Hi all, sorry for a lack of updates but there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes and events moved rather rapidly.
I recently posted that we were going to have to move to another instance because our only Admin was missing and problems looked to be piling up.
Fortunately, Tom dropped me a line the other day and he has updated the instance and made GreatAlbatross and myself Admins.
So the immediate crisis has been averted and we’ve fallen back to the original plan which was get more Admins in place and work to ensure there’s no single point of failure, so any one of us could get hit by a bus (bagsy not me) and the instance will carry on.
Soooo bear with us while we thrash out the details of what else needs doing to ensure the continuity of the instance and while I figure out what all the new buttons do (hopefully not by mashing them all at once just to see what happens).
In the meantime there are likely problems that need fixing. I know, for example, that some are still having email verification problems and have been waiting a while, so I’ll figure out how to resolve this and work through the pinned post here. If you have this problem then post there and we’ll get it sorted.
If there are any other issues you want to flag up for attention then you can do so here or contact one of the new admins.
And, finally, thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm for this instance in the other thread and elsewhere, if the folks on here hadn’t formed a great community that they felt was worth the time and effort to save we wouldn’t be here now with the future looking more secure. Tom built the house but you all made it a home. So carry on…
edit 1: I’ll keep tagging things on as I think of them. Firstly, we’ll be keeping the Matrix space - it’ll be our fallback if the server goes down and provides people with an encrypted (and private if needed) channel of communication. If you add your Matrix ID to your profile it adds a secure DMs button to your.profile, so Matrix and Lemmy are integrated to a degree.
It was always the case that the plans were a last resort and there was no way to migrate everything across.
Anyone can set up an instance so Quackhouse can still go ahead, that’s the benefit of federation.
Emperor and I have had chats about both directions in the background following the unexpected feddit.uk reveal.
There are pros and cons to both.
For now, we’re planning to get feddit.uk running happily, then have a think/public discussion on what happens next.
People seem very enthusiastic about the new domain, but it would entail effectively shuttering an already running community, so it has to be weighed up.
I don’t want to know Tom’s private situation. But I think a few of us have concerns about the continuity of Feddit UK.
Questions like:
Who is running the servers (paying for hosting etc)? Will the instance be kept up to date? (Is it only Tom that can do this)
Things are still being confirmed, so may change. Once that is done, we’re aiming to put details of everything to the community.
The aim is to devolve the responsibilities a little. Current plan is to have a few more admins, and them be a point of escalation if there is a mod issue.
Plus, some admins who also have back-end access, so can handle upgrades/breakdowns.
Finally, myself and Emperor taking responsibility for domain/hosting (and handling any really boring back end decisions, while being available as a final escalation if there are problems)
So you’re going to have to migrate Feddit UK to a new server? That hasn’t gone well when other instances have tried it.
Not necessarily. We’re still finding out what needs to happen.
I think that’s rather an important thing to work out. It’s all well having admins etc but no good if the instance goes away like happened with compuverse
I believe we should take a simple course of action and work in phases.
1: Get Quackhouse running 2: Create alternative communities there 3: Turn off sign ups on Feddit.UK 4: Shut down the communities on Feddit.UK
Then leave Feddit.uk as is so people can still use their accounts. Feddit.uk is held back by the domain. There’s two outcomes of it which are inevitable, barring tom disappearing again and money running out:
Lemmy hype kind of dies off, so people are already settled on their Lemmy instances and don’t join, as feddit.uk is set up right now to only really appeal to lemmy people. Feddit.UK dies out slowly.
People keep joining Feddit.UK, it gets large enough that Reddit’s lawyers notice it and shut it down because we absolutely are infringing on their brand and have no defence for this.
The new domain, Quackhouse.uk, had two main appeals:
That you could tell people who don’t understand the fediverse about it without having to explain, so you can “advertise” it as it’s own thing, making the fediverse more mainstream-friendly
It’s not named after an existing social media site and is copyright friendly.
I strongly believe that a migration to a new domain in some way is ABSOLUTELY necessary. People talk about forcing it, but if we don’t force gently, this community will fragment more. The alternative I suggested allowed a renamed site to survive and thrive excellently while people could keep their accounts until the reddit lawyers get angry. Our appeal is “A UK based instance”, we are better standing as one UK based instance than two with identical communities. The latter option of having two identical communities is heavily impractical and the sapling for Quackhouse would likely be choked out by the bramble bush that is Feddit.UK
I disagree. The country-specific Lemmy instances tend to share the Feddit branding which I think is a big plus. I think there’s a strong argument the name doesn’t infringe Reddit’s brand (it’s not like Apple can just make all i-Whatever products go away).
And feddit.de is the 5th biggest instance, and would surely run into problems first. They seem to be doing fine.
What’s the strong argument? The difference is “i-whatever” is because i means internet and it’s a single letter. What sets the feddit brand and reddit brand apart is the fact it begins with “f” and not “r”. Feddit.DE hasn’t been taken down YET. But it’s inevitable if it keeps growing.
Disclaimer: not a lawyer
Reddit is an American company and this degree of similarity is not close enough to violate USPTO law.
Now, it’s close enough that their legal team could try to argue it in court and then sure, the Lemmy instances might be sunk because who is going to fight them? But I don’t think an American judge would even hear this case. And if they go after feddit.de that would be interesting because I think their users could rally together to save it/fight back.
Plus, if Reddit were to win a USPTO case over the Feddit name that would have chilling effects so I could see advocacy nonprofits jumping in to provide legal support in that fight. But again, probably will never even get there.
Also, I probably should have used KFC as a better example:
Quackhouse won’t have the existing community here and suddenly you’ll have two casualuk communities, two unitedkingdom communities, etc. Feddit.uk is tiny as it is. We would need to pick one. Hence my proposal, which I will write in response to albatross’s reply