Hello everyone,
As you can read in the title we, Selea, Amolith, and Perflyst, are leaving the librehosters network.
This is not because we do not value hosting services that are free/libre or that we are stopping (some of us will even expand the services we provide), but that we believe being part of this network takes time that could be better spent elsewhere, whether that’s with our families, improving infrastructure, contributing to projects, etc.
Additionally, we think there are a few people in the network who have an unrealistic vision. This could be a large part of why we, as a network, have accomplished relatively little together. We all understand how important it is to let everyone have their say and find solutions that work for all. However, compromises must be made if a unanimous consensus can’t be reached.
This perfectionist vision was likely a large part of why the network never accomplished much; the goals that were set were likely intimidating and overwhelming to individuals. When a group first comes together, there is a lot of initial motivation and excitement. A better approach would have been for us to take advantage of that, build something truly great, then work out the bureaucratic details at a later date. That way, all the members would have had a better idea of our network’s vision and putting pen to paper (making things “official”) would have been much easier
We also regret the time wasted trying to keep the project running, especially by Cloud68, who recently tried to organize what could have been an amazing event, and realitygaps, who spearheaded organizing everything and managing the monthly meetings. Thank you!
The librehosters network was and still is a fantastic idea but in the end, it really didn’t add value to any projects or to those looking for hosted libre software. During our time as part of the network, we noticed more individuals and groups collaborating unofficially than did otherwise and we partly attribute this to the bureaucracy associated with doing things officially. For many of us who do this in our spare time, that barrier was set prohibitively high.
However, we will stick around for the time being and anyone can always reach out to us. We’re all still librehosters even if we’re not part of a network.
