Post #422929

2026-02-26 05:28 UTC

I finally figured out a metaphor that may help me explain to the &quot;just self-host, it&#39;s easy&quot; people why that is not a valid solution for most users: telling the average user &quot;just self-host!&quot; is like *me* telling *you*, &quot;oh, your insurance doesn&#39;t want to cover your preferred medication? Why don&#39;t you synthesize it yourself at home?&quot; eta: glob help me, this is not literal. Read the entire thread before shouting at me in my DMs about how I&#39;m going to get someone killed. :blobcat_amused: if you want a better metaphor, there&#39;s one about sourdough baking. If you just wanna yell at me, I mean, cool, but that&#39;s a waste of your time and mine.

Replies (6)

@titania@retro.pizza 2026-02-26 05:30

if your first thought is to sputter and go, "that's ridiculous, I don't have the technical expertise or the equipment to *do* that", congrats! you understand the metaphor! 💜

Open ##2827218
@cypnk@masto.hackers.town 2026-02-26 06:06

@titania@retro.pizza I self-host and I absolutely positively would never wish this on anyone If self-hosting approached dishwasher levels of convenience, maybe. But until then...

Open ##2827256
@mdhughes@appdot.net 2026-02-26 06:14

@titania@retro.pizza That's maybe the most disingenuous analogy I've heard since a Republican spoke. Doing "home chemistry" is very popular with certain drugs. But hosting a server does NOT require chemistry, can't easily poison or blow up and kill you. At the easiest, you can rent a VPS; even cohosting or giving your home computer a fixed IP isn't that hard, you can just click on some web sites and again VERY few of those will harm you. Quit trying to scare people just because you're scared!

Open ##2827260
@bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr 2026-02-26 07:30

@titania@retro.pizza I see your point and the metaphor is nice but it has a limit: self-hosting is possible (I did not say cheap or easy or fast), safely creating drugs at home is not.

Open ##2827268
@TheGentleKlingon@mastodon.art 2026-02-26 07:41

@titania@retro.pizza lmfao jeez, of course you got that reply. it's mastodon. i keep forgetting. 🤦

Open ##2827270
@gkrnours@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-02-26 18:52

@titania@retro.pizza sure https://fourthievesvinegar.org/microlab-suite/ (that's mostly a joke about how it's possible just like self-hosting is possible and not recommended to moat people who care abour safety)

Open ##2827275