Tried out Sync for Lemmy today... I'm back
Tried out Sync for Lemmy today... I'm back
I just don't want the data collection and subscriptions.
Haven't tried it but I just decided to put a recurring donation for aeharding on Github, Sync for Lemmy's tracking-infused ad model and the pricing for the ad-free versions just convinced me that we need to support open-source devs even more.
I find it sad that lots of people seem to be excited to pay $20 for a closed-source app but very few supported the devs that have been developing the apps that carried us on their backs until now for free.
Voyager has only 22 sponsors right now and hasn't even reached his $250/month goal on Github, while Sync for Lemmy is already asking for $100 for a OTP for the Ultra version.
EDIT: aeharding also just added a Liberapay in the sidebar!
Hey, thanks for sponsoring! ๐
People have a certain familiarity with Sync. I would pay $20 if "Relay for Reddit" were ported over. The other apps just lack a ton of polish unfortunately. Liftoff is the closest to being what I want (besides Sync).
Even still, I don't understand the backlash against the Sync dev charging for his work. If he's successful, others may see a viable path forward and follow him. We should WANT a variety of quality Lemmy clients out there for users. A good experience is how you gain/retain users. I'm also all for open source options for users. Users should have a choice.
It's not charging people have issue with, but the initial subscription model approach to ads it took.
It might have worked for Reddit with its api calls they were charging for and the space of reddit generally being full on monetization of its users, but for something related to the fediverse it was off putting. And I think people here are more adverse to ads even being present in an app than paying.
Approach to subscription requests I've found best has been Christians approach with Apollo of having no ads but less features on the free version like limits to filters, no multiple account logins, and no submissions.
Can you post a link for the donation for Voyager
you have a "sponsors" button in the sidebar of this community ๐
TIL I can give people money on github, also didn't realise I already have github account so that made it easy
Voyager has only 22 sponsors right now and hasnโt even reached his $250/month goal on Github, while Sync for Lemmy is already asking for $100 for a OTP for the Ultra version.
I think this boils down to two reasons:
- Sync has more features than other lemmy apps out of the gate (since its a continuation of sync for lemmy). No waiting for features it just works, etc.
- The definition of a sponosor and the definition of a subscription have potential different implications. From my point of view sponsoring encourages development and acts as a way of saying thank you for your hard work. However it is important to note sponosoring doesn't necessarily guarantee that you are entitled/owed specific features or support in a timely manor. By contrast when you pay for sync's subscription the role shifts from a simple donation to a buisness relationship (in a sense). You pay $16 a year and now the dev (lj) is on the hook to make sure features listed in the subscription work for that year, responsible for any support queries, and as its his primary job incentivized to continue development (though you could say this last point is sort of equivalent to sponsoring).
I hope this post didn't come of as a bit to dark, my view points especially on the community/developer relationship in a donation/sponsor context versus subscription context could be way off.
Curious on your thoughts (love the work on voyager ๐ )
Edit Just wanted to link photoprism (a opensource ai powered photos app) subscription policy (I think it does put a interesting case on subscriptions versus donations).
https://www.photoprism.app/membership/faq
Pricing (not sponsoring them or anything just as a point of reference):
Iโm almost sure if the dev made something like: your username would have a different color in Voyager if you donated to GitHub, he would have a lot money by now (this is something that doesnโt even affect anyone).
Sometimes, itโs just a matter of getting a reward. The biggest one we can have is the app, but some people might not see it that way, because they take it for granted.
How do you do this? How do you sponsor? I would love to sponsor aeharding
They use GitHub sponsors. There is a link to support them listed in the readme on their GitHub.
If you pay the 1 time and removal then no ads, no subscription, and then there's no tracking either. It's only part of the Google Ads which isn't used if you remove ads.
The main data collection post I assume you saw was misleading and isn't a true list of what data is collected. Viewing their privacy policy will tell you exactly what it collects and it's only a handful of things.
But so long as everyone uses what they like then it shouldn't matter ๐
Ok.
Trying Voyager now, installed the app on my android via Firefox. It's nice and simple and I really like the look and feel of the UI, both when posts are compact and large.
My only complaint, which is true for all the FOSS Lemmy apps, is that the appearance settings, really all settings, are global for the app and not based on the account you are browsing with. That is the one nice feature of Sync that is stopping me from sticking with any of the FOSS apps. Having my account on lemm.ee open straight to All Communities with compact posts and NSFW blurred, while having my ...other Lemmy account.. open straight to Local Communities with large posts and no NSFW blurring is a really nice feature of Sync.
I'm using Connect, works for the most part
Mostly use connect and voyager.
I only have some personal issues with voyager.
- not showing external images and videos.
- awkward lower bottom menu
Connect is my favorite personally. Thunder is slicker and has a more polished UI but it's glitchy as hell.
Hoping boost for Lemmy is successful and doesn't do what sync did. I loved boost in my reddit days and would gladly pay to purchase (not subscribe) like i did way back when for boost.
I'm using free apps and I donate. Although I feel as though I need to donate to the instances more. Can only imagine their costs going higher as they get more traffic.
Actually most are doing fine/not seeing a huge influx anymore. Beehaw is even downsizing. The rexxit bump is largely past and the usage is finding it's new level. That plus version improvements is reducing load.
That said, nothing wrong with donating to an instance you like! I donate to the ones that disclose their financials. I like the transparency and helps me assess if my donation is fair/equitable.
Sync for Reddit was my favorite Android app (before I jumped to iOS).
But as someone who loathes subscriptions, I would never use that app, especially when Lemmy doesnโt have ads, or subscription shit!
You may try Infinity for Lemmy. It's a fork of Infinity for Reddit and it is actively being developed.
The UI is not good
But at least it is functional, smooth and loads faster.
Yeah, same boat here. Was a longtime Sync Pro user back on reddit, and saw LJ as a dev worth supporting, but I'm not entirely on board with the changes on the privacy end. Maybe if that stuff changes I'll go back.
It's pretty much the same as it was on the free Sync tier.
Quite. That's why I used to use Pro, however. And ultra as a regular subscription is... a bit out of my price range. I've heard that there's an ad free only tier priced lower, but I couldn't find it in the app, so... shrug
I'll probably come back to it eventually after post-launch flux ends and such, but we'll see.
Yeah. I can only feel home here. The clean interface, the everything-I-need settings, the stability
My only problem is the long delay in switching pages. I can bear that to some degree. Maybe my phone is not powerful enough
I am curious how sync is going to implement push notifications (which requires a subscription). The dev either is going to have to wait for web push to be added (which doesn't seem to be a priority for lemmy devs as they are a bit swamped already). Or he will need to rely on rapid polling like memmy (scaling would be messy down the line).