bluesky is technically decentralized, but the way it does it makes self-hosting all but impossible due to storage requirements. because of that, it really isnt. its like how a lot of ai models are ‘open-source’ even though the training data isnt available and the ai is still effectively a black box. it isnt decentralized unless anyone can make an instance, just like how it isnt open-source unless you have access to everything that makes it work (yes, by this definition chromium and android aren’t truly open-source, and I stand by that).
but can I use a random old computer I have in my house to run an instance as long as there are a managable number of users? renting a server isnt self hosting. making one yourself is self hosting.
You can easily run a PDS, that’s the main public-facing part, you’d need port forwarding and a domain name for this.
Appviews are easier to host imo, https://github.com/alnkesq/AppViewLite is what I use. You can run this on a PC right now, and log in with your bluesky account.
thats not a whole instance though. thats just a place for an account to be. on activity pub platforms anyone can just make an entire indepent and independently functional instance of the platform.
The thing is, there are no instances in ATProto. Instances are an ActivityPub thing.
There are PDS + Appviews + relays. All three aspects are self-hostable and can be combined in any way. The appview you use is not limited by your PDS (while in AP the type of instance you run very much limits the number of fronteds and clients you can use), nor is your relay.
A person could selfhost their own pds, use the blacksky relay and the deer.social appview, to give an example.
this is literally the exact same for the fediverse. it is near impossible to own your data. if you want to own your data, you have to own others’ data, and you’re practically isolated in a black box unless you spam hashtags and spam follow people.
big instances still have a massive control over the entirety of the fediverse for whatever category (e.g. micro-blogging) they are in
bluesky is technically decentralized, but the way it does it makes self-hosting all but impossible due to storage requirements. because of that, it really isnt. its like how a lot of ai models are ‘open-source’ even though the training data isnt available and the ai is still effectively a black box. it isnt decentralized unless anyone can make an instance, just like how it isnt open-source unless you have access to everything that makes it work (yes, by this definition chromium and android aren’t truly open-source, and I stand by that).
The storage requirements aren’t an issue anymore.
You can self host everything for around ~$34 a month.
@gabboman@app.wafrn.net runs an alternate bluesky instance (kinda) and he’s not bankrupt yet. Hell, it was on a free oracle server for a while.
but can I use a random old computer I have in my house to run an instance as long as there are a managable number of users? renting a server isnt self hosting. making one yourself is self hosting.
Yes, you can.
You can easily run a PDS, that’s the main public-facing part, you’d need port forwarding and a domain name for this.
Appviews are easier to host imo, https://github.com/alnkesq/AppViewLite is what I use. You can run this on a PC right now, and log in with your bluesky account.
thats not a whole instance though. thats just a place for an account to be. on activity pub platforms anyone can just make an entire indepent and independently functional instance of the platform.
Have you even looked at wafrn
Doesn’t seem like they did. Sorry for all the negativity you are facing in this thread, thank you for your work on wafrn.
Its ok no worries
Fedi people looses it with atproto
I’ve been using https://deer.social/ recently, it’s okay. I’m not that big on microblogging, but it works alright.
Let’s start to argue about important things, like why ATProto has a 300 character limit!
but why would you want your account tied to a specific software and index
The thing is, there are no instances in ATProto. Instances are an ActivityPub thing.
There are PDS + Appviews + relays. All three aspects are self-hostable and can be combined in any way. The appview you use is not limited by your PDS (while in AP the type of instance you run very much limits the number of fronteds and clients you can use), nor is your relay.
A person could selfhost their own pds, use the blacksky relay and the deer.social appview, to give an example.
Also: you can easily self host an appview (check appviewlite), and you can set it to crawl PDSes directly, instead of using a relay.
???
The PDS and the Appview combined are equivalent to an instance. Both run on shitware.
Yeah
No, you can’t. You can have a custom domain (“PDS” is the term they invented for this) but it still relies on bluesky’s servers.
this is literally the exact same for the fediverse. it is near impossible to own your data. if you want to own your data, you have to own others’ data, and you’re practically isolated in a black box unless you spam hashtags and spam follow people.
big instances still have a massive control over the entirety of the fediverse for whatever category (e.g. micro-blogging) they are in
but I could still easily make my own instance and be outside of that influence.
app.wafrn.net. Alt-atproto server, outside of bluesky’s control.