There is nothing wrong with using standard phrases, but everything wrong with gatekeeping them.

And yes, I’m looking at you, @ElBarto777@reddthat.com!

/scnr

Well, just for playing around you should be able to set it up using something like dyndns on a laptop at home, at no cost (except for time). If you want to go for it, that’s what I would suggest :-) When that works, think about getting the virtual-root-server at monthly costs…

Depends, what do you mean with “no background in any of this”? I started yesterday and set up the instance within 3h, starting around 1h after I saw the name “Lemmy” the first time. I still have to iron out some issues.

But I do have a strong background with docker, Linux administration, networking, and generally DevOps, and I do have a virtual root server up and running for some time.

If you have no background in docker and Linux (administration), I would say you’d do better focusing on smaller things, running some servers locally in docker and so on. There should be lots of opportunities to have a quick success to build up on.

If you have that background already and only have no background in the topics of Fediverse and Lemmy, https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/administration/install_docker.html provides some relatively easy to follow instructions.

The costs are basically the costs of an always on Linux server, preferably with a fixed IP address. I’m not sure what you would pay wherever you live, I pay ~15€/month for 8GB, 4 cores, virtual root server with my own domain name.

I started my own instance and do currently not intend to open it for others (besides, maybe, close friends and family).

My intention are

• to learn more about the concepts
• evaluate how reliable the replication of comments and posts works
• maybe create my own pseudo-community just for myself, as kind of a simplified blog

Reading other posts in this sub, I saw it is still seen as offloading the main servers, as the replication of the data is a low load compared to serving the UI. Maybe one of these motivations apply to you, too? Or you find another one? At the end of the day, host your own instance if you want to :-)

I would be happy if my locally posted comment showed up on lemmy.world at all :-) (If this one does, maybe I was just impatient with the initial sync or so)

EDIT: Nevermind, I was too impatient :-)