@ernest
I primarily use Lemmy but I love that kbin exists, in case Lemmy's architecture doesn't work out. We need diversity in the ecosystem, and different technological solutions to the same problem. Diversity is resilience, and it's great to see the work being done. @fr0g
Same. I’m not a kbin local, but even being based in a neutral instance that blocks nothing and nobody, kbin users and content are a huge presence in my ecosystem. Kbin is an important part of the fediverse. Periods of slow growth or even genuine stasis are preferable to unsustainable long term development decisions in the name of immediate results. Better to simmer the sauce now while the pot is small than to have an enormous vat of increasingly unworkable spaghetti in a year and a half.
Self care first, my friend. When you are okay then you can worry about others. All the weight doesn't have to be on your shoulders.
I appreciate what you've built so far and the rest can come as it does. It's not worth running yourself ragged over. I hope things resolve well with your family issues, many thanks and no gripes here. Kbin remains awesome as-is and I'm sure it will only get even better eventually. Every improvement doesn't have to be today.
Dude, you're being quite hard on yourself. You're not the only one who can write code, you're not the only one who can review it. It would be fine for you to step back and take a decision making role until everything else has been handled in your life.
Don't burn out in a few months. Protect your sanity so that you can be there for the long run.
Please don't feel guilty for prioritising your family and yourself, that is 100% the right thing to do.
Also building on what others have said don't chase perfection by the end of the month, at some point you will have to draw a line and call it v1.00. It won't be, it can't be perfect ...but kbin is already great, and as you observe there is a lot of development which has already happened which isn't live here yet - I'm looking forward to when it does go live.
And finally, just thank you. Being admin of kbin.social is already a huge responsibility, owning and managing the codebase on top of that must feel like a huge weight of responsibility at times - it is really appreciated and we love what you have created here, it is already epic.
Kbin seems alive and well to me. If it wasn't for this post then it would never have occurred to me it might be 'dying'.
The growth in users has slowed but not reversed, and that's no bad thing. Initial growth was always going to come in spurts (driven more by whatever the latest drama is over at Reddit) and this lull is useful for getting our communities well-established and letting @ernest keep up the great work on the development side - all of which will ensure we're in a good place to ride the next wave of migration from Reddit when it happens!
You've done an awesome job. And anyone complaining needs to remember that Kbin/ Fediverse is still in its infancy stages: It's going to cry, teethe, piss and shit itself when you least expect it. But with the right care (and time), one day it'll be a lot easier to manage.
I've given myself a deadline to resolve all my issues and release the first official version by the end of September. If I can't meet the deadline, I will step down from leading the project and transfer full rights over the repository and instance to the contributors.
Ernest, please don't be so hard on yourself. Deadlines slip, even for products formally released by companies, and this is more of a hobby frankly. I think what might help is less of a deadline and more of a roadmap - like, here are the major bullet point items we want to target for release by end of 2023, by end of Q1 2024, and sometimes those slip but then the roadmap can be revised.
I've been updating my own kbin instance pretty regularly, every couple of weeks, and I've seen things become more stable over time (less frustrations in upgrading, more features, etc). I'm quite happy with the progress so far. This project has grown so much in such a short time, and the fact that the kbin issues matrix is much quieter than it was speaks to the growing stability of the platform.
As far as kbin.social itself, I would agree with some other folks that you might need more volunteers on the actual instance administration and moderation front.
And as far as spam - email, the original federated messaging platform, still has that problem! Each email provider has to handle it on their own, using increasingly sophisticated methods, and they're still not perfect and it's been decades. Yes, spam is frustrating, but due to the nature of ActivityPub we will always be in an escalating war with spam. It will never be solved, only mitigated for a time.
Anyway, perhaps I've written too much here, but I have a ton of confidence in this project and also in you, and I hope you look back and see how much has been accomplished in a short amount of time, how much kbin.social has grown, and how the amount of other contributors indicates an overall great level of confidence in what you've created.
Kbin FTW! Thank you Ernest, and the rest of the team. As a reddifugee, I feel I've landed in the right instance. And on the 'end user' side I'm committed to fostering the good growth of the magazines (m/SantaFe, m/Photobiomodulation) I've started. All of us together, we're building a better fediverse. I feel very hopeful.
For desktop browsers, I like it better than regular lemmy. Admittedly, I'd like to use a client with it so I look forward to an API for mobile clients, but I'm pretty happy as a desktop user.
I am tempted to make Kbin my daily-driver social media platform, as opposed to Lemmy now, as I really like the seamless integration of reddit-style Lemmy threads and Twitter-style Mastodon toots. But what is keeping me away right now is the lack of /instances, as it is provided by Lemmy. I want to make sure I can follow all the content I like to interact with and the current trial-and-error method required for Kbin makes it unattractive to me.
A thousand thanks for Ernest and everyone involved in the developement of kbin.
Kbin in its current state is a way bigger contribution to the fediverse than most of us will ever do and I'm extremely thankful for it. Take your time, you and your familly comes first.
Im sorry I dont have the resources to donate or know how to code, but if theres anything I can do to help please point me to it. I'll be more than happy to help. I know a bit of GIMP and Inkscape in case you need some light graphic work and I speak spanish if you need/want to translate stuff.
Building something this large completely as a volunteer service is commendable, honestly. Most people wouldn't think of taking up something like this.
This place is completely usable for me and bugs have become noticably less frequent. Most features I need are on here. You've done a good job, especially for so much of the work being done by a single person. I can only write a simple script of code, lol. In the future, just consider bringing in some people to help out on Kbin (especially with moderation).
If you need to take a break, delay some updates, or just step back, do so. Your personal matters need to be resolved first, and us random internet strangers can come later. You can stick to the deadline if you'd like, but I think it's more stress you don't need at the moment. It won't kill Kbin if some features took longer to come out.
Ernest, we love you, man. FYI the complaints about Kbin come from a very vocal minority; most of us understand managing a project like this is difficult and do not have these gripes. We will be fine, please take care of yourself and your family first. Btw thanks for everything you have done for us.
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