this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2025
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Selfhosted

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how do you explain selfhosting to the non-techies in your life? (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by thelocalhostinger@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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i am not looking to manipulate or convince anybody, just something informative in general, like "this is the bigtech world, this is the open source / selfhosted world." any good knowledge bases, blogs, youtube channels and alike that you would recommend? the less technical, the better. it's not about "how to install this and that" but rather "what do i need this and that for, what are the advantes and what are the downsides". also, are there resources like that in your language (if you or your people are not english native speakers)?

also very interested in anything else you have to share regarding your personal selfhosting experience and how it may or may not affect those around you.

i'll start: in my own experience, there are so many other things going on in people's life, that i understand are far more important than whether their todo list is stored on their own disk or in some other part of the world. especially in the beginning, going open source / selfhosted does often feel like losing comfort, only to be left with more to take care about in return. so getting started as a non-technical person seems incredibly difficult. another thing that comes to mind is, yes i could do the selfhosting for related people and friends, and yes they would trust me with some of their data – but no i don't want that. not because i am not willing to help, but i honestly don't want to have access to their data, it just doesn't feel correct.

thanks for your inputs and have a nice weekend!

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[–] it_depends_man@lemmy.world 45 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I liken it to hiring a plumber/electrician/carpenter vs figuring it out myself. Instead of using a website on someone else's computer, I use websites on my own computer.

[–] yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 months ago

That is actually an important distinction, with the burger example you only get the "do it myself" part and some people will say "meh I can deal not getting home made burger".

Hiring an electrician though for example. You let someone in your house. Without self hosting is like having an electrician constantly knowing what you do with the electricity, like he never leaves the house.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

And the one you make at home is always better anyway. Just requires more labor.