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!
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?
Subs = subscriptions.
A sub on Twitch gives you a badge and special emojis on your subbed channel (streamer).
You also have the option to gift (randomly) 1, 5, 25, 50, 100 subs to random followers (users).
A sub costs $5 in the US, you can gift 100 subs ($500) if you want to.
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.
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.
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
I swear I'm trying to not be a dick but it's like they saw their favorite word and ignored everything else. It's giving twitter stan.
If all the big instances go away through lack of financial support, they're going to find out they paid $130 to swap Sync memes with the 3 people left.
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.
Agree. The service needs money and if it's used hours a week... it may deserve some monthly cash.
But spez. Spez had to spez. I try not to click reddit answers on Google now. Someone else can get that traffic/click.
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?
They think its about the app itself and not about a reminder that if lemmy instances aren't funded, Sync will be desolate. Which will mean that the $5.00-$1xx they may or may not spend on Sync would be for an effectively dead app.
The last I read, the instance was already fully-funded through the end of the year.
Why is the notion that the instance is going under something lemmings keep bringing up? Yes... I understand the model. But it is fully funded - or was. Why are people acting like the instance is about to fail?
Should we start rumors that the instance is about the fail? Or... are recent facts useful, here?
Yes, there are other instances, but the preponderance of Sync users joined lemmy.world.
It's been an entire 24 hours bruh. I'm not reading that, I've moved on, have a good day.
Makes sense. No one is entitled to the labor of others.
Applies here, too.
If no one else is reading this, something is fishy with votes. No... not preoccupied with the vote. Preoccupied with what it may indicate. It is, as you've indicated, stale.
You're absolutely correct. Anyone can enjoy any app they like and either pay for it or not.
But coming into a thread about ways to ensure Lemmy gets the support it needs to develop and instances get the support they need to keep going to tell everyone how much you love your app is infantile.
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 🤷♂️
Ohh, that's mine. Sorry if my post annoyed you, i'm just trying my best adding content to lemmy. Funny enough, i'm really to throw money at ultra sub because i love reddit sync, but seeing the pricing and no regional price while the app still in beta state, i'd rather not, for now.
App is nice though, feels like home.
There is regional pricing though, look at the comments under posts about removing ads. Some are paying the equivalent of $15, others €18 to €23.
Cool. What are the regional prices for your home instance? Your home instance is where you created your account, just to give you a head start.
Pretty sure my region is where my Google account is set up rather than my instance, and I'm at the upper end of the prices I saw. Thanks for the head start in the wrong direction though.
The point was to have you look at your instance admins donation links, since that's what the thread is about.
Edit: you're on the same instance as me! In that case, here's the relevant information
https://opencollective.com/mastodonworld And https://www.patreon.com/mastodonworld/posts
Well yeah I get the instances need donations, the person I replied to was talking about regional pricing in sync
lol it's all good 😁 I don't mind the posts at all
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.
Q on infinity, is it possible to hide/collapse comments? When I click on a comment, it just shows/hides the toolbar. That's what's stopping me from using at the moment.
On infinity a long press will collapse all comments replying to that comment. With the "Fully collapse comment" setting enabled (under Interface->comment) it will collapse that comment too. The setting "Swap tap and long press in comments" (under Gestures & buttons) will make it so tapping has that effect instead. In the comment toolbar, to the left of the save comment button there is an up arrow that also triggers the collapse of the comment.
Thank you!
Edit: back on infinity with this change :)
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.
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.
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.
You realize this branch started with someone adding 0 content about supporting the server or lemmy?
I'm not sure if this is your first time using threaded conversation based software but that's really not how a thread works.
This is what I see in Jerboa.
Is that not the first response to OP on this branch?
Please see my previous response.
Is this a point about using the word, "branch."
Or you pointing out that conversation organically drifts? Or something else?
It's point about the fact that comments on a post are all part of the topic of that post and using the word 'branch' to try and infer that this is somehow a whole new subject under discussion is daft. Why do you think so many communities have 'stay on topic' as one of their rules?
I was going a different route. You've only policed the topic in a specific direction (that I've seen).
You're not obligated (and it would look Quixotic) to police every comment. But you sure took on a handful.
I haven't seen that the mods care. I've seen that you do as do some others, but what I see is discussion branching from different elements of the original submission. Like what happens on threaded discussion boards.
Lemmy is for discussion, those will sometimes wind around in a stream of (group) consciousness way. I understand some optics issues with bringing up the app, but it was in the original submission. People on both "sides" took the mention of the app and commented completely divorced from the state aim of the post. While those that mentioned the app and were on topic - those you policed.
If the mods care to force narrow conversation, that's up to them.
'policed' - lol :)
I genuinely don't give a shit about what app anybody uses. I'm not anti or pro any particular app. Feel free to go through my comment history and you'll see mention of Sync in this and only this thread. Why?
Because a) I don't give a shit what app people use and b) this isn't a thread about Sync. The fact that the word 'Sync' appears in the title and body is used in an illustrative way to highlight the fact that Lemmy as a piece of software was developed by two guys who were given a grant. It needs funding via donations. Instance owners also need funding via donations. If these two things don't happen Lemmy goes away. That's the point of this thread, irregardless of what language or words were used. I'm not OP so I can't say why they chose to use Sync as an example.
When Sync users jump in to tell everyone how much they love Sync, that detracts from the point of the thread. It dillutes it and all of a sudden everyone's talking about Sync, not what the thread subject is about. OP and a couple others tried to go through this thread telling Sync posters that that wasn't the point of thread. Then Sync posters got annoyed and we started getting the 'I just want to use Sync', 'why do you care?' comments. So we responded to those too.
Mods are only going to step in if a thread gets nasty, which it hasn't. It's just very very frustrating to see a thread hijacked by people who want to talk about how great an app is in a thread designed to draw attention to the fact that Lemmy as a piece of software and instance owners - both of which any app absolutely requires in order to function - need support.
If you or anyone else wants to talk about Sync in a positive or negative way then I'm sure there are communities you can do that in. There's absolutely no need to enshittify a thread that has absolutely no bearing on Sync (or any other app) as a piece of software, especially when that thread discusses a subject as absolutely vital to the continued existence, growth and maturation of Lemmy as this.
Again this is organic. A large influx of sync users started being active on Lemmy. It will fade out in a matter of days.
I understand the sentiment but honestly feel like people are creating unnecessary drama. This is just a temporary trend just like we had days and days of beans meme which was also mildly annoying after 5/6 days.
True, drama hits everywhere, but it can easily be avoided in a post about the importance of supporting lemmy development and instance sustainability by not going on that post to comment how much you personally love a for-profit app. Or any app in fact.
My guy go read the threads title
My guy read the actual post.
They are both the submission. Unfortunately OP made sync's cost part of the topic and the pivot point into a reasonable ask.
Headlines matter and cannot be completely separated from the entirety of the message.
Y'know, most people are capable of nuance and ascertaining meaning from context.
I'm telling you bruh, no reading comprehension at all 😂😂😂
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.
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.
Sync was mostly drama free but there were two things I noticed on reddit.
Sometimes when free version users come to troubleshoot an issue, premium users would try to convince them to buy the pro version to support the developer without offering a solution(most likely because they can't offer a solution). I was in many different third party apps and this was absurd to me. I don't recall seeing anything like this in any of the other third party app subreddits. A reason behind this might be the large userbase. Sync has a much larger userbase than most third party android apps. Also, sync dev and the moderators were chill. It was just comments from random users.
The developer once released a major update which many old time users didn't like. They raged to the point that the sync dev took a pretty long break to the point people were wondering if sync was abandoned or not. Even his own moderators lost contact with him. I wasn't even subscribed to the sync subreddit when this happened and l learned of it like a few weeks or maybe a month or two later from I think r/androidapps or a similar subreddit where people were discussing their favourite third party apps.
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 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.
You should want to at least chuck a dollar to your home instance. Sync won't have damn content on it if there's no Lemmy instances to pull from.
I agree, some of these users in Sync threads are just straight up fucking annoying. Not even with their opinions that Sync is the best, that's inconsequential in my opinion and fine, but I've had to stand up to a few really ignorant and a couple of really dumb takes regarding FOSS recently. I'm a FOSS advocate, but I believe in using the best tool/app/option firstly and I generally avoid recommendations unless they are sought after, but I just can't stand by when inaccuracies and hypocritical takes are being thrown around regarding FOSS.
I had someone essentially arguing for security through obscurity with this comment recently:
Another user with another bad take:
Like hello? That proprietary app just got killed by a proprietary platform, and was saved by a FOSS platform. And backing of a company? Also might want to check out killedbygoogle.com
With that said, Sync is really polished, it's been in development for a long time now so it's going to have that advantage over other clients. It has by far the most customization I've tried, which I absolutely love, and it runs smoothly. Right now it has a major glitch with comment sorting by top, but once that is fixed, then it is worth $20 for ad-free. And annoying Sync users aside, that's how I feel about Sync.
I also support Jerboa, and have sent them money. And in all honestly, even though Jerboa doesn't have the customization that Sync has right now, it runs just as smoothly and the defaults align with my wants and needs so it doesn't need the extra customization for me personally. When Jerboa adds a default comment sorting option, it's going to be my preferred client.
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.
It's the former.
The second bad take lmao. Is this actually from lemmy?
Yeah, unfortunately, although they were kbin users. I made lengthy responses to both of those individuals. If you want to read a lot of really bad takes, here you go:
https://old.lemmy.world/comment/2003731?context=4
Although, I narrowly avoided an aneurysm reading their comments, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Welp, that was something to read
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.
No need to apologise for anything bud, this is the Internet where Linus rants daily! We all do!
I understand you're fed up with all the sync bs. I just think we have to try to turn this in/to a way everybody gets better from it.
The reddit refugees are happy because "this feels just like home", they(we) don't care it's 20 bucks!
The og Foss crowd grumpingly :) accepts the higher amount of contributions which stems from that. (this is the point we've to drive home to ljdawson(sync dev)
And we all benefit because the fediverse grows and keeps growing, more content, more everything. Shiny beautiful future, end to war and world hunger, beginning of a new era where humanity reaches for the stars or dies because of a rogue AI or because of a runaway greenhouse effect.
Wait. No, not those last ones. It should have a happy ending.
Anyway: Everybody is happy. More or less. :) *for a while. *
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.
Wait wait, what is segue ?? 😂 in my language it means "a wanking session" lmao
LOL! That's... disturbing... in this case. Funny image, though. And perhaps appropriate given how excited Sync makes some of its users. ;>
It means a smooth transition from one thing to another. In this case, using Sync to introduce the discussion about supporting devs and instances.
It means transition in English 😅
Pronounced the same as Segway. link to hear it
Thanks TIL
What a peculiar coincidence...
You are? It's quite the hot topic right now.
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.
They are free to stay closed-source proprietary but prople have the right to voice their opinions.
That is not holier than thou.
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.
It appears to be hijacked by FOSS fans from what I see.
All I know is I'm already sick of this anti-FOSS users narrative.
I don't even get how someone can be anti-foss. I feel like it's a necessity until a critical mass adopts the platform.
We must be looking at different threads, unless Sync is FOSS.
Yeah. If you got 100$ to spare you should be giving it lemmy instead of sync.
The difference is that some users have been using sync for a decade and using Lemmy for only a month. So it's a lot easier to mentally justify supporting a developer who you've been benefiting from for so long.
I have also donated to my local instance, I really hope to see it all grow together.
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 don't need to pay for that, just go to Reddit. Free unlimited lifetime ads! 😉
This is all I've been trying to get across, y'all won't be able to enjoy your sync if the admins can't pay for the servers. Seek out your home instance's donation links and come up out them pockets like y'all did for Lawrence. This applies to everyone else too, but since I can clearly see sync users commenting that they paid to remove ads or for lifetime access to upcoming features(like posting), I know they have the money 😂
As far as .World goes, their lowest Patreon sub is $1 a month.
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.
Yeah, the pricing doesn't match the available feature. I feel like if he price it accordingly to the release and the set of feature, it will fare much better. Like right now he could price it lower, then later on when in full release, raise the price, and then after a while raise the price again.
"Coming Soon" is what pops up at the bottom.
You can comment, just not post
Right. I should have clarified. You can't create a post in a community yet.
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.
Well, compared to Reddit getting filled with "ad looking like real post", and "ad written as a comment", and "mass downvote everyone except the ad"... it's really hard to stoop that low.
What is likely to keep Sync in check, are the alternative apps. Reddit got enshittified because it became the single point of failure.
I don't think it's a given and the dev has a proven track record.
...buuuuuutttt they did move to a much smaller userbase so I wonder how many ads he will need for sustainability.
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 🥳
Same. I have a PiHole on my home network and it blocks the ads in Sync. I still see the empty box where the ad would be though. If I am out of the house the only way I can get that ad blocking back is by connecting to my home VPN server.
In my experience, AdGuard has a more useful (free for home use) server that mirrors the pihole service. It's more customizable, and this bit is probably the key here, and you can have different rules for different devices/network numbers
I can make different rules based on the device group with PiHole.
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
How to prevent it from becoming a Wikipedia situation then with server owners begging for money constantly?
Accept the instance owners will be forced to turn to shittier methods of income, like ads.
Spreading the load over many small instances will likely prevent this. It can be quite cheap to host lemmy well, but everything is expensive when you scale up 1000x
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!
Hell, I would even dare say, the best way to do it is to have the API be free up to a certain usage, at which point it becomes paid. Then the price scales down as you get even more and more usage.
This allows newcomers to the app space to get their footing, and punishes people trying to automate vote bots while rewarding established devs.
Yes I know, it was just pretty funny that the first comment I saw was about a paid 3rd party app not paying for access, when this was one of reddit's "official" reasons for the changes.
Exactly, this is something I see people not talk about as much. Charging for API access is not new and actually reasonable. Handling API calls costs money after all. The issue was the intentionally ridiculous price.
If it's a reasonable price that would be fine 🙂
a reasonable price that's not foisted without notice? who makes such reasoned business decisions?
"because twitter did it" Spez's stupid ass thought he should follow suit. idiot's dumber than a bag of hammers.
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.
Instead of hacking Sync to remove the ads, why not spend the same time helping with a free app to add the features you want?
I don't have free time to start a project like that, removing ads from an apk is trivial.
There are plenty of FOSS apps for Lemmy out there, no need to "start" any project, just lend a hand
Nah... I don't think that's for me 👍
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.
Thanks in advance on behalf of your ohioian admin!
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.
LJ reading through this thread
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.
Yep! The both of you have accounts on lemmy.world just like me. So if you pop over to our lemmy.world community, and click the "about" tab / sidebar at the bottom should be a link for donations via Patreon and another one that's escaping me. I'll just add the link in a sec
Edit: here ya go!
https://opencollective.com/mastodonworld
And
https://www.patreon.com/mastodonworld/posts
Registered your account in, yes, but more importantly - which home instance you're logged into at that particular moment.
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)
Yes, and if you want Lemmy to thrive, donate to your home instance admins and the Lemmy devs (read: not the same as an app developer) if possible.
Edit: @dogebread has a point, "No" is abrasive. Adjusting.
So abrasive. What you said is not in competition with the parent comment, so why the "no"? You mean to say "yes and" because we need both user engagement and longevity.
I was focused on "things like sync are needed for lemmy to thrive", lemmy can't thrive if the servers aren't covered financially.
Lol, I did the same thing the sync users in the comments did and ignored most of the message.
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.
There are three donation options on that page, LiberaPay, Patreon and OpenCollective. Which one take the least amount of fee from the donated money?
They've mentioned they prefer liberapay
Opencollective has PayPal ☝🏻 Best choice for me
Ended up using opencollective as well because of Paypal. But using credit card seems to have a bit lower fee than Paypal. Maybe I'll use that for the next donation.
Using Credit card with other currencies than euros, my bank charges me fees. PayPal does not, that's why I always prefer PayPal
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!
https://opencollective.com/mastodonworld And https://www.patreon.com/mastodonworld/posts
The above links are where you would donate to your home instance. The Patreon's lowest monthly donation is $1, donation priority should probably be your home instance first, then lemmy devs, but it's up to you.
Thanks for the links and info! How much are people donating on average?
Idk, but head over to the lemmy.world community for more information. I gotta study.
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'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 either. You can give your option, but be sure to let them do what they want to do
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?
The only reason I keep coming back to this thread is to point the sync users towards donating, but they just keep talking about sync prices as if that's keeping their home instance up and running. There appears to be a real lack in reading comprehension or perhaps it's just ignorance to how lemmy works / how to support the platform. Either way, I'm here to help.
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.
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 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.
Interesting approach, could be a good solution for some of the issues mentioned in this thread.
If I were in your shoes, I'd run this back as a separate post in the same community, because a lot of people could be very interested in this idea, but you dropped it in a somewhat volatile comment section.
That got a lot longer than I expected :)
It's written very well though!
Thank you, but I guess that the fans from lemmy.world are not too happy about it. It's being downvoted like crazy.
I get that cash is a hot topic, but leveraging off Sync (even if coded) makes Sync the topic.
For now, that's a polarizing topic.
Thank you for the suggestion. I will do so. :)
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.
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.
Source? That's a pretty serious accusation.
None other than the FBI: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221?=8324278624
TIL that the FBI recommends using an ad blocker.
I believe the post above yours is missing a semicolon or perhaps a clarification, so it should read something like:
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..
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.
It's like people just can't shut up about this now. Jfc.
Suck it nerd.