Most of my friends are in tech, and I think one of them would enjoy hosting their own services if they got into it. Currently, I do most of our hosting, from media servers to game servers, but I think the hardest part is to give people an enticement to host.

For example, maybe they saw the lights automatically come on through the use of home automation like Home Assistant or maybe they wanted to control their own music library.

I think the idea of managing your own hardware and services doesn’t become enjoyable until you’ve already seen the outcome, such as having a resource or service available to you that you didn’t before. When I first got into selfhosting, I also had the problem with identifying what I wanted to host.

How do/did you get your friends interested in selfhosting? What services did they look into hosting themselves?

I’m not going to force someone into a hobby they aren’t interested in, I’m just curious how people brought the conversation up.

Thanks.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    2 months ago

    Why would you try? Are you saying proselytizing is something people should be into? I would hard disagree. It’s not for everyone, and it’s more specific to a subset of people who have time to bother.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      Exactly. Just like any other kind of proselytizing, it’s better to just live by example and answer questions as they come. For example:

      • personal finance - manage finances properly, and people will notice that you’re not stressed about money
      • religion/philosophy - live a worthwhile life and demonstrate the value it brings to your life
      • products - use them and mention them when relevant (e.g. my coworker loves their Remarkable and shills it at every opportunity)

      People aren’t going to change their behavior because you’re pushing something on them, they’ll change their behavior if they see something they want more than what they have. I think more people should self-host, but I don’t get anything from others switching, nor do I have much control over them deciding to switch.

    • gccalvin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      42·
      2 months ago

      That’s fair. I’m making the comparison to other hobbies. If someone is not interested in roller skating, but decides to try it out because one of their friends really likes it and invites them, they may find they enjoy it… or not, which in that case they won’t go again, which is fine. Alternatively, they find a new hobby they enjoy, and selfhosting could give skills that turn into a potential career, but that’s if they really enjoy it. I don’t think it’s uncommon for friend groups to have outsiders (me) and “force” them into trying new things, but maybe my comparison doesn’t hold up here as this is a bit less about socializing.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 months ago

        I personally don’t find that many people are approaching me saying something like “Hey, you should be into this thing because it’s to your benefit”. That’s what insane US Christians do.

        If someone mentioned a concern they were having with publicly available services, and I happened to have a self-hosted version of an alternative ready to discuss, sure.

        By no means would I ever be out there trying to tell people “THIS IS BETTER. DONT YOU GET IT???”, which is where you sound like you’re coming from. It’s also not a “hobby” and it takes a lot of skill and effort to not take an INSANE amount of time for people who aren’t familiar. If you want to be tech support for a bunch of people, sure, go for it.

        Totally unnecessary though.

  • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I wish I had a friend who could just be there while I tried to get it set up. Honestly, I’d peroxide pizza, beer, and video games just so I don’t collapse in a mess of confusion and self doubt when something goes wrong. I don’t mind doing the work, but I don’t know if I have the patience to figure it all out.

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Eh, I haven’t convinced anyone, but I have gotten questions from my brothers about it. They don’t come over often, but I’ve done a lot of work on my self-hosted setup, so I’ll probably show it off at our next reunion (next summer).

    My brothers both want to host video, and they’ve asked about ripping DVDs/Blurays. I’ve now finished ripping my entire collection (took a few weeks), so now I’m more well-equipped to answer questions.