I made it a small badge so people wouldn't have to feel obligated to donate. But yes, the entire instance has been community funded already thanks to generous one-time and monthly donations!
I thought subdomains were people using PDS. So I don't know anyone running a PDS. I might try running one just to see what it's like and actually learn the network.
I don't think they're using a PDS though. In fact, it's really hard to tell who's using a PDS or not. I'm not sure what the effect of this is in community-building and I wonder if control over the network is really decentralized. This is really... confusing.
People have suggested making a portal/quiz for instance signups, but that adds to the barrier. There are also problems like how in-depth and inclusive it should be. It reminds me of Linux distro pickers that often suggest weird niche distros.
There are already big/default instances in the Fediverse though but there are people who actively discourage this. Maybe Mastodon just had a bad start and Bluesky learned from that. I wonder if Bluesky's PDS will be like Fediverse instances though. Many Fediverse instances are built around shared interests but the PDS just looks like a glorified handle.
Personally, I think the Fediverse discourse should shift to designing social media with decentralization in mind rather than mimicking mainstream social media with a "decentralized twist". I don't think the Fediverse will ever be as big as Twitter, but it doesn't have to be. It just needs to be sustainable enough to keep new conversations going.
Doesn't answer the question but maybe it's worth sharing anyway.
Out of curiosity, other than fmhy.ml, lemmy.ml, and lemmygrad.ml, what other Lemmy instances were using .ml domains? Also, how are the latter two still running but fmhy.ml isn't?
edit: This has triggered a chain of comments I wasn't expecting. I'd appreciate it if someone can answer on a technical level. Is the latter two using a different registrar or name server which is why it still works for them?
There's a lot of subs like these which I don't want to name. Basically, subs with anti-corpo principles but refuses to leave corpo Reddit. I'm happy for the subs who are still dark even until now (and even more reason to be now that Reddit is deleting older DMs and removing awards/coins).
I made it a small badge so people wouldn't have to feel obligated to donate. But yes, the entire instance has been community funded already thanks to generous one-time and monthly donations!