We’re still an absolute skeleton crew of 14 people, competing with teams sometimes 100x as large as ours. To get to our humble team size was only possible through the less than 1% community members who donate to Mastodon, a handful larger donations, & EU grants, all of which we are forever grateful for. We still have a large funding need for 2026, so please consider making a donation before the year-end if you’d like us to continue building and improving Mastodon https://joinmastodon.org/sponsors#donate
(12/13)
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Thanks @Gargron for allowing us to do this the pure non-profit and FOSS way by saying no to earlier offers, some of which would have given you more than 10x the payout. I have been inspired by your vision about this project from the moment I met you 5+ years ago. It takes a lot of courage and greatness to let this project go. Super excited for continuing to work with you!
(10/13)
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But Mastodon wouldn’t be where it is without so many more people than Eugen. I’m incredibly grateful to be able to work with the best team we’ve ever had. Each one of you brings so much value to the Mastodon project and I want to thank you for making our mission your day job while you could certainly earn double or triple at one of our for-profit competitors.
(11/13)
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We’re still an absolute skeleton crew of 14 people, competing with teams sometimes 100x as large as ours. To get to our humble team size was only possible through the less than 1% community members who donate to Mastodon, a handful larger donations, & EU grants, all of which we are forever grateful for. We still have a large funding need for 2026, so please consider making a donation before the year-end if you’d like us to continue building and improving Mastodon https://joinmastodon.org/sponsors#donate
(12/13)
@mellifluousbox how about stopping to increase the size of this server ?
but noo it prevent the dream of centralizing mastodon.
DO NOT DONATE TO THEM !! instead donate to the other server that struggle to grow.
@mellifluousbox IIRC instagram was 13 people when facebook bought it so 14 is not skeleton (and they had tens of millions of user)
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@mellifluousbox @codeinabox would there be any possibility of tax deductible donations rolling out to other countries?
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@acb @codeinabox Yes, absolutely - in many countries it requires to incorporate with an entity in that jurisdiction, so there's a bit more setup work involved and it needs to be justified in terms of recurring admin expenses
@mellifluousbox @codeinabox there’s no pan-EU mechanism that would allow people in any EU nation to donate to Mastodon in a tax-deductible way?
@mellifluousbox You probably know, but team 100x size is not 100x faster or better, rather a scam of growth for the same VC. Stay small :)
@mellifluousbox Heisser Tipp: schreib das auch auf Deutsch ;)
@mellifluousbox thank you for asking for Donations for Mastodon Development.
@digitalcourage , we have a good deal that I pay €1 per month for your hosting. Does this also include that @digitalcourage pays Mastodon devs?
How much would every user have to pay for hosting and development to make it sustainable?
I would prefer a simple model where I just pay my normal fee to my hoster and the hoster pays forward to the developers / maintainers.
I see the users and servers are currently divided into "you may donate but you can freeride" and "you must pay". I prefer a fair model where all users see the value of mastodon and thus are ok to share the cost and must pay. This distributes the cost amongst all users.
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I've tried it several times and gave up everytime. I'd love to have just an IBAN to send money directly.
@rsx Sorry to hear that. If SEPA Direct Debit is an option, you can use it here (via our fiscal sponsor WE AID).
@mellifluousbox Hi Felix,
I'm hopeful about your/the board's appointment, BUT can we make something akin to a Bill of Rights for Mastodon users, so that we can create a lasting, binding, regularly reviewed structure to make sure that #enshittification doesn't gradually occur?
Having a Mastodon Bill of Rights that is durable and binding would be a GREAT selling point for Mastodon, and would help to cement the core beliefs of a healthy, durable culture for the site.
https://mastodon.social/@KraftTea/115571444527506544
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@mellifluousbox what teams do you compete with?
@hyc Probably a better phrasing would be to say new users come to Mastodon and the fediverse with expectations from polished products like Instagram. The teams working at Instagram are probably 100 times as large as the core team of Mastodon. We obviously stand on the shoulders of giants in form of volunteer OSS contributors. But the point still stands: New users come here with expectations from other social network apps huge dev teams have built financed by data harvesting & ads
@mellifluousbox One small idea for getting more donations—supporter badges: They reward donors and tell other that they can donate, too.
Another option may be Wikipedia-style donation campaigns for servers.
@mellifluousbox ???
[EDIT: It's working again, just donated!]
@mellifluousbox I never would have guessed to say that I'm happy to be part of the 1% 😉 have been donating €30 / monthly for about 1 year or so, possibly even longer.
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Most importantly, thanks to everyone here, to the whole community. I promise to always put the humans here first and to keep this a safe space for you, no matter how you express yourself and where you come from. I will treat my new position with the most respect. Let’s make Mastodon and the Fediverse even more beautiful than it already is <3
(13/13)
Have fun with your challenging work. 👍 It is important that you reflect on your position. Mastodon is just one piece of software within the Fediverse and can only survive if you see the Fediverse as a community (and not as a Mastodon community) and argue accordingly. Nevertheless, good luck and every success!
@mellifluousbox wishing you the best start!
@mellifluousbox cool man. Appreciate it
@mellifluousbox Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing where things go!
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@mellifluousbox
This will be the most screenshotted toot on Mastodon today.
I have mine safely saved away.
@shansterable that's the beautiful thing about the new setup we're striving for. I will only ever be able to serve Mastodon and its cause and no one else
@mellifluousbox - Bravo to all of that, in 13 installments, too. Congrats on your matriculation, and let's all hope for a better platform experience every day.
@mellifluousbox Congratulations on your new role. You really earned it. Wishing you a wonderful tenure
Do you know how much it would cost each user on Mastodon per year to support it if there was an annual fee/donation? Eg if every user donated €10 a year Mastodon could that more than cover costs?
Maybe people might be interested in an annual donation if affordable. Even if 20% donate €10 a year it might help a lot?
@mellifluousbox Thank you, welcome, and good luck! It’s going to be an uphill battle, but those are always the best at the end anyway. 🫶
@mellifluousbox Cheering you, the team, and this community on in this righteous fight for a collectively-owned digital commons!
@mellifluousbox TL;DR; can you put it in one message instead of that infuriating thread of short messages that are hard to read and as a reader you dont know where to comment (at first? at last? at part that you want to comment?)
oh... you are on that mastodon.social that allows only 3 chars per message... its so shame, maybe change instance to one that allows to communicate 😉
@mellifluousbox we're lucky to have you! Congrats on the new role 🥳🥳
@mellifluousbox
Congrats, wishing you the best! ❤
@mellifluousbox @Mastodon very excited to see what this new chapter will bring! we're all counting on you, don't let us down!
