If you wanted to create a long lasting community, is it better to create it on Piefed or on Lemmy? Does Piefed's development have the funding to go on long term?
from DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 03:59
https://sh.itjust.works/post/50366719

#nostupidquestions

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KoboldCoterie@pawb.social on 24 Nov 04:22 next collapse

Unless I’m misunderstanding your question, the specific server is more important than the software they’re running; it doesn’t matter if the software is being developed long-term if the server shuts down in the short-term… your community will go down with it.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Nov 09:04 collapse

This is the answer. Pretty sure, for example, MetaFilter is running bespoke code for their forum (which means no development at all), and it’s been online since 1999.

YetAnotherNerd@sopuli.xyz on 24 Nov 13:30 collapse

Why does bespoke have to mean no development? If it’s custom code, big whoop - provided the dev either made it easy to modify, or still helps out with it. Our company has tons of bespoke apps that get developed regularly.

(That said, I don’t know what metafilter is)

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Nov 19:31 collapse

MetaFilter literally used Adobe Coldfusion to put together their site and the site is still using ColdFusion as of 2025. There wasn’t “backend development” in the same way there is for projects like Lemmy, Piefed, Mastodon, and so on. MeFi is only just considering rebuilding the site from scratch since 2024 and the main head of that exploratory project has been MIA for several months now.

You’re right, it doesn’t have to mean no development, I was really just referring back to MetaFilter as an example. A site can work without updates for a long, long time, especially if the core of the site is off-the-shelf stuff like PHP, CSS, and HTML, which is what MeFi largely is made up of.

YetAnotherNerd@sopuli.xyz on 24 Nov 19:56 collapse

Thanks. Apologies for derailing your point which is that this stuff can run for years without changes.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Nov 20:19 collapse

No worries, I wasn’t as clear as I could have been, for sure.

Sibbo@sopuli.xyz on 24 Nov 05:04 next collapse

Your community will not go down with a software dying or a server dying. As long as the server does not die surprisingly, you can just move to a new server, announcing on the old server that you have moved. Active members will follow then.

kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 24 Nov 05:58 collapse

Can you carry over the posts and comments to the new community?

If the community has to start over from zero, that can be a huge loss.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 08:29 next collapse

From Lemmy to Piefed I believe so. I don’t know any other details tho

Blaze@piefed.zip on 24 Nov 22:27 collapse
Blaze@piefed.zip on 24 Nov 22:27 collapse

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/45876492

kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 25 Nov 01:50 collapse

Awesome. Although I can’t tell whether comments weren’t migrated or the original posts just didn’t have any.

Blaze@piefed.zip on 24 Nov 22:25 collapse

.zip has both https://piefed.zip and https://lemmy.zip, they publish monthly reports including their finances: https://lemmy.zip/post/52485712?scrollToComments=true

Very nice admins. I could see them last quite a while.