Grow Your Own Services 🌱

I know LLMs are interesting as toys, but they are fundamentally problematic:

• Even if you self-host an LLM, its model is created unethically elsewhere so it's not really independent or ethical.

• LLM creation is extremely resource-intensive, which is burning the planet and destroying communities.

• Hardware prices are being driven so high that ordinary people cannot afford to buy computers.

• LLMs are designed to deskill people and make them dependent on corporate models.

#LLM #AI

The easy way to take control of your email and avoid enshittification:

1. Create your own domain name
2. Find a good email provider
3. Use your domain name to create custom email addresses on that email provider
4. If the email provider enshittifies, you can move to a different provider without changing any of your email addresses

(If you're unsure about how to create domain names, I've done a non-technical beginner's guide to them at https://growyourown.services/a-beginners-guide-to-creating-and-using-your-own-domain-name )

#Email #GrowYourOwn #Domains

Mastodon servers can optionally be run in "limited federation mode", also known as "allowlist mode" or "isolated mode".

In that mode the server doesn't communicate at all with any other servers, unless the admin has specifically added a server to their "allowlist".

Isolated servers are much safer but less busy, and generally created by admins who want to make a private network rather than be part of a larger social network. More info at:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/creating-an-isolated-server

#MastoAdmin #SelfHosting

There are a LOT of Fediverse projects out there!

If you're a techy person interested in self-hosting Fediverse platforms, you might like to check out the "Delightful Fediverse" list which tries to feature every Fediverse project available:

🌱 https://codeberg.org/fediverse/delightful-fediverse-experience

(It's worth noting the meaning of the emoji next to project names, as the status of different projects varies.)

#Fediverse #ActivityPub #SelfHosting #FOSS

Do you want to create your own Wiki? You might want to try some of these options:

(All of these are free and open source)

🌱 @mediawiki@wikis.world - The software used by Wikipedia

🌱 @TiddlyWiki@fosstodon.org - Personal wiki stored in a single HTML file

🌱 @FeatherWiki@floss.social - Lightweight software for making wikis, notebooks, databases in a single file

🌱 @bookstack@fosstodon.org - Easy-to-use simple wiki & documentation software

🌱 @xwikiorg@fosstodon.org - Wiki software aimed at businesses, libre alternative to Confluence

#SelfHosting #Wiki #FOSS

If you want a free open alternative to Microsoft Github, you might want to have a look at @forgejo@floss.social which lets you host your own code forge:

🌱 https://forgejo.org

If you just want to sign up on a Forgejo instance without self-hosting it, check out @Codeberg@social.anoxinon.de at:

🌱 https://codeberg.org

Forgejo is free open source software, a community-run hard fork of Gitea. The Forgejo devs are also working on adding Fediverse support to Forgejo instances.

#FOSS #SelfHosting #Dev #Github #Alternatives

Have you noticed posts, threads or bookmarks mysteriously disappearing on your Mastodon server?

This may be because your server's retention settings are incorrect. Here's a guide for server admins on how to make sure the settings are correct:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/mastodon-admins-leave-the-content-cache-retention-period-blank

TL:DR - The "Remote content retention period" setting must be kept totally blank.

If you're not the server admin but have noticed stuff disappearing, try messaging your admin to ask about their settings.

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon

YunoHost is a special Linux distro that makes self-hosting much, much easier.

Once you've manually installed YunoHost (either on a computer at home or on a VPS remotely) it gives you a graphical interface where you can self-host lots of online services by clicking icons etc. More info at:

🌱 https://yunohost.org

Here are all the things you can self-host via YunoHost:

🌱 https://apps.yunohost.org/catalog

You can follow their account at:

🌱 @yunohost@toot.aquilenet.fr (in English & French)

#SelfHosting

Funkwhale is a free open music and audio platform for the Fediverse, which has just been updated to version 2.0. Find out more at:

🌱 https://www.funkwhale.audio

Their account is:

🌱 @funkwhale@social.funkwhale.audio

If you want to host your own Funkwhale server without doing any techy stuff, there are managed hosting providers at https://cloud68.co/managed-hosting/funkwhale and https://weingaertner-it.de/index.php/produkt/funkwhale/?lang=en

You can also self-host manually using the instructions at https://docs.funkwhale.audio/administrator/index.html

#Funkwhale #SelfHosting #Fediverse #Music #Podcasts

If you're wanting to run your own Fediverse server but it seems too difficult, you might want to use a managed hosting service. They do all the technical stuff for you behind the scenes, as well as the actual hosting itself.

For example here are some Fediverse managed hosting providers:
- https://cloud68.co/managed-hosting.html
- https://fedihost.co
- https://masto.host
- https://weingaertner-it.de/?lang=en
- https://communick.com
- https://writefreely.host

#Fediverse #SelfHosting #ManagedHosting

Do you want to host your own Twitch-style livestreaming service? You might want to try Owncast:

🌱 https://owncast.online

You can also follow their account at:

🌱 @owncast@social.owncast.online

Owncast is free open source software for hosting video or audio streams with a chat window at the side where your audience can interact with you. It is compatible with the Fediverse, so people can follow your account from Mastodon etc and will be notified when you go live.

#Owncast #SelfHosting #FOSS #Twitch #Alternatives

If you're running a Mastodon server, you might want to activate the "authorized fetch" option (also known as "secure mode").

Having this switched on makes your server-level blocks work much more effectively, and helps to protect your server's members from abuse.

It's extremely easy to activate, step-by-step instructions and lots of questions answered at:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/authorized-fetch

#MastoAdmin #AuthorizedFetch #SecureMode #UserSafety #Mastodon

It's a really good idea to have a public list of at least some basic rules for your Fediverse server, even if it's a single-user server.

Public rules are often used by other server admins when deciding whether to federate with your server (especially if they use allowlists), and public rules are a sign of a responsibly run server. More info about including rules on single user servers:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/should-i-publish-some-server-rules-if-im-running-a-single-person-fediverse-server

#FediAdmin

If you're a Mastodon server admin, you can control whether or not your members can invite people to join. However, this setting is a bit hidden and not in an obvious place:

1. Go to Preferences > Administration > Roles > Default Permissions, tick or untick the box marked "Invite Users"
2. Click "Save Changes"

To cancel existing invitations:

1. Go to Preferences > Moderation > Invites
2. Click "Deactivate" to deactivate a particular invitation, or "Deactivate All" for all of them

#MastoAdmin

Mastodon server admins have a variety of different options for communicating with their members:

- Server announcements and emails reaching all your server's members
- Non-urgent server news just for those who want to follow such updates
- Official warnings sent to specific members who have broken a server rule
- Non-moderation DMs sent to specific members

All of these options are covered in the "Communicating with your members" guide:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/how-mastodon-admins-can-communicate-with-their-servers-members

#MastoAdmin #Mastodon

If people are running a Mastodon server jointly as an organisation or group, the "Roles" system is really useful as it lets you assign customised powers to different people. This makes it much easier to delegate tasks in running your server. More info at:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/how-can-organisations-or-groups-run-a-mastodon-server

The "Roles" feature can also be used to assign special badges to members, for example a "Supporter" badge for people who donate to the server's running costs. (Info on this at the end of the guide 🙂 )

#MastoAdmin

If you run your own PeerTube server, you can use it for more than just your own videos!

You can also federate videos from other servers, so they appear seamlessly alongside your own videos. More info about how to do this in this guide:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/how-to-fill-your-peertube-server-with-federated-videos

The guide also suggests lots of good servers to federate with, and answers lots of questions about this feature.

#PeerTubeAdmin #PeerTube

If you are running a Mastodon server and it seems a bit quiet, here's a list of ways to build up your connections to the rest of the Fediverse more quickly:

🌱 https://fedi.tips/using-relays-to-quickly-expand-a-servers-view-of-the-fediverse

(Some of these methods also work on non-Mastodon Fediverse servers.)

#MastoAdmin