With all this talk about sync's pricing...
I think now is a great time to remind everyone, like sync's developer, Lemmy's developers need to be paid too! The amount of time all the devs put into making lemmy exist, in my opinion, should be worth some of your money. If you can afford it, donating to the people who develop lemmy and/or the people keeping your home instance up will accelerate the incredible growth of lemmy!
I'm sure that everyone who was raging at Sync over the last few days, stating that all software should be FOSS have all made significant contributions to the Lemmy devs.
FOSS is pretty bloody great, and one of the greatest things about the modern IT industry. But FOSS doesn't pay a mortgage.
To be clear: I have contributed to Lemmy, and will likely pay a lifetime fee for Sync sooner or later.
I installed Sync, threw $16 LJ's way for putting in the work to convert it to work with Lemmy, and then uninstalled lol (commenting from Thunder). I plan on continuing to use FOSS clients for Fediverse stuff, but am happy there's a healthy variety of open and closed source clients for everyone to pick and choose from.
FOSS doesn't pay a mortgage.
The rabid "it should be free" crowd here acts like we live in a post scarcity utopia where everything is roses and they deserve whatever they like on demand. The majority of users on this site wouldn't give a penny to help save their instance from dying.
Reality is that FOSS is basically never given donations (donate to your instance hosts people) and relying on donations is a guarantee that you'll run a charity at a loss.
Software development is hard work that only a small group of people know how to do (for now: I still hope it's like 50% of the population in the future but...) And to make independent software full time is a risky endeavor.
You'd have to be off your fucking gord to make FOSS software full time and expect to stay above the poverty line.
Good on you for supporting Sync and Lemmy. I do the same and plan to continue doing so... Cause I want the bad place to Digg it's own grave with their greed. But that'll only happen if we're crowd funding our FOSS.
OP: Please try and support instance admins and Lemmy devs
Sync fans in the comments: Yes, I bought Sync and love it
Sync fans in the comments: Yes, I bought Sync and love it
This is what people said me that would not happens. But, I knew people will think by paying for Sync they will pay for Lemmy (devs and instances).
Ironic because it's literally the same situation that Reddit was going through that caused the migration to Lemmy in the first place
I left because of how reddit treated the 3rd part app Devs, suddenly forcing them to cancel subscriptions halfway through the year. (They could have given the Devs a heads up, but chose not to.) I left because of the libel that was being spread about a dev. For me, it wasn't that they wanted to charge money to use reddit, it's how they went about it that made me leave and not return.
Of course, they also forgot about blind people and moderating tools. They then kicked many mods for voicing their opinion and/or participating the blackout, even if the subreddit in question was in agreement with them.
I don't see Sync doing any of that, so please speak for yourself on why the migration happened.
Y'all just seething bc others are enjoying things. This is just cringe. This is not a zero sum game. You can donate to lemmy devs/instance devs/fav. app devs and whatever else you like too.
And let's not pretend this is new. You could see a lot of memmy users being excited about their app too. I don't know what the hell they are talking about. But I'm glad they have an app they like that much.
Just. Let. People. Enjoy. Things.
i dont think theres anything wrong with sync enjoyers loving their app but i have to agree that the iap money would be better spent on actually keeping instances alive
This is such a bad take. By the same logic, the time you spend scrolling through Lemmy would have been better spent serving the homeless in the soup kitchen or sweeping the streets clean. But yet here you are. Why?
Let's face it, the "IAP money" you referred to has always been there, Sync dev found a way (and has the balls) to monetize his work to a pretty big extent. And only now are you all sour grapes about it. If Lemmy instances are so desperate for money why didn't they make an equally big effort to monetize? On the flip side, if money isn't such a big issue why do you care if Sync is monetizing?
It's not either or. But I have now stopped donating because y'all can't get off this topic.
Hate the super-rich, not people with enough money left over at the month that they can afford a nicer way to interact with lemmy as intended - ad free.
That the server needs people with extra cash to support it is exceedingly valid. That's why I had been donating until literally 10 minutes ago.
I'm not subsidizing people who feel entitled to: Free shit Using free shit to tell others how they should spend (Acting like my money is theirs)
It's a simple boundaries issue that so many on Lemmy don't seem to comprehend.
When I stopped my donation, there was "other" then a box to say why. I filled it in. It's just one donation that stopped, but who knows, there could be more.
Sync dev wanting something worth for the all the work they're doing is fine imo. You can tell he put a lot of effort into the app.
The sync cult however seem to be as annoying as they were on reddit. They are like this when we discuss anything about sync's pricing even on non sync communities.
"I'm so happy I can buy sync again"
"Sync is the best"
"No other 3PA can compare to it in my experience"
This is one of the few times I feel like "nobody asked" applies.
Conversely, all the memes trying to shit on sync by people who never used it or even tried it, who asked?
right? "sync users never shut up"
meanwhile my feed:
edit: and three posts down:
we get it you don't like sync, I'm just trying to find content in an app i enjoy 🤷♂️
Personally I find both sides a bit grating, but moreso the anti-Sync crowd lol.
I used Sync for Reddit and paid for lifetime, but after a while I found that I liked Infinity better, so I switched. I'm now using Infinity for Lemmy and probably won't use Sync for Lemmy, but people who are using Sync (and paid for it)? Good for them. No need to tell them, "Haha you're a sucker for paying for something when there are free alternatives!!", you lose absolutely nothing by other people using Sync or other proprietary apps.
Let people use what they want, jfc.
Damn these people being happy their favorite app is on Lemmy.
Seriously why do you care ?
Also, the reality is not that the sync cult is too vocal it's that they represent a solid chunk of the overall user base.
And also the fact that on Lemmy there is not much content as of now so minor things can become events.
I'm a bit salty about sync's pricing especially because I already bought the ads removal when sync was on reddit. And I feel like this is not a new code base so I should at least get a minor discount.
There are all kinds of sync users, stop oversimplifying things and spreading stereotypes. Just let people enjoy their few days of being happy they can browse Lemmy in their comfort zone.
The sync cult however seem to be as annoying as they were on reddit.
This is very weird for me because I was very active on reddit for many years and was subscribed to the android and sync subreddits. Barely ever seen any comments or posts about sync. If you had a lot of interaction about sync on reddit, I have to believe it's because you were looking for that type of content. Or maybe you had a very narrow selection of subreddits. I don't know.
Seriously why do you care ?
Not the person you were replying to but it does get a bit much when a thread isn't about Sync - like this one for example, which is trying to draw attention to funding Lemmy development and instance sustainability - and then it gets hit with people talking about how much they love Sync and they're happy to pay for it.
Seriously why do you care ?
Hmm, I'm not sure how much I actually do. It's mostly these posts coming to my feed automatically and this is like the main lemmy topic today.
The sync cult however seem to be as annoying as they were on reddit.
This is very weird for me because I was very active on reddit for many years and was subscribed to the android and sync subreddits. Barely ever seen any comments or posts about sync.
Hmm, maybe I shouldn't actually have called them a cult after thinking through more. But I do find some of what they do annoying like what I mentioned before.
If you had a lot of interaction about sync on reddit, I have to believe it's because you were looking for that type of content. Or maybe you had a very narrow selection of subreddits. I don't know.
Sync was mostly drama free but there were two things I noticed on reddit.
So, nope. Sync isn't drama free completely and my selection of subreddits definitely weren't narrow(I had to make multiple custom feeds at the end).
I want to add again that I'm satisfied with the sync dev's work and decision. It's not wrong to want to profit from your work.
I'm a bit salty about sync's pricing especially because I already bought the ads removal when sync was on reddit. And I feel like this is not a new code base so I should at least get a minor discount.
I am in the similar boat. I feel that I left reddit in solidarity with the 3rd party app developers. And, I was expecting the price to reflect some discount for the people who left in solidarity.
I also feel that ad removal is a in principle as most people on lemmy would be using tools to already block ads. I am willing to pay, but I am hardly inconvenienced by the ads.
And right there is the problem. I bought sync for reddit so why should I have to pay for lemmy. I mean the developer had to do work to rewrite for the lemmy api.
inaccuracies and hypocritical takes are being thrown around regarding FOSS.
Oh wow that grinds my gears too. Hopefully those takes are out of pure ignorance and lack of information rather than actually believing FOSS is not secure.
The second bad take lmao. Is this actually from lemmy?
Yes, most people are dumb
Did somebody asked your opinion?
No. But here we are. Reading about the "sync cult" whatever that is.
So.. Let's extend that courtesy to everyone, all right?
Because a "nobody asked about your opinion" stance is a sure fire way to end any discussion platform. Like lemmy.
What I do think that Mr. Dawson should do is direct a percentage of that sweet sync income at lemmy.world and the lemmy devs. That would end or at least lessen this discussion.
I'd normally agree. I don't really like when someone responds with "nobody asked" to me or someone else.
But I really don't think a comment such as "I'm glad I can buy sync again" is appropriate for posts such as this. OP came to remind us to donate to lemmy devs as one of the main topics of lemmy is about sync now. The OP and the users who clicked this post didn't come to see comments like those from those specific sync users.
As for calling them a cult, I apologize for that.
Again, I also agree "nobody asked" isn't really a healthy way to proceed but those comments really do feel irrelevant. I have no idea what their purpose is here.
I had to search for what MAGA is.
Make America great again?
I'm not american.
No one asked.
So what is lemmy then?
I call it, "subscription fatigue".
Work bought me an iPad. It was my first foray into iOS.
I'm not sure what the app store was like before, but I couldn't find a single app that didn't have a subscription plan. Even a simple SSH client built using open source libraries wants $6.00/mo.
I totally understand why people groan and do a face palm any time they see yet another app wanting to charge them monthly, hoping that once there you'll forget that you've subscribed.
The only reason that I paid for Sync is that I've seen the dev interactions and their dedication to the project. I would never ever pay for a software subscription from any of the big players. For a single person setup, I'm more than happy to do it. I donate to my favorite podcasts and my favorite designers from Thingiverse.
Late stage capitalism and the rent-seeking economy sucks. But becoming accustomed to individuals paying other individuals is one of the things we're going to have to do to make it suck less.
From the developer's point of view, subscription makes more sense as people benefit from continual development and updates, and the dev continually gets paid for their time.
I paid $1 or $2 for sync pro like 9 years ago and back then, it took a lot to get me to pay for apps. The more I use the app, the more I got for my money per hour spent using the all. But the more work the dev did after he got my money, the less he gets paid for his labor, per hour.
Nowadays, $1-2 feels like a steal for an app, especially for a one time payment. I haven't paid for ad-free or ultra yet, but I intend to because he's shown a long history of listening to his user base and updating/fixing things in a timely manner, which that type of service also is something I value as a customer, even if it isn't a tangible benefit.
I'm one of those with subscription fatigue but that's not a problem with sync because you don't have to subscribe. You can just pay the one time ad-free option and that's all right with me. I honestly don't know what's going on with the vitriol against sync on lemmy. I think most people don't realise that nobody needs to subscribe to sync, you can use it for free with ads OR you pay the one time fee and have it ads free forever without the other subscription features.
Termius?
I might pay for their subscription if it was like $2 a year. Cloud sync is not worth $120 a year.
I only really need it when I'm transferring devices. Oddly enough, they also seem to give you a free one week trial whenever you do so.
I get that they're targeting enterprise customers, but they could just charge a smaller fee for individuals and go hard on companies who are skirting the rules.
I don't subscribe as a rule these days.Subscription fatigue is a real thing but I do make one time payments to regularly used services or apps across the year. I guess it's like tipping in that respect, I do it when I feel I should.
For Sync, the subscription seemed steep for an app for a platform I'm still only starting to use and don't use anywhere near Reddit levels (by design I might add) plus the one time payment seems similarly steep. I bought the pro for Reddit about 2 years before Reddit went full ham and was ready to spend the £8 of Google credit I have on it again if it turned out I used it/lemmy more than I do.
The issue I found is that feeding that back on anything like this hit the cult wall and you just get a lot of angry posting about you being cheap or just use the ads etc. Hell, you can see the same posts even in this thread which is only tangentially related to that whole quagmire. I had hoped that lemmy would be less vitriolic and more discussion based even on these kinds of things but I guess people are just tribalistic regardless.
I agree that subscription fatigue is a huge thing, and I avoid services as a rule of thumb unless there are real reasons for the subscription, ie ongoing usage based costs.
That said, I view $2 a month as a reasonable subscription cost, and if Reddit had charged that I would have happily paid it to keep bacon reader. It's only the one time payment cost that is very steep ($99).
I chip in $5/mo for lemmy.world to help pay to keep it ad free and running
Yeah i think cult mentality is the problem. If someone doesn't want to pay or cannot pay, it's their choice/circumstances. If they don't like sync's pricing and wanna stick to FOSS apps, it's their choice. I don't like to see people pushing around others for their choice of what they think is the best.
Good bloody grief! How did a reminder to support Lemmy devs and hosts get hijacked by Sync fans? Sync is a completely different topic.
Yeah, maybe shouldn't have mentioned sync in my post. I was just doing as a joke though.
It’s a fine segue. I’m just surprised at how many people jumped at the chance to talk about a different topic and ignore your actual message.
Thanks for the reminder, BTW. As soon as I find a permanent home, I’ll add them to the donations list.
Sync users are annoyed getting blasted with FOSS this and that. Other client users do not need to ridicule Sync fans. Or behave like houlier than thou and teach Sync users how to spend rheir money.
The title literally references Sync...if it didn't, your point would be stronger but I understand the spirit.
It does, but only as a contrast to point out that others in the ecosystem also deserve support. OP's post is literally a reminder that, without devs and hosts, Sync would have no reason to exist. It's about the devs and hosts.
Yeah. If you got 100$ to spare you should be giving it lemmy instead of sync.
Sync is $20 to remove ads no? Where is it $100?
Update: nevermind I see it here for sync ultra
The 100$ is very much a premium tier with nice to have features. The ad free version is around 20$, which is still steep but you're paying for lifetime ads.
you're paying for lifetime ads
You don't need to pay for that, just go to Reddit. Free unlimited lifetime ads! 😉
Can you not post from Sync presently?
Yeah, no posting yet. That's my big issue with Sync on Lemmy so far. Monetization was implemented and there were multiple price increases all before some of the most basic features of Lemmy are even on the app. When everything else is already fully functional and free, it just becomes a harder sell than it was on Reddit.
One change I'd recommend is some sort of "Pay what you want" option for a subscription. If he did a minimum of $2 a month, it would be about the same cost but would make users feel like they have more agency over how much they pay. While I'm sure many people would just pay the minimum, giving users more choice will just lead to people who want to chip in more. We've all paid $5 for a humble bundle, but I'm sure a few of us have also chipped in $100 if it was the right charity or cause.
"Coming Soon" is what pops up at the bottom.
Lemmy dev also has a Patreon
Personally, I think the app is absolutely fine without paying for the subscription. I really don't see too many ads. I get an average of one ad for every two refreshes of the feed when scrolling through, and none of them have been obtrusive. It's certainly night and day when compared to the ads in the official Reddit app.
I'm not seeing many ads tbh. However, I'm damn sure that it'll be ad-filled after sometime, specially since they are charging so much for the ad-free.
I mean it's just a port of the Reddit version that was made by the same dev and had been around for over a decade (with constant updates and improvements), I don't think enshittification is a given.
Depends on if their business model works. If enough people are paying for premium and using the free version of the app to pay for development, there is no reason for them to increase the amount of ads. In fact, if they do show too many ads, it will likely push a lot of users to alternate apps.
The ads weren't terrible on the free Reddit version, they're just inline ads between posts.
There may have been a banner on some galleries but I'm not sure if that's carried over also.
I run all my traffic through a slightly anonymizing VPN service that also blocks ads. Turns out the ads here are also blocked 🥳
You don't have to explain if you can't! Don't feel bad. Supporting yourself should definitely come first. Hope you are doing alright.
Like every open source projects, you can donate with money or your time. Both are equally valuable. Promoting the project, helping new users, heck, even being pleasant and help fostering positive environment in the fediverse so new users feel welcomed is actually very valuable (especially given current reputation of fediverse citizens being especially harsh to new users).
I don't get where this reputation came from? I've had more positive interactions on Lemmy in the last month than I had on Reddit in the last 10 years, literally. I feel like this is the internet equivalent of Iceland, everyone must think it is a frozen hellscape, but then you get here and it is actually a really nice place to be.
To add to this, it can even be as simple as reporting bugs you find, whether that be with the Lemmy code itself or a client you're using.
And that's totally fine. That's the beauty of the internet, not everybody has to pitch in, and if you can't you shouldn't feel bad about it. There was a time when I was a starving college student and was doing the five finger discount on a very regular basis. We're glad you're here regardless.
My egalitarian FOSS is showing lol
FYI if you still want to show support, librepay allows you to give a "symbolic donation" of just $0.01 a week, or $0.52 a year
The people who develop lemmy get paid to do so, as stated by iirc Dessalines themselves.
I would put donating to those running instances at the highest priority, because without servers, we have nothing.
That grant is coming to an end, if it hasn't already.
They get paid from an NLnet grant, but it's only for specific features (not bug fixing) and it's not a living wage
This is my biggest problem with it. I have no issue with Sync charging. I have an issue with Sync charging and not passing anything on to the developers of Lemmy.
I think lemmy instances should be able to charge for API acce... wait a minute
There's nothing wrong with charging for API access if the price is reasonable. Reddit was intentionally unreasonable to kill off 3rd party traffic. In 2022, the avg reddit user brought in $0.72 USD per year. If they charged just $1/yr, they'd increase their profit!
If it's a reasonable price that would be fine 🙂
Ha, touché. But the difference is that Reddit was already monetized via ads, while Lemmy is not.
My instance's owner has a Patreon. I give there. I definitely recommend that others do the same.
Is it just me or does Sync's pricing seem... Exorbitantly high?
It is. The Lemmy instance owners and the devs aren't even making a dime off the platform.
That said, the decision to pay is still ultimately up to the user. If you feel it's too pricey, then there's Liftoff, which is a perfectly fine app in itself. Others are okay with it or even better if regional pricing is launched.
I'm currently running infinity, seems OK... There's still a handful of features I'd like.
I am definitely not going to run Sync with adverts and I'm not paying the amount they're asking, neither am I going to go with subscription based.
If sync halved their ad free version, I'd probably pull the trigger - failing that, I'll eventually just hack up their client and remove the ads myself.
Exorbitant is the right word. A subscription model for a UI enhancement app is pretty ridiculous no matter what the price. Likewise, $20 to remove ads is absurd. A much more reasonable approach would be to charge upgrade fees to pay the dev for continued development as Lemmy evolves.
By contrast Tasker, an app that provides serious Android customization & script capabilities that enable users to enhance their entire Android experience, costs just $3.50.
As a long time Sync for Reddit user I planned to buy the Sync for Lemmy app but noped on out of there when I saw the pricing.
IMO the dev is trying to quickly replace his lost Sync for Reddit revenue before the Lemmy user base has grown enough to make that possible with reasonable pricing. Good for him that many of you are willing to pay what he's asking, but I'll be sticking with some of the other excellent apps available right now.
Infinity for Lemmy works really well despite its early development status: https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases
Based on the other comments, I definitely don't think you're alone.
Plus dev seems deaf to the feedback.
The person that runs my home instance appears to be from Ohio, I don't think I can sanction that buffoonery. /s
I'll kick some money towards them once I get bills for the month sorted.
Found the Michigander, unless there are other states that also like to banter toward Ohio.
/fellow Michigander
Iowa actually, Ohio banter is becoming somewhat universal I think. A different flavor of the Florida man meme.
I'm new to lemmy. What's a home instance?
Sync is making it so I don't need to think think hard. Makes head go ouchie.
It's like email, I have yahoo, you have gmail, your grandma has aol. Each is their "home" instance but they can all talk to each other. They're not in a walled garden and can only talk to themselves like whatsapp or reddit or twitter etc. Fediverse is an open platform and lemmy is a reddit-like part of it. Mastodon is a twitter-like part of it. Sync does do a great job, no need to make head go ouchie.
Much thanks. Me smart!
I'm new here also but I think it's the instance where you registered your account in. For example lemmy.world.
Registered your account in, yes, but more importantly - which home instance you're logged into at that particular moment.
There are three donation options on that page, LiberaPay, Patreon and OpenCollective. Which one take the least amount of fee from the donated money?
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it threw me off how short the donation list over $10 is and how many people donate on Patreon (obviously not the only way to donate). Thanks for the donation information!
Because people are cheap and don't like paying for online stuff. Then they complain about ads. How do people think this stuff works fairy dust and unicorn farts.
I don't think it's fair to call people cheap when I'm constantly seeing stuff about how much people are struggling financially. If people had more money to spare they'd care less about throwing it at random things.
I dunno, paying less than $10 is more than enough, definitely more than you could make from ads per person. And the reality is that not many people can afford to throw $10+ on every single online service.
If anything, it might be doable if you could pay, say, $50 and distribute that between everything based on your usage. But then service providers don't really want that either, they'd rather take all that just for themselves than share with others.
Yeah that sounds about right.
It's also possible to use the free version and just deal with ads. If you want lemmy to thrive, then sync is exactly the sort of thing we need (it's the only reason I'm here after the final death of RIF)
I haven't looked too deeply into the financing (recent migrant from Reddit). But would like to find out more.
Is Lemmy / Fediverse run like the Wikimedia Foundation?
Is current financing supporting the paid work and growth of servers etc?
What is considered a fair regular donation? Should I donate to Iemmy.org and the instance I have joined - lemmy.world? I would be happy to know what others here are contributing.
Thanks!
I'll throw some money in!
Is it true that purchases from sync for reddit don't carry over to sync for lemmy? I don't know how anyone could possibly justify a lifetime purchase if so.
They literally are making a new app that, sure, has a very similar look and feel but its for a completely different platform. Sure, it probably shares UI code, but I'm sure a lot of the code to pull from reddit had to be scrapped. I think they deserve to be compensated for their effort and giving any one the app just because they paid for a different app woyls not be compensarion for their efforts. They have to get paid so they can live just like you and me.
When you buy something you do not have to think whether the developer deserves it or not, especially for software where producing more copies is free. You decide whether it is worth it for you.
When you donate, you think about whether someone deserves it and who deserves your money most.
I mean, that's a problem with a "lifetime" purchase of anything, especially software.
But as long as your expected usage over your expected period of time is cheaper than a recurring subscription for the same period of time.
The true "lifetime purchase" for software, is the GPL.
Yes, that's correct
I don't know how anyone could possibly justify a lifetime purchase if so.
I don't know either. You can give your option, but be sure to let them do what they want to do
What is that link and who are those people? How do I find out who runs lemmy.world and how do I donate to them?
Lemmy donation https://join-lemmy.org/donate
Lemmy Instance patreon https://www.patreon.com/mastodonworld
Done! 😁
I support already on Patreon 👍
what's the lemmy patreon? i tried searching and didn't find anything?
that'd be a convenient way for me to kick in a few bucks a month, but i'd want to make sure the money's going somewhere worthwhile.
I thought the fuss was because of the apparent tracking, not the fact that it's a paid app?
It is absolutely blowing my mind how insular some people are. 'just let me use Sync', 'I just want to access Lemmy in my favourite app', 'who asked you for your opinion?'
It's like they don't know that the API their app accesses was built by a couple of guys or that the data their app consumes is paid for by people running that software. And then they get uppity when you point out to them that maybe a thread pointing out it might be a good idea to support those people isn't the place for them to tell everyone how much they love Sync.
For me, the fuss, in this thread is about Sync users inexplicable need to jump into a thread about supporting Lemmy development and keeping instances afloat with comments about how much they love Sync.
That was my bigger issue along with the GDPR compliance. The dev has said that clicking do not consent turns off consent but we've all see sites and apps where "legitimate interest" is skipped when you remove consent. That and the data that's collected seems a bit opaque. Now, I know these types of advertising platforms are often drop in solutions so it's possible the Dev just doesn't know that side. That being said they should be aware of these things when on a heavily FOSS skewed platform like this. The Dev seems responsive so I imagine this will all be smoothed out in future.
Help me here... What is the story about sync's pricing?
The story is basically that it's a really nice looking app, but $20 to remove the ads is a little steep comparatively. They also have subscription options which rub me the wrong way. Those are just my opinions though. If it was the only app available I would probably be much more vocal but the fact is there are dozens of other apps and more in development so it's not that big of a deal.
Its pricing seems unreasonable to a lot of people. Without premium you get ads which is why I have Infinity
The user interface is pretty nice though
Very true
and/or the people keeping your home instance.
And if you want to do both: my instance is a commercial one, part of the suite of services that provided by Communick. I'm pledging to give 20% of any eventual profits to the teams of the projects that I host there.
The plans are really cheap, and they get even cheaper if you purchase a "group package".
With all the talk about the big instances not managing to keep up with the influx of users, I'd ask you to consider joining or spreading the word about my work and what I am proposing as alternative model for a sustainable growth of the Fediverse.
I'm disabled and on a fixed income. I make less than minimum wage. The only thing I have to contribute are my occasional keen thoughts, but if you need me to leave, I can. I get that a lot.
I won't be buying or using Sync, as its pricing is prohibitive and ads sometimes include malware.
but if you need me to leave, I can. I get that a lot.
I don't think OP is suggesting this. It's simply a reminder to those who have the privilege of having extra income that contributing to the core devs improves the experience for everyone, regardless of their individual ability to contribute.
I'm personally happy to donate if it means everyone gets to continue enjoying the growth of the platform, as the real value of the threadiverse is user activity.
sometimes include malware
Source? That's a pretty serious accusation.
None other than the FBI: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221?=8324278624
I believe the post above yours is missing a semicolon or perhaps a clarification, so it should read something like:
I won't be buying or using Sync, as its pricing is prohibitive; and ads (in general) sometimes include malware.
While I'm all for using an ad-blocker, I don't think you have to worry too much about Google Ads containing malware, particularly if you don't click through.
AFAIK Google has pretty strict restrictions around the type and format of ads they will push and ad campaigns have to get approval before being activated.
So while I do strongly feel that everyone should be using an ad-blocker, I don't think malicious ads are of particular concern coming from Google's ad platform, on an android device.
I'm not English native and I often see Google ads in my language. Many of them are of very low quality and some ads connect to phishing links, weird apps or cover contents. I don't think Google strictly restrict them..
It's like people just can't shut up about this now. Jfc.
Kinda reminds me of spez not wanting third-party apps.
But also reminds me capitalism rapes like Cosby.
I'd rather give to lemmy as a whole. I'd maybe spend 2-3$ one time pay for unlimited updates and use of a sm app.
Suck it nerd.
My question is, why are people waiting until now to say you can donate to Lemmy devs? I haven't seen it discussed at all, anywhere, until someone released an app where they're asking for optional payments
Most instances also have donation links in the sidebar too
If the sync dev would be fair and not greedy, he would give at least the 2/3 of his revenues from the app to the Lemmy devs and the instances. Otherwise, I guess instances should be able to block these apps.
I understand everyone need to earn something. And keeping max 1/3 is good.
People need to understand and in priority the people coming from Reddit that Lemmy is not reddit. Reddit earns money with ads and investors. They could inject ads through the APIs and states in the usage terms that 3rd party devs could not remove them. They didn't do it.
Lemmy is a complet other story. Lemmy rely on donations. So, when someone donates to the Lemmy devs and/or instances, the dev of a paid app is making money on this donation. Without the Lemmy devs and the instances, the paid app would not exist at all. It's not fair at all to not share the revenue of these apps.
These paid apps and their devs are at best predators and at least parasitics.
if you're not greedy you would pay lemmy dev, and whatever lemmy app you use
Relying on the donation of others to the Lemmy dev and instances to make profits is way more greedy. It is even parasitic on one side.
People not donating is a thing but they don't make profits. It's a huge difference on the greedy scale.
This whole comment is ridiculous. People are happy to pay for a better experience (for them). You can do/say whatever you want. So can I. So can he. Things in the world aren't free. There is a continual narrative that everything should be FOSS. In a perfect world: sure. In our world we need money to live.
I'm happy to pay for the ad free version of sync. And happy that the profits go to the app maker to do whatever he wants.
Making up fractions like 1/3 is useless and arbitrary at best. You have no idea how much he makes or even what 1/3 would mean.
Edit: If instances block these apps, it defeats the purpose of an open fediverse. .. also sounds just like reddit.
Things in the world aren’t free.
Did I write that? I explicitly wrote he can keep 1/3. It doesn't make it free at all, knowing the other 2/3 going to the Lemmy devs and instances. Nothing is free in this model. It's about the fairness.
1/3 isn't arbitrary. You have 3 parties here, the app dev, the lemmy devs and the lemmy instances. The first relies entirely on the second and the third, who are in a donation model. Without these two, the first is at best useless, therefore giving 2/3 to the other parties is fine. Cutting the revenues of the app in 3 for each party is fair.
Lemmy devs are commies, they don't need capitalist money.
"Don't make me tap the sign"
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-somewhat
Heh, if only we could leave the concept of money by moving to some country where it doesn't exist.
If we had space travel, I would get off this rock and go somewhere else. Unfortunately we are stuck here.
So now, somehow, money became a capitalist concept?
A turnip and a potato is all they need.
If I understand right, the lemmy devs are already paid to develop lemmy full time. I don't fully understand the arrangements or who's paying them though.
Not quite. This is from their OpenCollective Page:
"Lemmy is entirely open source and funded exclusively by donations. The maintainers dessalines and nutomic have been working on it full time for the past years thanks to generous support by the NLnet foundation. Now that this support is coming to an end, the project is increasingly relying on donations from individual users to fund development. Your donation allows the developers to fully focus on making Lemmy better for everyone."
NLNet was sponsoring Lemmy for about 1500 euro per month according to dessalines: https://github.com/LemmyNet/joinlemmy-site/blob/main/src/assets/news/2023-06-17%20-%20Update%20from%20Lemmy%20after%20the%20Reddit%20blackout.md
Edit: I was wrong, it's 45000 euro total, split into several payment milestones: https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/hezuy1/nlnet_funding_and_lemmy_070_with_new_image_hosting/
Why did NLnet sponsor the development for years, and now when Lemmy is successful, they stop sponsoring it?
What was the goal of the sponsorship?
The https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/ link goes on about how the internet is preditory today and big tech exploits users, and then at the end:
Lemmy is an open source tool that helps users discover what the fediverse has to offer as a decentralized alternative to for example Reddit. Everyone can host their own instance of Lemmy, determine their own moderation policy to keep discussion as civil as you would like and let users share, post, vote and interact without any corporate interference, all from the comfort of their server of choice. Search and discovery on the fediverse becomes easier, more fun and social, without forgoing independence and agency.
Yeah ok, so why stop sponsoring the solution?
Last I checked, the Sopuli admin said that running his instance cost pocket change, $20-30 a month. That might have been before the explosive growth though.
I do think he had a donate link to buy them coffee though.
I just subbed to Sync, I love how it works and the little I can support the dev I am happy to. But yes not everyone is in the same boat.
You may have misunderstood, I was saying along with supporting the sync dev, the backend that powers sync was made by very different developers. Their work powers lemmy as a whole. If you can, you can support them by donating using this link: join-lemmy.org/donate
They can get paid, but $20 for lifetime ad removal, and $130+ sync ultra whatever it's called?
That's not beer money like another commenter said, that's fraud and stealing money for barely anything to give for it.
I should go check on my admin lol
Calling it fraud and stealing money is uncool. People aren't being forced to use the app or pay for the subscription. Let people spend their own money however they see fit.
Idiotic take
How is it fraud ?
You can’t be serious lol
You know you don’t have to use it right?
He made on of the best Reddit apps ever. Supported his app for like 10 years.
20 is nothing.
Oh yeah $20 is fine albeit a bit too much for ad removal but fine
What I really have gripes with is the $130+ ultra thing. I saw that and noped the fuck outta that app and uninstalled it as quickly as I installed it.
It also doesn't help that when I bought sync pro it was equivalent to or less than $10 and now he wants $20 for a basic ad removal? He's greedy.
That's how things should work honestly. Those that can chip in, should. A beer every so often goes a long way. It's honestly something I barely notice in my finances too. This time it goes to something I believe in instead of a twitch sub lol.
Don't get me started on twitch subs. Supporting a creator you like is fine, but spending 100s of dollars on gift subs is so stupid.
Twitch looking at their top creators leaving for other platforms.
Increasing our revenue share, unilaterally, should fix this.
Eli5 gift subs?
"Supporting creators is fine, but supporting them more is so stupid"
Ok LUL.
Yep! The developer of Connect for Lemmy is getting caffeinated on a regular basis by me. It's a perfect fit for the RIF gap in my heart. ;)
He/She(?) is doing an awesome job and it's amazing how far this app has come in just a few short weeks. I am trying to keep the dev motivated as much as possible, for sure!
My only gripe is that it's not open source, but that is OK.
"They"
Agreed, I started donating to Lemmy as soon as I switched, and I'm happy to pay for sync too. I want to support this ecosystem.