r/selfhosted
If you do not know about PRISM, you are likely living on a rock. We have seen an increasing number of social media platforms under scrutiny due to their breach of privacy. Although you are sure, you would still know that there are people spying on your data. You have to accept the fact that the CIA, NSA, or any other agency has access to not only your email but your text messages and smartphone pictures as well.
Many protocols that are in use today, such as XMPP, email, and CalDAV, have been designed specifically with self-hosting in mind. Universities, massive corporations, and nerdy individuals with sound technical knowledge resort to self-hosting as they can't risk their data. They have their own mail servers in order to protect the data. On the contrary, we as users have resorted to trade our privacy for certain benefits, and that's how advertising companies are making the most of our negligence. The growing awareness about users is leading them to adopt self-hosting and store their crucial data on their own network.
We are going to explore the world of self-hosting by reviewing one of the largest self-hosting communities on the internet - r/selfhosted. This community is great for people who are new to self-hosting, as they can follow along easily. Before we begin, I would like to share some information about self-hosting so that everyone is on the same page.
Using a self-host program, you can modify, interpret, and compile your own source code. This is generally used to create a new version. With web apps and cloud services, the software you install or the server itself is maintained by the user via Virtual Private Servers. I'm sharing some Saas examples which can be open-source, can be freely downloaded and installed as per your need.
These are the different components of a web browser, which include the settings and data used to control it, as well as dashboards that display important information, cloud storage and synchronization that make data easily accessible from any device, DNS services that help you find websites, document management tools for organizing and sharing documents, e-mail services that keep you connected with friends and family, file sharing options so you can share files with others easily, groupware tools to help keep teams organized, games for entertainment purposes, media streaming options for watching videos or listening to music, photo albums to store and share photos with others, and remote access options so you can access your computer from anywhere.
Now that we have a good understanding of self-hosting, let's move towards r/selfhosted.
My recent experience on r/selfhosted
The most recent post on r/selfhosted that I interacted with received over 450 upvotes in less than 15 hours. Herein, the user shared an HTML page of his own brand SUI. It had a clean interface and had over 17 applications. The user shared this in order to help fellow community members add links manually and enhance their overall experience using the user-intuitive dashboard.
About r/selfhosted - Community & Members
The community on r/selfhosted consists of people who want to find alternatives to popular online services that they can host themselves without sacrificing their privacy or locking them into a service that they don't control. The 500-800 members who are active on the subreddit at any given time represent just a fraction of the larger community, which has grown to 77,900 members since it was created on July 8, 2014.
How to access r/selfhosted?
If you are not already a Reddit user, you will need to create an account and confirm your email address before you can join the subreddit. After doing so, you will be able to follow subreddits, comment on posts, and even post anything on any of the subreddits.
Moderators of r/selfhosted
I was disappointed in the number of mods on r/AppleTV, but I kind of understand why r/selfhosted has limited mods. Allowing more people to have control over the page can cause a lot of differences in opinion. And with just under 80,000 members, I don't think the mods would want that headache yet. At the time of writing this review, I found 4 mods on r/selfhosted - Tamale_uk, Goguppy, Kmisterk, and Shwikibot.
Why should you follow r/selfhosted?
R/selfhosted is packed with high-quality content. You'll find dozens of alternatives to each popular software to ensure that you can watch media while keeping your privacy in check. You'll find various posts regarding ?Personal Dashboard?, ?Proxy?, ?Docker Management?, ?Cloud Storage?, ?Media Serving?, and ?Self Help?. Each post provides you with a creative alternative and an option that you can opt for based on your needs. For instance, if you want to store your data on Cloud, you'll get posts related to the topic. By hosting your files on your own cloud, you don't have to worry about data manipulation.
Community Engagement
There has not been a lot of community engagement on r/selfhosted. For every post, you would have 3-5 average upvotes and 1-2 comments. There are a few posts that are able to set a record in a single day, but not all. The post that I shared above managed to attract over 450 upvotes within 24 hours and was able to become one of the top posts ever on this subreddit. Nonetheless, I have received feedback on all the queries that I have posted on this subreddit. Sure, the responses weren't too many, but I can appreciate people responding, even if there are a couple of those.
Browsing & Navigation
As of 500 members, r/selfhosted has no difficulty browsing and navigating this sub. Furthermore, most of the content on the page is image-based, so you can even browse and navigate when you're on a data plan. I would urge a new user to check the filter by flair option so they can navigate seamlessly without any hassle.
Filter by flair
The Filter by Flair option on this sub is helpful because it provides users with five different filters to help them find the content they are looking for. These filters include Personal Dashboard, Proxy, Docker Management, Media Serving, and Cloud Storage. Using these filters, users can easily remove posts that are not related to the topic they are searching for.
Important rules you must know before joining r/selfhosted?
Before you become a member of r/selfhosted, you must comply with rules and guidelines that will help ensure your participation in the community. There are only a few of them, so please be sure to follow them carefully.
can result in a ban from the site.
2. Reddit prohibits individuals from promoting themselves on the site in a way that is likely to cause confusion or deceive others.
3. Any violation of these rules results in an automatic ban from Reddit.
1. If you wish to share information about your own product or service on r/selfhosted, then you must disclose who you are and why it is of interest to the community. Any attempt to promote a competitor's product or service without authorization may result in a penalty, including suspension of your account.
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Do not hack or harass others in an effort to generate ideas. Instead, use constructive criticism and feedback to help others improve their work.
to this content.
The Reddit Rules and Policies will apply to this content.
Design
There isn't much to discuss design-wise on r/selfhosted since the setups and user interfaces seen on this subreddit are all quite standard. The custom community logo looks cool, and the filter by flair option is useful. Expect to see banner ads in the sidebar, but they won't affect your browsing experience in any way. Make use of the sorting feature to check out the latest or top posts from this week or today. If you want to add a post, you can do so using the section under the header. And be sure to read ?Wiki?, and guidelines before you do so.
Most Upvoted Content on this subreddit
and 5 comments
A lot of people have been showing off their grafana dashboard so here's my dashboard made in quarantine - 879 upvotes and 5 comments.
and 201 comments.
To all the 2020 posts about services we run, this is me after the same posts in 2019-- 877 upvotes and 201 comments.
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Local websites are generally considered to be better than those from other parts of the world.
If you require a proprietary online service in order to use an app that you self-host, then the app is not self-hosted.
proposing that this subreddit's icon be a 630-pixel tall, green and white checkerboard pattern
Most Upvoted Content 2020
The Olaris Media Server has received a lot of positive feedback and appreciation from the community. It is a free and open-source media server that is currently dominating the charts.
When your friend texts you that Micro Center just got a shipment of 4 GB Pi 4s, you go to the store and enjoy your 40 minutes ride there and back - 576 votes.
The pain of email self-hosting is often 529 Upvotes.
Opensource.builders seeks out open-source alternatives to commercial apps that can be self-hosted, garnering over 526 upvotes.
You can now install 70+ self-hosted apps and services on HomelabOS with one command.
Conclusion
Everything that you post on the internet is accessible by agencies and corporations if needed. This is worse than thinking about Facebook and Google, who are easily able to access your data through a lengthy agreement that you don't think twice about before accepting. These platforms and search engines are notorious for keeping track of everything you do, so they can sell the data to the advertising companies. Using r/selfhosted, helps you stay up to date with the world of self-hosting and ensure that your data is safe in your own hands.