Sooo if you skim the previous posts on here, you’ll know that Feddit.uk’s only Admin (@Tom@feddit.uk) has been missing for a couple of months and in that time we were defederated by lemmy.world (although we’re back now) and we are one upgrade behind (just a minor fix) with one much bigger one whistling down the pipeline that may defederate us from other instances that upgrade (it may not but I know most of us don’t want to roll those dice).
We’ve tried various ways of contacting Tom and had no reply so we are forced to move forwards with moving to a new instance.
So, this is the plan:
Phase 1: Register a domain hndone by greatalbatross.
Phase 2: Sort out hosting - done by me.
Phase 3: Start instance - pending a final inspection of the hosting in the next day or so.
Phase 4: Onboarding - this will happen in waves:
Wave 1: Admins go in and make sure nothing is broken.
Wave 2: Moderators sign-up and re-start communities, get any bots running and just generally get a second set of eyes on things so we can be happy that we are ready to let people in.
Wave 3: We’ll start adding people already on Feddit.uk by hand - invitations will presumably have to go to inboxes on feddit.uk so we can ensure no-one is poaching a username for devilment. This will give the system a bit of a stress test.
Wave 4: We’ll let people apply to join and this should get things moving quicker.
Wave 5: Open registration.
Phase 5: Shuttering Feddit.uk - the Moderators will post pinned messages in their communities directing people to the new ones and then we’ll start the sad process of closing down the communities that we can.
Events should all start moving pretty quickly and, whole I may be being optimistic, we will likely reach the point of no return (specifically Tom’s return) in a week or two.
Current Admins:
- Domain: @GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
- Hosting: me @Emperor@feddit.uk
- Instance: 20cx12 and @flamingos@feddit.uk
- Finance: TBD
- Ambassadors: TBD
- Customer services: TBD
There’s a Matrix space that we’ll keep as a fallback in case if problems with the instant (although it will be renamed at some point). It also provides secure encrypted communication if anyone needed to flag anything up privately (and Matrix is built into Lemmy - add your Matrix ID into your profile and it provides a secure messaging button in your profile, so if you need to contact an Admin you can do it directly from there too, at least for me).
Sorry about all hassle, none of us wanted this but it is forced upon us and the feeling from everyone’s previous comments is that we didn’t want to lose what we have here, even if we have to rebuild in a new instance.
I’ll throw the floor open to comments and questions.
Just wanted to add my thanks…
This is a sanctuary for me as life’s too crazy for me to contribute meaningfully to this instance at the moment, but I really appreciate the effort going into this.
I hope Tom’s ok in the real world, and maybe we can get the same domain name back one day.
Thanks again.
I hope Tom’s ok in the real world
I’m sure he’s fine just busy. Life happens, often unexpectedly.
and maybe we can get the same domain name back one day.
Unfortunately, getting the domain name back won’t really matter as it is difficult to change without knock on federation issues (I believe). It would let us establish redirects to the new communities and might help pick up any stragglers.
That and our new domain is much better imo 🦆
Good work! It’s a shame it has to be done but ultimately Tom has helped us all to find that Lemmy is something we quite like, and even though it’s not something he wants to carry on with he’s provided the first stepping stone in wherever we go next. If we’ve not got a new name yet I’d vote for definitely keeping the
.uksuffix as I find that really useful, though I’m not that fussed about the reddit-like name as that’s what a lot of us have decided to move on from!It does! It might have a UK flag within the icon, hopefully recognisable enough. The name doesn’t reference lemmy or reddit at all, instead we chose to carve out our own identity. Think similar to how beehaw or shitjustworks does it (minus the defederation threats that Beehaw had, we are 1000% committed to the fediverse and it does run lemmy).
The hope with this is so someone can tell their friend about it without having to explain lemmy/the fediverse, so instead of saying “join lemmy!” You can easily say “join [redacted].uk!”, but again, it is definitely 100% federated and running lemmy.
I hope I didn’t overcomplicate things 😖
Once you migrate on there, it should be the same experience as Feddit.UK essentially
We have a name, and you’ll be pleased to know it uses a .uk suffix. We’ll post it once we’ve at least got a landing page up.
Is it FeddyMcFedditFace.uk?
I wish. That sweet-ass domain is probably long gone!
Shame it had to come to this as the instance was really picking up pace. That said, great work on those involved in structuring a solution. Appreciate the hard work going into it.
As a moderator of a few groups myself and an advocate of Lemmy (especially our homegrown instance), I would be happy to support where I can above just moving the groups over, so feel free to reach out or let us know where the wider community can help.
Cheers.
“Shame it had to come to this as the instance was really picking up pace. That said, great work on those involved in structuring a solution. Appreciate the hard work going into it.”
All of the above from me too!
Good stuff - we’ll be in touch about getting you signed up as soon as everything looks solid.
Hopefully this is just a trip and not a fall!
Hello,
Not a user of this instance, but good to see that you guys are handling this is a structured way. It’s a shame that you cannot just get the website from Tom, but at least this time it should be managed properly.
but at least this time it should be managed properly.
Yes, whether Tom came back or not we were drawing up plans to ensure there isn’t a single point of failure and that everything is more open and transparent. Plus we want to make sure the finances are all in place. All of which should mean any one of us could be hit by a bus and the instance keeps going.
It’s going to be absolutely quackers!
Sad it had to happen, but thanks very much to all involved for working on a replacement. Looking forward to signing up as this UK instance has been the best part of the ‘fediverse’ for me.
Likewise, I don’t think I would still be on Lemmy if it wasn’t for this instance.
We are hoping to use our small community identity as a strongpoint, imo the new instance has a lovable name :)
Well done on taking the initiative guys! Sad that its come to this, but hopefully good comes out of this.
I registered for feddit.uk ages ago, never got email to confirm despite emailing Tom twice.
Here’s hoping I can get on the new instance.
I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep but you are exactly the kind of person we are looking to scoop up in Wave 4 or 5. If there are any issues you can message me or one of the other Admins and we’ll sort it out.
Will do. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
No worries. What I’ll do is start a list and pop your name on it.
Wave 3 is for those who have accounts here, so they claim the same username there. Wave 4 will be for those who are interested in an account who currently don’t have one and we’ll get you in at the start of that (or the end of Wave 3), we’ll then open up for people to apply directly. There’ll be a post about each Wave so everyone knows when we’ll get around to them.
The bizarre thing is I can’t create a new account because my username already has an account that I created. But I can’t access that account because I can’t get a verification email, and I’ve emailed about this issue. Who knows, not me 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks everyone who’s helping to sort this out. I’m looking forward to seeing our shiny new instance soon
Ah, thanks guys - a sad day, but like you say, needs to be done. We help in any way, or just keep our eyes open in the channel?
Ahh I’m gutted about feddit.uk but thanks for all you’re doing to help migrate. 🙏
Nice, new name reminds me of brexit lol, but its fine, unless that was just a joke made for the post.
Sorry, I should have flagged that up - it’s just the name for the Feddit exit.
It’s quite funny though. I support this choice.
You were right the second time, Fedxit is just a joke title.
Thank you for taking action to help migrate the nascent community!
I should add, this is a great case study of a federated system responding to a difficulty. Let’s jointly make this a positive case study.
It’s a good point - it’s very much along the lines of the Internet founding principles: if a node goes down it can be inconvenient but the larger network is flexible and adapts.
Thanks to all the people working on saving the day! I’ve taken a break from the instance for the time being because of the uncertainty but looking forward to, hopefully, joining you on wave 3.
Looks like we aren’t going anywhere.
Hope all is well with @Tom@feddit.uk and it’s just a case of him abandoning his post.
Is there anything we can plan better for the new instance to prevent this happening again? It’s a bit disappointing to have to leave, since we will no doubt lose a portion of the userbase due to this.
I’d like to follow, but don’t know if I will since I may as well just make an account on one of the larger instances.
Hope all is well with @Tom@feddit.uk and it’s just a case of him abandoning his post.
Life gets in the way sometimes. Someone said he might have been moving house, which can be a horror show.
Is there anything we can plan better for the new instance to prevent this happening again?
Plenty - the wheels came off because there’s only one Admin, which would be easy to fix, if our Admin was active. So the first thing is to ensure there’s no single point of failure (to the point that I will change my will if needed) and that there’s always back-up. We’re also sharing out the tasks, to make sure no one person has to do too much and faces burn out.
We’ll also ensure that the finances are transparent, so anyone donating knows where the money goes.
We will also be as transparent as possible with decisions as we’ve seen (and experienced) how doing things without properly announcing them can cause problems.
We’re also open to other ideas and suggestions.
It’s a bit disappointing to have to leave, since we will no doubt lose a portion of the userbase due to this.
We will, but what I hadn’t realised is that we’ll also gain users as some people have been unable to register an account.
I’d like to follow, but don’t know if I will since I may as well just make an account on one of the larger instances.
That’s your call, although the larger instances have problem of their own - the DDoS attacks, the All page being way too much stuff, etc. I have accounts elsewhere and I usually take a look around, go “oh boy” and slink back here. There are definite pluses to being on a smaller instance. If this place had disappeared without a replacement, I’d probably look for another instance that is of a similar size. Or you could get an account at the new place and one elsewhere, see what suits your needs. It’s unwise not to have a back-up, just in case.