It appears to me that the current state of Lemmy is similar to other platforms when they were smaller and more insular, and that insularity is somewhat protecting it.
I browse Lemmy, and it feels a bit like other platforms did back in 2009, before they became overwhelmed and enshitified.
If I understand it correctly, Lemmy has a similar “landed gentry” moderation scheme, where the first to create a community control it. This was easily exploited on other platforms, particularly in regards to astroturfing, censorship, and controlling a narrative.
If/when Lemmy starts to experience its own “eternal September”, what protections are in place to ensure we will not be overwhelmed and exploited?
…. Acquire/rent hardware, or pay for cloud services?
“How does one cook without a stove”
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Then you should expect enshittified experiences if you aren’t willing to pay for them
Reddit may not have financially charged you but it came at a cost
Reddit didn’t let you host your own Reddit. Also, you don’t need to host your own instance, you can just use someone else’s for free.
“I want everyone else to do everything for me for free, I DEMAND it”
Plenty of people are ok with ads and such, and that’s fine. People who don’t want that may need to pay for the infrastructure of having an alternative platform. It all comes down to what you value more, and there’s no inherently right or wrong answer.