<![CDATA[I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward.]]>I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. Every corpo service is eventually going to make you ashamed to use it.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/69b4c5a8-fd56-476a-bab9-5b9602b8c6bd/i-m-coming-to-the-conclusion-that-community-owned-and-operated-small-clouds-co-ops-with-easy-onramps-for-self-hosting-open-source-services-like-mail-storage-and-vpn-are-the-only-way-forward.RSS for NodeSun, 05 Jul 2026 03:22:17 GMTSat, 27 Jun 2026 19:30:21 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Tue, 30 Jun 2026 07:25:50 GMT]]>@mttaggart Co-ops are such an underrated and underused form of organization.

My energy co-op (well, you know, 0.001% "mine") has consistently been excellent in service and pricing.

I've wanted to start one for hosting, but I never thought it would be popular enough to be feasible. Maybe I was wrong.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/elricofmelnibone/statuses/116837865928230097https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/elricofmelnibone/statuses/116837865928230097Tue, 30 Jun 2026 07:25:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Mon, 29 Jun 2026 08:45:57 GMT]]>@mttaggart there are so many businesses that make more sense as a coop (or even a network of coops) than as a Silicon Valley style startup. The one I want to try and get going someday is grocery delivery from locally owned stores, owned by a coop of the stores, the delivery drivers, and the team building the ordering infrastructure.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://activitypub.blankpad.net/@jon@blankpad.net/posts/594342766391943880/https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://activitypub.blankpad.net/@jon@blankpad.net/posts/594342766391943880/Mon, 29 Jun 2026 08:45:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Mon, 29 Jun 2026 03:21:20 GMT]]>@mttaggart Is the PDF version indexed?

Edit: I also just noticed under prerequisites where it says "The Linux command line (start here)" the link doesn't seem to work properly

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.de/users/nieuemma/statuses/116831242215541752https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.de/users/nieuemma/statuses/116831242215541752Mon, 29 Jun 2026 03:21:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:33:01 GMT]]>@stanley @mttaggart This is a great article to read right now. I somehow believe there are a million people right now thinking about self-hosting cuz Reasons.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/cobalt123/statuses/116830816270535845https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/cobalt123/statuses/116830816270535845Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:33:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:31:15 GMT]]>@mttaggart I'd love to see some sort of cooperative agreement between groups in disparate places, so that information could be mirrored across geography like a real private "cloud".

Does something like that exist?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://higheredweb.social/users/cgrymala/statuses/116830573401641401https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://higheredweb.social/users/cgrymala/statuses/116830573401641401Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:31:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:42:34 GMT]]>@ajn142 @mttaggart @brahms
There's an irony to these replies...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jaystephens/statuses/116829910118848405https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jaystephens/statuses/116829910118848405Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:42:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:40:10 GMT]]>@drwho @mttaggart Mail, storage, and VPN (and DNS) aren't small projects you can just run on a whim, not for other people. There are tons of cheap VPS services out there. There are even some who *aren't* running a vuln-ridden copy of cPanel from 2018. That's not really what we're talking about here, I don't think

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116270229831760501/statuses/116829900654775865https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116270229831760501/statuses/116829900654775865Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:40:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:37:19 GMT]]>@delta_vee @mttaggart That's great. Good on you.

For folks kicking around a possible project to start, that implicitly tells them "Don't bother." That is unhelpful.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829889486156214https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829889486156214Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:37:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:36:00 GMT]]>@drwho @mttaggart We don't live there anymore, and I haven't run email or DNS (or hell even web services) without some form of HA since 2007

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116270229831760501/statuses/116829884269773257https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116270229831760501/statuses/116829884269773257Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:36:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:26:13 GMT]]>@drwho @mttaggart

Sounds like life these days… requires apocoloptimism.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116616294687405502/statuses/116829845811403174https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116616294687405502/statuses/116829845811403174Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:26:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:06:53 GMT]]>@delta_vee @mttaggart That's an idea killer. You have to start small.

Think back to how everything started off in the 1980's.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829769794351510https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829769794351510Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:06:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:06:04 GMT]]>@khleedril @mttaggart Data havens.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829766589893336https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829766589893336Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:06:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:05:41 GMT]]>@mttaggart @jumpingjackrussell Agreed. That's a "this porblem is way too big to solve" idea killer.

Think BBS. Then think BBS net.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829765055704150https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829765055704150Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:05:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:04:31 GMT]]>@rlonstein @mttaggart Yep. Old-school hosting.

Kinda like tildes these days, when you think about it.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829760508980850https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116829760508980850Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:04:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:01:42 GMT]]>@askaaron @mttaggart This is the way. Find several people already running small personal clouds and club them together so they each can be responsible for a smaller number of services. If you do that, maybe you get reliable machines and enough capacity that you can serve more people.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/jamesvasile/statuses/116829513489806789https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/jamesvasile/statuses/116829513489806789Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:01:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 19:55:22 GMT]]>@d1 @philcowans @mttaggart @vfrmedia @coopcloud that's good to hear, and we definitely hope it goes well

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://adhd.irenes.space/users/ireneista/statuses/01KW7WT0FF7R5B5Z0Y0EADBKWFhttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://adhd.irenes.space/users/ireneista/statuses/01KW7WT0FF7R5B5Z0Y0EADBKWFSun, 28 Jun 2026 19:55:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:32:28 GMT]]>@mttaggart and if they don't, they'll enshitify until you can't stand them anymore. I've come to that conclusion and yours over the last couple years.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tiggi.es/users/xoagray/statuses/116828926656185659https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tiggi.es/users/xoagray/statuses/116828926656185659Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:32:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:56:47 GMT]]>@stanley Thanks for this! I'll give it a read ASAP.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mttaggart/statuses/116828786347432508https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mttaggart/statuses/116828786347432508Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:56:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:56:20 GMT]]>@mttaggart I hate to admit it but this is how I've been the whole time. I had a friend whose father was one of the biggest cattle ranchers. Hundreds of thousands of numbered heads, as far as the eye could see in massive dirt lots with industrial feed and killing machines. But when they wanted to eat beef, they went to their little grassy backyard and brought the slowly raised, hand-fed cow with a name like "Bessie" over to their good friend the butcher. "We will eat Bessie, never from the lots".

True story.

And as much as I worked for the biggest operations (and still do, consulting) I always ran my own servers. Web log has been my own Linux machine since 1995, always self-hosted. Mail server too. But I understand why some people can't imagine getting their hands involved, thinking deep like how to care for and yet say goodbye to Bessie instead of just ripping open a package of prepared meals.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/116828784613684717https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/116828784613684717Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:56:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:54:23 GMT]]>@mttaggart This whole thread is amazing, btw.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://heretic.social/users/stanley/statuses/116828776932025236https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://heretic.social/users/stanley/statuses/116828776932025236Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:54:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:41:51 GMT]]>@mttaggart I recently came to the same conclusion. I love self-hosting but it's not for everyone.

A friend and I put together this site to gauge interest. Would love any feedback you have.

https://youshouldbeinctrl.com/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://heretic.social/users/stanley/statuses/116828727668551702https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://heretic.social/users/stanley/statuses/116828727668551702Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:41:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:29:37 GMT]]>@mttaggart yes!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://functional.cafe/users/otfrom/statuses/116828207665382947https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://functional.cafe/users/otfrom/statuses/116828207665382947Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:29:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:23:00 GMT]]>@gabboman @alexia @mttaggart @HolosSocial @stag that's the spirit!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wetdry.world/users/nelson/statuses/116828181636787855https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wetdry.world/users/nelson/statuses/116828181636787855Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:23:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm coming to the conclusion that community-owned and operated small clouds (co-ops) with easy onramps for self-hosting open source services like mail, storage, and VPN are the only way forward. on Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:22:43 GMT]]>@nelson@wetdry.world @alexia@app.wafrn.net @mttaggart@infosec.exchange @HolosSocial@mastodon.social @stag@mk.absturztau.be

sorry ive seen it too many times and fedi is very negative about it. i posted without reading too much, im busy making wafrn worse

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://gabboman.xyz/fediverse/post/52d55686-590c-4efa-9275-7a10a86d2a17https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://gabboman.xyz/fediverse/post/52d55686-590c-4efa-9275-7a10a86d2a17Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:22:43 GMT