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Asklemmy @lemmy.ml
Wintermute @lemmy.villa-straylight.social

How to get users for a new instance?

I self-hosted an instance a when I got here a few days ago. The server costs me the same whether I use it or not, so I'd like to let as many people sign up as I can. I had a few people sign up already before join-lemmy.org was changed to require 5 monthly active users, but now my instance isn't shown there because it's below the limit.

Any idea on how to attract a dozen or so users so that I can show up on the main join-lemmy page again?

23 comments

  • Just guessing but... Ironically, post on /r/lemmymigration. Have clear rules and community expectations that tell people what your instance is about.

    I'm self hosted too debating if I'm gonna open mine or keep it closed. I really did it as a learning experience, fun and curiosity. Hosting costs will barely be a Starbucks drink a month as is...

    • I’m also self hosted. I decided to self host because cost of running a server isn’t so bad, and I like having my own domain / address.

      Mine is open, and I’ve had some random signups without promoting it anywhere.

    • What provider are you using to host? I've got a hostgator shared plan for a personal site but wasn't sure if I'd specifically need a VPS to do it.

      • I'm using cloudzy VPS. It's cheap but realized that smtp ports are blocked today... So gotta look into what to do about that if I want to use this instance beyond a private one. Email would be required for forgot passwords, registrations, etc...

  • Some random ideas:

    • Post it here. Presumably it's lemmy.villa-straylight.social?
    • Search for Lemmy posts about picking an instance. These are readable from the public internet without a Lemmy account, you just can't vote/comment without an account. It may feel silly to post on Lemmy about getting a Lemmy account, but it can be useful because they CAN be found and read by people without accounts.
    • Post it on other apps/systems where you see people talking/asking about Lemmy.
    • Fake your user numbers. Create test1 through test5 accounts on your server to bump your numbers above the join-lemmy.org threshold. It seems to me that the purpose of that threshold is to filter out personal/private instances. If you're serious about being an admin of a bigger instance and know what that entails... just make the accounts yourself to get above the threshold. You can always delete them later, but also a handful of test accounts with "regular" permissions are likely to be handy as an admin.

    • Post it here. Presumably it’s lemmy.villa-straylight.social?

      :D That's sort of what this post is. I figured most people interested in lemmy would probably be able to figure it out, but yes you got it.

      Fake your user numbers

      I kind of consider that too. You do actually have to do some basic stuff to show up on the list in addition to the user requirement, so I don't actually think it is about filtering out private instances, but maybe you're right. I can't actually figure out what constitutes an active monthly user though. I did make a (legitimate non-spam) comment on a post in another instance from my alt account and that doesn't seem to be enough.

  • Not at all relevant to what your post is about, but I read neuromancer recently and that book is fuckin fantastic.

  • Sorry about the extra duplicate posts. I’m using the mlem app on iOS and I guess it’s still a bit buggy. Time to file some bugs.

  • Post it on relevant Reddit threads?

    • Aren’t people getting banned on Reddit for promoting lemmy?

      • I've mentioned it on threads without being banned. I think it depends on how you do it. Some people just post it with no relevance to the thread at all, so... You have to be abit smarter and get it into the conversation naturally.

      • Use a throwaway to be safe. Some communities have been open to it, others haven't. If you don't have a throwaway I hate suggesting create one (because it tells their investors that they're growing), but you could make one that's named something like "FollowXOnLemmy" or something

  • You're going to have to get use to some shameless self promotion. I've been posting on all relevant communities here. Luckily so far people have been very open and welcoming, probably because we're all trying to grow and cultivate our communities.

    I suggest we start building up support communities. For example I have a pop music community. In my sidebar I reached out to the mod of an indie music community and asked if they wanted to link to each other's communities in our sidebars, which they loved the idea of.

  • Aren’t people getting banned on Reddit for promoting lemmy?

23 comments