I noticed that there were some accounts that were hijacked by the instance owners. All the posts from that user were then edited to say what happened.

This kind of surprised me, I figured instances could delete posts, but not edit them. So how much control do they have?

I assume they can’t see my password (hopefully). Can they post in my name? Do they have all the access to my posts to foreign instances that they do over local posts?

Edit: thanks for all the responses everyone! I’ve wanted my own instance for a while, but maybe I’ll get on it now

  • Psythik@lemm.ee
    2·
    11 months ago

    Can you recommend a good free web host for running your own instance? I haven’t dabbled in web development in over 15 years now, so I’m kinda out of the loop.

    • Salamander@mander.xyz
      3·
      11 months ago

      I’m not sure about Web Hosting. Many of us use a dedicated virtual private server (VPS)

      I use https://serverspace.io, I think Lemmy.ml is hosted with https://www.hetzner.com/

      These are servers that you access via SSH and can install the instance inside of it. I personally install using docker compose, but there are some other methods that are claimed to be easier. The cost starts at ~$5 / month. Currently I pay about $15 / month. You would then rent the domain name from a domain name registrar (I use namecheap.com) and ask them to point the domain name to your server’s IP address.

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
        2·
        11 months ago

        I looked into it and gave up after half a day of trying. I can’t figure out how this SSH thing works at all.

        I’m used to CPanel and uploading files via FTP. I can code some CSS and manage a MySQL server, but this modern era of web development goes over my head. Apparently now you have to pick a Linux distro and install it, instead of it just being ready to go for you. (At least that’s how it worked with Oracle).

        Thanks for trying to help but I’m too old for this shit now. I don’t even know what “docker compose” means. I’ve read the official documentation and looked at tutorials, but it’s all a foreign language to me now. Like I said, in my day you just uploaded the files via FTP, changed some lines in a config file, redirected your .com to your nameservers in CPanel, and you were good to go. Installing an instance is 10x more difficult. Wasted $9 on a domain for nothing… *sigh*