Selfhosted

Long ago I learned to stop convincing people to stop shooting themselves in the foot.

"I run it myself without the internet." 🤨

They're non-techies. Any more explanation than that would only frighten and confuse them.

You know Google drive? You know how it doesn't work when the internet is out? You know how we live in rural USA so the internet is out every other day?

Yeah that computer in the corner is my own Google drive that still works when the internet is out.

Do you remember that time Netflix removed [insert series title]? I basically have my own private version of Netflix. That way nobody can take my favorite series away from me without warning.

It's like Dropbox but instead of the cloud, it's at my house. Less expensive that way.

I say, I don't pay for Netflix, but I'm able to stream whatever I want. I do the same with books. And audiobooks.

Just tell them "I own my own private cloud" and then look smug.

Then I may tell them "this way the CIA (don't say NSA, older people usually don't know what NSA is, but they know CIA) or those capitalist companies can't spy on me"

And I don't find a need to go into more detail, at this point the conversation has either moved on or they say "but I have nothing to hide" and move on anyway.

You know [Burger chain]? Self hosting is making your own burger. Kinda similar ingredients, kinda looking product overall, it's still a burger.

But you're in control.

Normies don't get it. Privacy means nothing to most normies. I tell them about things they would understand an appreciate:

I don't need to pay for the following anymore because I have my personal version of Netflix, Spotify, Dropbox, Google photos, etc.

I can tell them about a home server also saving me from Onenote, Google Calendar, etc as well; but they tend not to understand this and say "but that's free anyway". In which case it becomes a more prolonged conversation of trying to explain why privacy and data ownership are important.

There's also the hobby/interest/learning aspect of this. But even my wife sees what I do and says she doesn't understand how I can stand troubleshooting server problems; because she gets hugely triggered if tech doesn't immediately work as intended. Tinkering and troubleshooting tech is most people's idea of hell (the equivalent of saying it is fun to have to unclog a public toilet).

Also I can get services not possible otherwise, like Nintendo Switch save game sync across devices (emulation on a number of devices and Syncthing with save data folders).

I just tell people "It's free and I don't get twenty thousand 'license term updates' in my email every month"

I've got 1TB pictures and videos. I can either pay google a shitload of money and fear that they delte my stuff. Or I can self host immich for a fraction of the cost for electricity and a donation.

I don't.

Just link them the story of a Dad getting locked out of his Google account after sending a picture of his child to the Doctor as part of remote care.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked

The point being they can fuck up your life on a whim and don't care about the harm they will cause because your one out of millions.

I don't.

Everyone has experienced an AWS / Google Cloud / Azure outage or has had a service - you are happy to use switching to (more expensive) subscription service. That's two things that are not going to happen to self-hosters (except the outage thing, but you can actually do something about it when it happens).

"I have my own Netflix and Google Drive and Spotify etc etc"

I just explain how when you watch Netflix, you use their computers, that’s why it costs money. You could just use your own computer at home but it takes some setup.

I just tell them I run a private cloud. It's so much easier because they understand in general "cloud equals internet"

I normally tell it straight from why I got interested on it: "I like my stuff being mine"

I haven't really needed to, I just show them. I open up Jellyfin and explain that I put all the movies I own there so I don't need to find the discs or pay for a service like Netflix. Or I'll show them my OCIS setup with LibreOffice online and explain that I don't need Google Docs or Microsoft Office 365. If they ask where it runs, I point to the server on my desk.

Everyone has their own reasons for doing it, and I think they can draw their own conclusions just by seeing it in action.

Like a cab, but it's your car and you take care of everything.

If you need a car only once a year when going to the airport, a cab will be cheaper. If you need to go somewhere at least once a week, driving your own car will be cheaper. Likewise, if you need only a little bit of cloud storage for your photos, free iCloud or Google Drive might be fine. If you need a whole lot of storage, self-hosting becomes cheaper.

When you take a cab, do you need to worry about maintenance, gasoline, insurance, or other things? No. The same goes for cloud storage. When you throw your photos on Google Drive, you don't need to worry about electricity bills, security updates, or hardware maintenance.

When you drive your own car, you need to be a responsible driver and a car owner. Maintenance is your responsibility. Likewise, self-hosting means you need to be a responsible server admin.

"Does it piss you off when Google/whatever does [blank]? Yeah, me too. So I run my own versions to not have to deal with that crap. Would you like me to set you up an account on my stuff?"

I have my own server, at home.

1. I like to own the stuff I buy.

2. I don't want to pay a corporation a monthly fee to access my own data.

3. I don't want a corporation or government to have unlimited access to my stuff.

I just like it and I value my privacy. I don't try to convince anyone. I explain it is both a hobby and a kind of political statement.

I don't have to worry about price increases or media being removed unannounced because a license expired.

I have the physical media here or at my parents place.

That sounds like a level of detail it is not necessarily useful to go into with most people. I never experienced anyone non-technical complaining about cloud products, so it would just be proselytising about what to me is a hobby/passion project.

(Not that I'm big into self hosting, but to the extent I am)

How I explain Self-Hosting to the non-techies in my life: "This is me practicing my trade. As a server and systems admin, I need servers and systems under my control that I can experiment with, set up, configure, break, and fix, and self-hosting has a benefit that instead of four computers, two by my wife and two by me, each hosting its own data, I can set up a network storage device where both of us can store our data." Any more than that, and I probably won't go into detail, because I don't ask my accountant friends to go into the weeds about their career and return that favour by not going into the weeds about my own. :)

Depending on reliability and stability of the local internet and power, you want to have your stuff available. Ranging from documents and photos up to your libary of everything else. Everything has pros and cons and what things you're fine with.

Most of the time, all news are doing the part of "why it's bad to rely on big corp"...

Explain why you care about it, usually if the people trust you, they will share your opinion

Pointing to the hard drives connected to the server on my desk: "see, i know where my data is and it's not being sold or shared with anybody. It's right here and doesn't leave here." Oh and AWS was down: "see, I don't care :D"