I wonder if you could also just disable image/video uploads? I wouldn't personally see an issue with just needing to link imgur or other websites to display images on this frontend. Definitely going to be a problem soon otherwise.

As yet another former Redditor trying to make sense of the decentralized model, there is something very comforting knowing "sh.itjust.works". Thanks for doing this.

Thanks et merci! I'm happy to call sh.itjust.works my new home 🎉

Just want to say, thanks for this instance and thanks for this type of transparency. I’ve never given Reddit money, but if you do get to the point of wanting/needing help with keeping this going, I’m ready.

I was involved with moderating a listserv of around 15k users in the early 90’s. Most of you won’t know what a listserv was or that the early 90’s was pre-web. I can only imagine the issues you’ll soon be dealing with.

Thank you!

This is the only instance that instantly let me sign up.

Other instances sign up button at the end kept spinning and spinning forever to sign up lol. I got frustrated and gave up .

Lol. At the time of writing this, sh.itjust.works doubled again to 2k users.

This shit be cray-cray yo.

Hey Dude! I want to say that if your instance didnt exist I wouldnt have joined Lemmy. I tried to join on fmhy, and that was a disaster. So Im reallt grateful yours is up. Im not certain how lemmy works but I do have a homelab myself and I could host a a few TBs of data for you if it would help. My only complaint about your instance is that as a fellow Canadian, the no bigotry rule has been hard to follow as you haven't honoured our god given right to make fun of the french. :)

It's crazy that there are so any users already, but not a surprise. This kind of transparency is exactly what a lot of us were looking for, and it's the recipe for a thriving community going forward.

The "no porn" thing may upset some folks, but it makes sense. Porn can be a moderation (and liability) minefield, especially opening the floodgates right away. It could be a net-benefit at some point in the future, but until then it's easy enough to create an account on another instance that wants to take the heat.

And for what it's worth regarding the financial side, donations feel like the way to go. With everything Reddit is doing right now, and other platforms have done in the past, "outside money" is becoming the harbinger of doom for online communities. Plenty of us would be happy to pitch in to keep it in house, especially when you post those sexy resource graphs that would show exactly where our money is going.

1000 users already? Thats bonkers.

When you say no NSFW, does that also mean that we can not federate to such communities from our account as a whole (to be clear, I hope we are not federated to some unsavory ones of course)

Or just that we can not host them here?

Hey, wanted to say thanks again for running an instance with a critical mass of users that's so easy to register on. This is the kind of thing people from the old site need if they're actually going to get on Lemmy. Big instances don't accept new users readily and small instances run into weird issues like needing to get the server to discover the "big" subs that people are interested in.

This one is at the size where the average user can just get in and go. You might say... shit just works.

Hi everyone. Reddit refugee here. I’m not tech-savvy so I’m posting because I’m a noob and testing this out.

Hey, so it's my first comment on Lemmy, and I picked this instance specifically because I liked the silly name I'm still figuring out how everything works, but it doesn't seem that hard to understand.

Currently discovering Lemmy and had to choose a home. The name and the image helped my choice. Thank you for what you are doing right now !

Just to clarify, individual accounts will be in trouble if they subscribe to communities on other servers that break the rules? Or are they blocked by default?

Just commenting here to say thank you for running an instance. I have found the experience of using this instance to be great. I think having instances like this one to accept new reddit users is fantastic and what Lemmy needs to be the successor to reddit. I have some technical expertise so I'm considering starting my own instances, to pitch in and help with the influx of new users. I don't know if I will realize this idea and if I do if it'll be open to other users other than myself, but if I don't, I am happy I have my account here, it's a really good instance.

Thanks again!

I guess saying thank you for hosting is as worthy of a first comment as can be.

I still don't get every aspect of Lemmy, nor do I think it will ever rival what Reddit was and still could be, but I gotta admit that I like the small community vibe that exists now.

Excited to see what the future holds for Lemmy.

Just to understand correctly we can't subscribe to communities on other instances that break the rules of this instance?

I gotta say, it's been less than 20 minutes since I joined here, and it feels... refreshing. Tried signing up on some other instances, but they don't respond, seemingly due to overloading. A decentralized network is gaining steam and I couldn't be happier. Thanks for firing up this instance, and cheers!

It's very gracious of you to stand up this instance with your own resources. I'm used to the idea of donating to my fedi home instances, and other fediverse regulars are probably the same way. Just give us the word if you do need donations down the road (ie. for storage upgrades, etc).

Thanks for hosting this instance! Redditfugee making my first post. Keep up the great work!

Thank you very much for setting up this instance. I'm honored to be one of the first folks to join up. Let me know if there's anything we can do to help.

If storage may become a problem, should users upload elsewhere and put links?

Thanks for such an awesome instance that to me personally rivals the main lemmy.ml. I will most likely continue to use this instance as my main account, and will definitely consider donating in the future, whenever you open that up.

Our world is already in shambles, we don't need another place for all of us to fight against one another.

This, right here, completely agree ☝️.

No pornography

OK, but can you suggest any other NSFW friendly instances?

One more question. I accidentally blocked a community on my other account. How can I unblock it? It doesn't appear on the search cuz it's blocked 🤷.

Hi y'all, just got here to have a feel for Lemmy. So far so good. Have been keeping an eye on Lemmy for a while, but the recent dumpster fire that reddit is becoming pushed me to register. Guidelines are clear and I hope the influx of new users won't be to hard on the admins. I'll keep an eye our for a donation option to help out.

Reposting an earlier comment here for better visibility to help educate newcomers.

I had no idea how this whole fediverse thing worked until I read this comment. https://lemmy.world/comment/20357

Nice, I appreciate the communication and openness.

I'm thinking of spinning up an instance for my community, and would love more info on how many users you have vs server capacity vs monthly cost.

I'm hoping this takes off, I enjoy the concept of decentralization. I'm just hoping that it is accessible enough to get a critical mass of users to migrate from Reddit. I have a feeling I'll be missing out on some of the smaller, local community subreddits that I have subscribed to on Reddit for some time. It's one thing to get the adventurous, technology-inclined crowd. Another thing to get people to join from communities like r/Minneapolis or r/bicycling (a lot of whom aren't even aware of the current drama).

Joined today :). Seems like a really chill instance which I would expect from someone called The Dude

Hello everyone, coming here from reddit. Hopefully the federated concept catches on because I'm tired of the cycle of cool things becoming crappier over time to please investors or make a quick buck. I had mostly stopped interacting with mainstream reddit years ago due to the deteriorating quality of posts and discussions.

Some communities I'd love to see over here include: askhistorians, askscience, digitalart, gadgets, gamedev, hardware, indiegaming, mycology, nutrition, the 'learn' subreddits (ie learnmath, learnprogramming, ect), philosophy, pixelart, proceduralgeneration, and stopdrinking.

If anyone knows any good communities to 'subscribe' to that seem like they'd fit the kind of thing I'm looking for I'd be happy to hear them.

Hopefully joining a server of self described networking enthusiast makes this transition as seamless as could reasonably be expected lol. I like the rules here too. A very solid foundation to start on.

Thanks for hosting! Will definitely stay tuned for donation information!

Hi everyone! This is my first post, so far I've enjoyed the platform, it's very easy to get started, thanks for the server!. I've noticed that some communities don't show up when I search, does anyone know why this is? Or does anyone know of a community directory or index?

Thanks from France ! Des francophones sur cette instance ?

Thanks for spinning this up!

I'm not really sure how to navigate Lemmy yet but I guess I never really knew how to fully navigate through Reddit so ... happy to be home!

I wonder if IPFS can be used to host uploads?

Thanks for creating this my dude, appreciate the time and effort you're putting in to this. Wishing you all the best for the future!

Just wanted to say hello and thank you for hosting! First day on the Fediverse and off reddit and so far really grateful for the alternative!

Thank you for this instance, truly. I love the idea behind lemmy, but have some doubts regarding the practices and stances of the major instances, so this seems perfect for me. I hope lemmy takes off and can scale as gracefully as possible in the years to come.

Thanks for running and hosting the instance,

Like many people, I've been on other fedi for a while, and only recent evolve decided me to join lemmy.

Fellow Canadian who decided to take the Lemmy plunge during the Reddit blackout :D

Thanks a lot for the server.

What are the server specs for us nerds out there

Can you create a dashboard of sorts so we can all see the CPU RAM and storage usage? Would be highly interested. Also if you're accepting donations of storage I have some spare drives 😅

Thanks for this! I hope this lasts long term and that you enjoy running this also. If it starts to becomes too much, don't be afraid to ask for what you need, we'll help you out.

Thank you for this instance. Looking forward to much time spent here now instead of reddit.

I love the idea of Lemmy and I'm really hoping it can take off. I'd be more than happy to donate to an instance to help keep it ad-free and free from corporate influence. Good luck!

Can anyone ELI5 how federation works? Does it mean that I can only subscribe to communities that this instance is federated with, or is that just what shows up on the front page or something?

I was planning on hosting my own personal instance locally, but this has put me off a little haha!

How does that actually work then, does every image posted to a sub I’m following automatically download to my instance, even without me ever seeing it? Or would it only be the posts I actually see in the app/site?

Such a nice and warm welcome, thank you for maintaining the server.

Thank you for the post!

I’ve been having problems submitting comments. The post button just spins. Edit: Clearly this time it worked!

I'd like to request an option to donate! Even if you just post a few crypto addresses we can donate to, that'll be a good start. I'd like to help <3

would Pixelfed be a working alternative for hosting image files, then linking over?

I'm really getting into the whole Fediverse and trying to limit use of for-profit proprietary services. FOSS or death!

Not gonna lie, definitely joined solely for the name and cute mouse logo but I'm happy with the decision so far!

However I can't seem to get any of the apps to work with this instance. It's either not listed (Jerboa) or the url won't add (lemmur). Unless there's a specific way to set up the url that I'm unaware of. Anyone else have any insight? Or is it just a browser thing until it gains more traction?

WRT the storage, would you prefer us use something like Imgur or is there an element of understanding scaling because we'll want to use the integrated image host in the long run?

Just wanted to say thank you ♥.

Just joined (now that nothing on reddit) do I have to sign in here everytime or can sign in to other instances?

Thanks from Ontario!

I spun up a new instance 4 days ago too but nobody else signed up :) But it's OK, it's still very useful for me personally to have a fast instance.

Hope this thing takes off and grows more and more!

I'll join the chorus to thank you for setting this up! Looking forward to seeing how Lemmy and this instance develop!

Really appreciate you seeing you this instance for us! Hoping lemmy can be a solid base away from reddit ✊🏾

Hey guy - just want to say thank you ~paul

Thanks Dude! I'm looking forward to my new home and to having an option to donate.

Thanks for hosting. As a former retired technologist, let me encourage you to consider that growth can follow a logistic growth curve, which can resemble exponential growth.

I’d love to see this community succeed. But it’s long-term sustainability will need to account for the costs of keeping these instances running at scale.

Would love to see someway that we the community can participate in supporting the continued operation of this community.

I have no idea what I'm doing, or how this works, but I'm very excited to be here!

Thank you for laying things out plainly! I'll make sure I add a note in my community description to follow server rules first and foremost.

Hi dude! I understand the rule about no porn given the whole legal aspect of unregulated images.

What about a user contributed erotica community? No DMCA risk from photos since it could be text posts only.

Thanks for everything you’ve done and continue to do. It’s nice to be here.

please ignore, this is me testing my account

test here italics

99

Cool! Thank you

We are here!

How much storage are we talking about? I could provide a server to host all the files for this instance (ofc if the amount of data isnt in petabytes).

Hey just joined as a reddit refuge. Been following the fediverse programs for a while, so I'm excited to join! On reddit I was fairly active on the credit card rewards subs and I am interested in starting a community here as well but that seems like it might not get a lot of interest here.

Thanks for putting this together. I guess for completely random reasons you are our shepherd away from reddit, and it's cool to hear running this kinda thing is a passion of yours. Cheers from Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Thanks

Thanks for hosting this instance! You're doing amazing work. Any chance we can get some cool custom themes for sh.itjust.works? I know you probably have a ton of priorities with the blackout coming up but would love to see this eventually!

Just joined and I love it already!

Thank you for intro and information!

Trying to get setup on the new platform. Is there mobile app that works with sh.itjust.works? Mastodon gives a 400 Bad Request

You should consider a pateron in the future depending on how it all turns out with reddit.

Thanks from Utah, US!

We recently passed a law about requiring age verification for social media (will come into effect next year), so hopefully that doesn't end up impacting you. If it does, please post about it.

I'm also interested in donating, so please post if that ever becomes an issue. I'm also interested in how things are configured on the backend (I've worked with servers before), so meta posts are interesting to me to read, even if I'm not able to chime in with recommendations. You sound capable enough, so I'll be focusing my efforts to help on contributing to areas I'm able to (I'm competent with Rust and interested in helping work on Jerboa).

Anyway, thanks again! I hope this instance sees enough success to give Reddit refugees a home, but not so much that it causes you stress. 😄

Hello. I decided to move to this instance from my previous one. Im glad to be here. Just wanna know, if this instance is in it for the long run xd? Just wanna make sure my account doesnt go down with the instance, as I plan to permanently stay here, or atleast for a good while xd.

You are the reason I became a Lemmy-ite? Lemmur? idk its awesome being here

Excited to join the community!

Thanks for hosting!

I signed up very quickly and (of course) didn't log my random password. Tried the reset link a few times but don't seem to be getting any links to the reset page.

I'll wait to see if they come through -- thankfully still logged on where I initially signed up -- but still wanted to make you aware.

EDIT: Also sent you a DM. Thanks!

EDIT2: TheDude abides, and fixed this for us! I was able to reset successfully. Huzzah!

RIP the marriage dude. You're a real one for hosting this o7

About the storage; have you considered deleting posts and comments above a certain age? I don't think it's expected of a single person to host the amount of data that comes with sites like these in the long term. I'm sure I'm just telling you something you already thought of or something that doesn't work etc etc but I figured id say something idk

Side note what's the hardware cost you've invested into this. How much would I actually have to put down to host a lemmy server or something like it? Always been curious

Brother, is that you?

would Pixelfed be a working alternative for hosting image files, then linking over?

I'm really getting into the whole Fediverse and trying to limit use of for-profit proprietary services. FOSS or death!

I'm on lemmy.ml but I wish I could migrate over to your instance, I love for work!

So ... Eastern Canada, eh? Given that this describes an area east of ... Kingston to the Atlantic Ocean, can you narrow it down? I note the intended bilingularity (a word I just made up) so am curious.

OK, maybe east of Cornwall.

Hello thanks for spinning this up, love the name and you seem chill.

hello, what if porn, ok, what if porn but!! hosted elsewhere? dmca can't dmca if u not host of dmca'd thing. lmk if that sounds good to you

also, not to propose we create them, but hypothetically, what if someone hosted one of the good ol' "watch people die" communities? it's not porn, it's not particularly disrespectful if there's no insulting, but that'd be a very extreme way to test the limits. just wondering how you'd approach that. again, i have no interest in hosting or participating in that, but i'm curious about your PoV regarding it.