""" An open source project the size of Lemmy needs constant work to manage the project, implement new features and fix bugs. Dessalines and Nutomic work full-time on these tasks and more. As there is no advertising or tracking, all of our work is funded through donations. Even so there is barely enough time in the day, and no time for a second job. The only available option are user donations. To keep it viable donations need to reach a minimum of 5000€ per month, resulting in a modest salary of 2500€ per developer. If that goal is reached we can stop worrying about money, and fully focus on improving the software for the benefit of all users and instances. We especially rely on recurring donations to secure the long-term development and make Lemmy the best it can be.
If you want more information before donating, consider the comparison with Reddit. It began as startup funded by rich investors. The site is managed by corporate executives who over time have become more and more disconnected from normal users. Their main goal is to make investors happy and to make a profit. This leads to user-hostile decisions like firing the employee responsible for AMAs, blocking third-party apps and more. As Reddit is a single website under a single authority, it means all users need to follow the same rules, including ridiculous ones like censoring the name "Luigi".
Lemmy represents a new type of social media which is the complete opposite of Reddit. It is split across many different websites, each with its own rules, and managed by normal people who actually care about the users. There is no company and no profit motive. Much of the work is carried out by volunteer admins, mods and posters, who contribute out of enthusiasm and not for money. For users this is great as there is no advertising nor tracking, and no chance of takeover by a billionaire. Additionally there are no builtin political or ideological restrictions. You can use the software for any purpose you like, add your own restrictions or scrutinize its inner workings. Lemmy truly belongs to everyone.
Note: Donations via OpenCollective also finance the hosting of lemmy.ml, which is used to test new versions before release.
Nutomic and Dessalines, Lemmy Developers """"
19 Comments
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 19 pts · 3d
No offense to the Lemmy project as a whole, but those authoritarian tankies won't see a cent of my money.
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 3d
I'll do it instead then because I don't care for vapid buzzwords
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 18 pts · 3d
Dessalines tried to build a hardcoded "bad word" filter into the Lemmy backend, very open source of him. It got canned by the community backlash only after someone dug it up.
And the Lemmy.ML instance that these two devs directly administer is very well known for banning anyone who speaks critically of China or Russia in any capacity, with all the misinformation and propaganda that comes with it.
It is not a vapid buzzword. They do not deserve your western money.
lithiumground@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 3d
So , what ? dont use lemmy.ml , ban lemmy.ml and you will not see it. Does imperialist israel accept criticism?
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · -5 pts · 3d
Then take it to one of the many anti "tankie" instances and communities on Lemmy (which are free to express their views in whatever way they like without intervention from the Lemmy devs). That's what the fediverse is all about, operating your community in whatever way you see fit.
I really do not care if they critically support Russia and China, in fact I prefer it to supporting western "democracies". I think they do good work and am happy to support.
moderatecentrist@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 3d
I think it is surely true that EU countries (just as a sample of "western" countries) are quite a bit more democratic than Russia is
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · 0 pts · 3d
Rings a bit hollow when European countries have their police kicking the shit out of people on behalf of Israel and have justice systems set up to protect the wealthy/political class and not ordinary people. They're trying their best to become everything they accuse Russia of being. The Euro superiority complex is built on lies.
lithiumground@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 3d
Well done!
lithiumground@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 3d
Well done!
timewarp@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 3d
It is the same "anti-tankie" people that will mass downvote videos of Ukrainian military beating citizens and kidnapping them, and that constantly post weird pro-war graphics bragging about the number of people they claim Ukraine has killed. They aren't anti-tankie at all. Oddly, or predictably, they are almost always entirely silent about Israel, Lebanon, etc. The anti-tankies are usually some of the biggest tankies there are.
lithiumground@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
100% true. If you criticize them in ukrainian communities, you will get banned. Freedom of speech is exist in Europe only of it serves their interest.
timewarp@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 3d
Yesh, people that love to use buzzwords like tankies typically would have been the first to defend Democrats funding Israel's genocide.
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com · 0 pts · 3d
lithiumground@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 3d
Do you have better decentralized project ? You can fork the project and independently improve it, so we will use your product. I dont care about their ideology, I care about the system. Thanks to that community ,we can use lemmy today.
cecilkorik@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2d
Piefed is already doing that, frankly.
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 15 pts · 3d
no, because I do not support transphobes; and lemmy is already in a good position where no further development sans security and bug fixes would be required, imho.
erebion@news.erebion.eu · 5 pts · 3d
That. And also Piefed exists. I migrated my own instance to it, it's simpler to host and requires less resources.
mrdown@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 3d
Piefed implement China like authoritarian features
kubofhromoslav@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3d
Well, doing a software maintenance is not a small task. And it is important for a software of scale of Lemmy.
In the same time, if the developers insist of using the donations for the "testing" instance that is known for political censorship and that would probably be vastly defederated if it wasn't the "official" one, it becomes questionable who should donate...
I am OK about people funding a software to promote their goals (unless it's a misuse of monopoly or something similar). I just don't belong to the target group. The developers clearly need the resources main. Maybe a solution could be that only people politically aligned with the maintenars donate to them and use Lemmy, and we others could migrate to PieFed and donate for its maintenance and development.
thesdev@feddit.org · 1 pts · 3d
I don't support transphobes, but using their products though? Absolutely, why not!