Ask HN: If HN was self-hostable software like Lemmy, would you host an instance?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43822055

by ArinaS • 1 year ago

1 7 1 year ago

news.ycombinator.com

If so, what would the topic of the instance be?

billconan• 1 year ago

only if the server program can scale down to zero (aws lambda + dynamodb type of deployment)

Bender2• 1 year ago

If HN was self-hostable software like Lemmy, would you host an instance?

Do you mean an instance that is tied to and moderated by HN but distributed to handle a bigger load, or a completely stand alone website where I must moderate it?

If distributed I might consider it. If it's just my site probably not. If it's my site I would have to pick topics that are not covered by HN and most of the interest here I have seen that is off topic is politics. That would mean I have to set up a site that can take a serious paddlin' which I have done and it's a lot of work. I'm lazy(er) these days.

ArinaS2• 1 year ago

"a completely stand alone website where I must moderate it?"

Yes, like Lemmy - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lemmy_(social_net....

Bender2• 1 year ago

So just my own take but I just don't know what niche topics not already covered by HN a lot of people would be interested in that would not attract shenanigans. This site hovers just far enough away from a delicate line. What topics would stay clear of emotionally charged content that are not already covered here? This site runs on a single physical server. If I delve into risky topics the cost goes up exponentially speaking from experience.

pavel_lishin• 1 year ago

I don't see any reason why I would want to.

JohnFen• 1 year ago

I'm not sure I really understand the question -- it seems like it's just asking "would you ever host a discussion board". Am I understanding correctly?

If I were to entertain standing up a board like HN, I wouldn't use something like Lemmy to do it. I'm not sure what benefit I'd get from that. HN is pretty basic and, in my opinion, that's an important part of the appeal.

ArinaS2• 1 year ago

"Am I understanding correctly?"

Yes; a discussion board using the same frontend and backend HN uses, if it was open-source and self-hostable.

Ask HN: If HN was self-hostable software like Lemmy, would you host an instance?

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