forum solution. Many organisations like clubs are looking for something like discourse or flarum to replace a mailing list for discussions or a community help desk. If an organisation uses Lemmy for inhouse needs giving accounts to all members the instance is funded by the organisation – and thanks to federation the users can join communities elsewhere too.

    This is the organisational approach to sustainable Lemmy instances.

    If there is no organisation that pays the bills, I have to look for funding elsewhere, as users won’t pay. I have to pass the hat around. But this is not sustainable at all.

    Or I could go the usual internet way using ads to fund the instance. Is there a function in Lemmy that could be used as an advertising tool? A broadcast message by the administrator that is published to all accounts. Can instance administrators pin messages in communities? Or can administrators promote messages so that they get higher ranks?

    I think of a Lemmy instance for a hobby targeting a community of consumers and producers where the producers are willing to pay for advertised postings.

    • @nutomicOPMA
      link
      12 years ago

      Advertising isnt commonly used on the Fediverse, most instances are financed by donations, and that seems to work quite well. Its possible for adminsto put an advertising link/image in the sidebar, or to sticky an advertising post to the top of a community.