Fosshost Is Shutting Down • Hacker News Board

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#121

Post by hcrean » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 12:32 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #49

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's really no reason not to host on industry-standard free hosting, ie Github or Gitlab. Eh, I can understand not wanting to be at Microsoft's mercy. And ideology oriented projects are likely to take issue with hosting on a platform that is not itself open source.

Microsoft at least is the devil you know. It’s like the problems with staying on Musk’s Twitter are known - but some random mastadon server could have a literal who in charge; who could do anything (or disappear as Thomas the CEO seems to have done - check Sodor mayhap).

You would choose a company that thinks Open Source is "literally cancer"[1] to support your FOSS project, rather than an unknown person: You need more faith in humanity.

Is Github more stable as a platform, sure. Does Github ban a higher percentage of projects than are effected by unreliable 3rd parties, unquestionably!

My own personal experience is that about 5% of the FOSS projects I have hosted on Github have received a DCMA takedown notice, normally from people trying to monetize in the same domain. (Including a website for a local sports club and an Android app for learning fingering of an obscure musical instrument). Less than 0.3% of all FOSS projects I have hosted elsewhere have received a S&D or DCMA or any equivalent...

[1]https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_ca...

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#122

Post by RF_Savage » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 12:33 PM UTC

bunbun69 wrote: post #101

trynewideas wrote: post #55

There was a drama with GNU Octave's hosting with Fosshost in late October that seems to have been a precipitant of all this: https://octave.discourse.group/t/fosshost-domains-down/3477?... As usual an inordinate amount of discussion appears to be in a Discord and is therefore unlinkable.

Oh you can definitely link to threads, messages or channels from Discord But I shouldn’t be saying this because it goes against the Discord hate train Forums are so amazing!!!!!!

Yet they are not publicly readable in anyway.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#123

Post by colonwqbang » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 12:46 PM UTC

RF_Savage wrote: post #119

fsckboy wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in situations like this, if you could use financial help you need to blurt out what the costs are that need to be covered. There's plenty of people with money about, so if you have somebody's attention take advantage of it. I've already clicked a half a dozen link and there's no info. Why make me work so hard? if you are happy it's over, well, that's ok, thanks for volunteering as long as you guys have.

Money will not help when the CEO with the ability to pay the bills has been AWOL for 6 months.

The board could elect a new CEO?

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#124

Post by colonwqbang » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

vikramkr wrote: post #102

If the approach of the other people at fosshost seems to be that the response to the ceo allegedly potentially embezzling funds/derelicting duty (just walking off with control of the bank account and going dark) is simple to shrug and start a new organization, why should we trust them to operate correctly? I'm not seeing details on what the lessons learned are. If you donated money to fosshost, amd you see the ceo wa…

It doesn't sound like the CEO has necessarily stolen any money, just that he isn't using them to pay the bills and the board hasn't taken any action to fix the problem.

This problem can likely be solved by the board simply electing a new authorised signatory from their own ranks. Assuming anyone is still around who wants to take on such a role.

The fact that it hasn't happened (?) would suggest that the real problem is a general lack of interest from those involved, not just the CEO.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#125

Post by john_cogs » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

alyxw wrote: post #74

john_cogs wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GitLab Community Relations team member here. Those impacted are welcome to apply to the GitLab for Open Source program: https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/open-source/join/

Hey! I'm one of the remaining Fosshost volunteers, and I'm trying to keep the "EOL" site updated with orgs who've offered some sort of solution, like this, for impacted projects. Would you mind if we mentioned the GitLab Open Source program on our site, so more of our former tenants can see?

You can mention the program on the site. Thanks for all your hard work finding solutions for this community.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#126

Post by TomSwirly » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 1:11 PM UTC

maxbond wrote: post #50

toomuchtodo wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean no offense to those having a mental health crisis, it happens (I have had one myself), but that also doesn't mean a non profit should have its funds walked off with (regardless of why). I've reported non profits to the IRS in the US when it appeared they might not be entirely above board, and I never felt like I was "calling the cops" in the same way I would where they're going to break down someone's front do…

I understand you didn't feel that way, but I think maybe you should do a thought experiment of what "doing their job" would mean? Once those events are set in motion, you can't control how they unfold or predict the outcome; even if that person didn't do the thing you were worried about, law enforcement may well find some reason to antagonize or imprison them. I'd encourage people not to contact any law enforcement e…

> Someone might've stolen money? Contacting law enforcement probably won't get it back.

You are advocating for a society where criminals steal with impunity, and everyone else shrugs.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#127

Post by samip537 » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 1:52 PM UTC

colonwqbang wrote: post #123

RF_Savage wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money will not help when the CEO with the ability to pay the bills has been AWOL for 6 months.

The board could elect a new CEO?

What board? They have resigned. It's just two directors remaining, one of which is the unresponsive CEO.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#128

Post by mschuster91 » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 1:55 PM UTC

FpUser wrote: post #51

nickelpro wrote: post #12

This is exactly no-name "FOSS" non-profits are a bad choice for community organizing. There's really no reason not to host on industry-standard free hosting, ie Github or Gitlab.

There is every reason to rent dedicated server / VM and self-host with something like Gitea to prevent big corps from any potential messing with one's account that can happen and is happening for various reasons. Moral / ethic standards might also play a role.

The problem with that is that every piece of software you run on your own will be attacked by hackers constantly. Everything from plain old password guessers over scriptkiddies playing around with DDoS attacks to script kiddies finding your old Gitea, Gitlab, ... on Shodan and exploiting it with yet another 0day. Or, worse, shitcoin miners who have a direct financial interest in hacking systems to run their crap on.

Don't get me wrong: I love the idea of doing your own stuff on the Internet, but it's simply unfeasible to run anything more complex than "here's an S3 bucket with Cloudfront in front of a static-built website" because of all the abuse. Or running a mail server which is even worse, as many providers have blacklisted all known dial-up and many cheap hosting network IP ranges, not to mention the mailserver software itself that is a constant source of exploits or the constant onslaught of spam and scams.

You have to invest untold amounts of work just to exist on the Internet these days, and it's incredibly sad.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#129

Post by FpUser » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #128

FpUser wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is every reason to rent dedicated server / VM and self-host with something like Gitea to prevent big corps from any potential messing with one's account that can happen and is happening for various reasons. Moral / ethic standards might also play a role.

The problem with that is that every piece of software you run on your own will be attacked by hackers constantly. Everything from plain old password guessers over scriptkiddies playing around with DDoS attacks to script kiddies finding your old Gitea, Gitlab, ... on Shodan and exploiting it with yet another 0day. Or, worse, shitcoin miners who have a direct financial interest in hacking systems to run their crap on.…

Tired of this type of FUD. I run my own servers for years without any problems. So do many of the companies I deal with. They're not so fond of paying 10x and more to Amazon for less capacity and performance.

I agree about email servers, no business case for it. Dirt cheap from multiple 3rd parties. Just have your own domain so that you can transfer at whim.

Re: Fosshost Is Shutting Down

#130

Post by jwilk » Sun, Dec 04, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

trynewideas wrote: post #9

dale_glass wrote: post #4

There's a serious lack of useful information here. "Due to circumstances outside of the control of the Fosshost volunteers, we are now in a situation where we cannot guarantee our servers will stay online, and in fact expect them to go offline shortly." and in the link: "I'm expecting the BOS datacenter to go offline in the very near future." And in their Twitter profile, they seem to be a non-profit. I presume then…

The projects list as of February in their GitHub repo, which includes GNOME and Debian: https://github.com/fosshostorg/fosshost.org/blob/main/src/da...

I don't think any of the core Debian infrastructure has been ever on Fosshost.

Googling "fosshost site:debian.org" gave me only two results:

• https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2020/11/msg00015.htm..., which announces udd-mirror.debian.net to Fosshost. But it was migrated again in June 2021: https://github.com/paulproteus/public-udd-mirror/commit/cbfa... https://salsa.debian.org/debian.net-team/infra/-/commit/69a6...

• https://kenhys.hatenablog.jp/entry/2021/06/12/210011, which announces moving fabre.debian.net away from Fosshost.