I kinda like looking at Lemmy as a sort of Internet Pub on steroids (Activity Pub). Kind of like a busy street with all kinds of pubs, libraries, bookstores etc. But where those places have something to sell like liquor, coffee or books, Lemmy does not really have anything to sell but just offers a place of conversation. It alsof isn’t for everyone, anybody can join but each pub had their own rules.
I see a Lemmy admin like a barkeeper of one of the many pubs around. We sit in this one pub with one owner but we meet a lot of people from other pubs around. And if we like, we can walk across the street and visit somewhere else or even move there permanently. We have options, we as users have more power and especially actual alternatives to go to.
Donating is a thing to help the pubs keep existing. Like tipping the waiter. I’m a big fan of OpenCollective and Patreon for how they allow these small groups of people to take back parts of the internet for themselves!
There is no need to commercialize this space, it’s largely for conversation. Here there is no need for the waiter tot eastdrop on conversations, to make the pub all smart or to guilt you into a VIP pass tot enter.
I really hope we can find a way to tip the waiters and barkeepers incidentally like we would in a pub. Like a donation, and maybe also a more prominent place like a tip jar for the instance visible in posts or just the website. I think we can make it work, if we really try.
Yeah the big pubs might come knocking, but its up to each of us to decide if we want to visit any of their places.
PocketCasts but lately more AntennaPod for Podcasts
Plex(amp) and Spotify for music