Personally, if an instance is run off of donations, then it's a nice to have. As an admin, you shouldn't have that expectation. If you no longer want to volunteer your time, then don't. Shut the instance down, find someone to help you maintain the instance, or pass the instance off to someone else.

I'm also okay with paid instances and admins trying to make a reasonable salary or even making additional profit as long as it's transparent to the users. It's their choice to charge, it's our choice to pay.

Overall, instances should be run by a group of volunteers, not a single individual. Otherwise, the long term viability of the instance is questionable.

[–] Wiz@midwest.social 13 points 5 days ago (3 children)

My local Madison insurance is forming a steering committee and has created an LLC. (I'm a member of the committee.) We will solicit donations, because mostly it has been one guy paying for a small regional instance of about 100 AU.

We think of it like public broadcasting, like PBS. I will be happy to kick in a few dollars per month to pay for it. We have contests, online meetups, and other fun. It's not just Mastodon, it's an active regional online community, and it's worth it.

(I also donate to my Lemmy instance, because it's worth it too!)

[–] ilovepiracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Is it an Australian instance? whats the domain?

[–] Wiz@midwest.social 1 points 5 days ago

100 active users, sorry

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