Surely an instance that is growing at the rate this one is will incur a rise in operation costs. I’d venture a guess that required administration time also will rise.
So… how can we help?
Thank you for asking! As far as resources we’re doing quite well hardware/network wise and our colocation provider in Seattle Washington has been incredibly helpful to us since September of 2022 when we needed to scale up Mastodon quickly.
On the Mastodon side folks there suggested a “Not a Blue Check Mark Club” as a fun and inexpensive way for the community to show support without having to make a big commitment. This has now been subscripted as “Not a Closed API Club”
It should also be clear that the best way to support SDF’s efforts in the Fediverse is to use the resources and to talk to your friends about why Decentralized, Federated social networking is better for us all. And while it is not at all necessary, any financial support through donations or membership on the SDF Public Access UNIX side is greatly appreciated and goes to our mission of “a community platform for inspiring, facilitating and implementing new ideas”.
[https://sdf.org/support](Not a Blue Check Mark / Not a Closed API Club)
SDF is such a treasure. Thank you for everything!
I can’t speak for the system operators, but I’m sure that donations are always appreciated!
You can donate via Paypal using the “Make a Donation” button on the landing page: http://sdf.org/. You can alternatively mail cash directly to the following address:
SDF Public Access UNIX System Post Office Box 17355 Seattle WA 98127 USADonation is actually one of the ways one can “validate” an SDF unix account, which enables additional shell commands. When donating via Paypal, simply write “Validate [SDF Unix username]” into the message area to get validated. For mail-in donations, you would instead write your SDF username onto the upper-left corner of the envelope.
Crypto donation is apparently also available by request. You can contact membership@sdf.org for wallet info.
This is great info, thank you. I had been hoping there was a donation avenue that tied into membership perks, so the validation tidbit is excellent. I think things like that are excellent incentive to donate.
If you’re specifically interested in perks, there’s also an “ARPA” program you can join which includes additional alternative payment options and features beyond what basic validation provides:
Did you know you can become a permanent LIFETIME member of SDF by making a onetime donation of $36? ARPA members have immediate access to: 600mb total / 20000 files in four areas access to multiple subdomains (mkhomepg -a) voting priviledges on new system features (vote) telnet, ssh, ytalk, irc, irssi (non-proxy) wget, snarf, ftp, scp gcc, perl, php, python, ruby, et cetera Mail and USENET news via UUCP SDF VoIP Basic Telephony Service (type 'software arpa' for a complete list of programs) access to join VHOST, DNS, VPM, DBA, TWEAK & MetaARPA membership levels You too can become a LIFETIME member of the ARPA group by sending a ONE TIME contribution of $36 (or more!) to SDF. NON-US Residents can join ARPA by sending the amount via International Money Order, cash (US/EURO) or by PAYPAL. Be sure to include your user id of 'SDF UNIX USERNAME' LAND INTERNET (donations of $3.00 or more) ----------------------------------------------------------------- | SDF Public Access UNIX | PAYPAL.COM: paypal@freeshell.org | | PO BOX 17355 | | | SEATTLE WA 98127 USA | (Be sure to include your user id) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | Donations or dues via crypto: E-mail 'membership' for options | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Acceptable funds: Western Union, Cheques, Money Orders, US, CDN, EURO, UK, YENI paid for the ARPA membership about 20 years ago. And then again when I opened a new account five years ago.
$72 total. I think that has been an absolute steal for the services I’ve received.
So say with Paypal, it’s as easy as just entering a donation amount of $36? And of course, including your SDF user ID.
Donations specifically to support SDF’s fediverse ventures can also be made here: https://sdf.org/support/
Ah! A recurring donation option. Very smart considering the ongoing cost aspect.
Keep in mind that this lemmy instance is currently “in beta”, and sdf betas have in the past been reset for various reasons. The sdf mastodon services are very stable, as is its peertube, but since the lemmy server is very new I would treat it as potentially volatile for a bit longer.
Some see it as lacking a second processor, additional memory and fans. We see opportunity and potential for growth (after a firmware flash 🤪)
Potential for growth is certainly exciting. I’ve gone ahead and signed up for the $48/year tier to help put a dent in the hardware budget. Godspeed!
