I have an important announcement to make. This is going to be a long post, but please, keep reading.

After a lot of consideration, I decided that it's time to take the next step when it comes to the services I've been hosting for the last two years.

So, the bigger change will be to move the services to a new domain, and maybe to a new server, probably with a bit more resources than the current one.

The plan is the following:

- The server is going to be run mostly as a pubnix, with a few services running on it for its users.

- We need to set up services that will be sustainable to run for a long time, in a relatively small budget, as much as it's possible.

- The decisions for the server should be taken by the majority of users and not by a single entity (the administrator).

Also, I'm considering of setting the new service in a few phases.

Phase 0:

Preparation for setting up the services, getting a new domain name (and server, if needed). The basic services should be set up at this point.

Phase 1:

The basic services will be up and running, ready to be accessible by the users. At this point, the old services will be slowly discontinued.

Some of the services that will be up at this point are the following:

- Website for our services and our users
- Fediverse instance (with alternative frontends)
- XMPP server (with MUC and voice/video calls support)
- Shells for registered users
- Email server (for use mostly from administrators of the service)

Phase 2:

Additional services will be set up when the services at Phase 1 will be considered stable. The old services will have been discontinued.

The services we'll add at this point are the following:

- Tor and I2P support for our pages
- Gemini and Gopher server for users, as well as pages for our services
- Mumble server
- Git server
- Radio stream
- File upload service

Phase 3:

At this phase, we will stop adding additional services (unless it's needed) and work on the maintenance of the ones will be running at this point.

Also, we'll considering of discontinuing the following services:

- IRC
- Minecraft server

The IRC server might be discontinued, since it was barely used. The Minecraft server will be discontinued because it has been difficult to run and it doesn't really worth the effort in my opinion.

So, where we are now?

Currently, we are at the beginning of the Phase 0, planning the new services. At this point, I think some help will be needed.

First, from the people of this instance, especially @Saphiroth, @MoonArcadia, @Floppa and @spacejunkie:

I need your feedback about the services, what would you like to see being added, changed or removed and the most important, picking a new name.

Second, from the administrators of local instances like Kafeneio or Electric Requiem, I need feedback about stuff that aren't necessarily technical, but are important to avoid potential issues, like legal stuff etc.

Last, but not least, from everyone who has experience on pubnixes etc., we'll need assistance on setting up our server for our needs. Some of the services we'll probably need help with are the following:

- Email server
- LDAP
- Setting up the system for usage as pubnix etc.

We will also need suggestions for a VPS provider. We currently use Contabo for our service and we didn't have any issues lately, but considering the issues other administrators had, we are considering to move our services to another provider.

That's what are we will working on for the next few months. I hope things will go well for us for the near future.

Thanks for reading.

@getimiskon @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie nyarrrr, I'm here for the long term, cap'n Geti! Sounds like a good 'un; you lead an' I follo

@Saphiroth @getimiskon @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie I'll go search Pinko's back pockets while we're about it. Saph tells it like it is, nyarrrrr

@Saphiroth i understand. Also don't worry about the money, we're currently fine when it comes to that. That's why it's not mentioned in the post. What is currently needed is to get a new name, something fairly easy to remember, yet not too expensive in a domain. Maybe some art as well.

As for the Minecraft server, i'll keep it running as much as this fedi instance runs, but i've considered of having a backup of the world. Don't worry about it, i'll let you know when it's going to get down.
@Floppa @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@Floppa don't worry about that, we're currently fine when it comes to that.
@Saphiroth @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @Saphiroth @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie nyarrrr, as for the name, something with Geti in it, maybe? It's only fair, nyarnyar!

@Saphiroth we might definitely need some graphics, but first, we need a name. Still haven't came up with something tbh.
@Floppa @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@Floppa nope. That's the thing i want to avoid the most.
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@Saphiroth i want a name that could describe our small community, but as i said, i haven't come up with something. Any ideas?
@Floppa @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie nyarrrr! What a lad!

@Floppa the point is to keep the site running, even if i'm not the one running it. A way to future-proof it, you could say.
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @Saphiroth @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie nyarrrr, something with 'safe', maybe? It makes you feel safe here, innit

@Floppa i had the silly idea to use "neurospicy solutions", but the domain was taken. Sucks.
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@Saphiroth the last time a service had the name "village" in it, things didn't go that well (nothing against using that, but i think it's not the best thing we can use)
@Floppa @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @Saphiroth @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie hmmm... What about something with 'garden'? Or is that kinda cringe?

@Floppa you know, "garden" is also a valid TLD, so it could be used. The thing is that i don't know if an email server would be more difficult to set up properly. The thing is that big email providers treat smaller ones like being spam domains, and you don't need that when it comes to a service. Yeah, email in general is messed up.
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@Saphiroth i'll think about it, but i don't think it matches with the general idea of what i'm trying to make. For example, @Floppa's idea about "garden" is closer to that.
@MoonArcadia @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @Saphiroth @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie if we could do an acronym of the people here, and combine it with garden? Meooww, nyarrr, as for forest, maybe if you used 'wood' instead of forest?

@Floppa no, i've been thinking of something easy to remember. Maybe a word that describes the whole vibe. Maybe using the garden domain could be fine, i guess.
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@getimiskon @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie nyarrr, gardens are nice

@Floppa
@MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie

@Saphiroth @getimiskon @MoonArcadia @spacejunkie hmmm, orchard? Or, nyarrr, prawnorchard? Or... fishgarden? (Nyarrr, ok, I'll scram)

@getimiskon @Floppa @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie other names...really addictedpals?

@getimiskon @Floppa @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie Mind stuck....

@getimiskon @Floppa @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth @spacejunkie Like how you call an furry person, a meme creating person or a manhua demon/vampire addicted person with one name since mostly of us posting here??? XDDDD

@getimiskon @Saphiroth @Floppa @spacejunkie Something about you, me, Floppa & Salami probably something that suit us....

@Saphiroth @getimiskon @Floppa @spacejunkie I love this one honestly.

@Saphiroth that's not a domain issue, but a server issue. The thing is that we need a server that supports the masto api in order to work on these apps. I'm considering of keeping Akkoma, but with a new name and probably more resources, in order to accomodate more users in the long run. I'm also considering options like GoToSocial as well, but i haven't decided on a specific service yet.
@MoonArcadia @Floppa @spacejunkie

@getimiskon would you like to start brainstorming on a shared text editor? @Saphiroth @Floppa @MoonArcadia

@spacejunkie it's not on my plan, but after the basics are done, i could consider it
@Floppa @MoonArcadia @Saphiroth

@getimiskon oh what how'd i miss this - awesome stuff!

@arichtman been working on it, still have lots of things to be done. The service is at catto.garden, if you want to check it out (although the homepage is a mess for now)

@getimiskon it's a big project! Home page looks fine imho

@arichtman i know. So far there is a bit of progress. Hopefully, i can get the basic services running later this month. By the way, if you have any suggestions, let me know