
PeerTube - Decentralized, Free, Ad-Free Video Hosting - peter_d_sherman
https://joinpeertube.org
======
soared
I do not understand this idea of replacing social media sites with open
software but then exposing/forcing users to choose an instance. Unless you're
strictly trying to make your social media site for devs this makes no sense.
Any common user will see this 'instance' choosing option and exit really fast.

I guess instances are required for federation? What is federation? Why do I
care? Why do I need to "Get Started" rather than just a search function like
youtube? Why can't these instances exist on the backend and you just provide a
front-end ui that combines them for users?

I do not understand federation and neither do your non-dev users (98% of the
market).

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themodelplumber
It's really cool to see things like this from the libre point of view.

However, the decentralized bit was confusing to me when I tried out Mastodon.
It was like I was trying to figure out whether I should join the North
American Combine or the Paneuropean Federation _with the catch_ that geography
was not really a factor. So did the decentralization make things easier for
everybody or harder? I know I never really got into Mastodon after trying it
twice, though I'm open to trying it again.

I'd honestly rather just swim with the whatever the tide is in such cases
unless I'm applying for a literal passport. Point me to a popular way of
accessing the thing and using it, and I'll give it a shot. Any given community
with a good amount of traffic ought to self-sort to allow me to find what I
like.

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sctb
Several discussions about PeerTube in the last year:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17386609](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17386609)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18013705](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18013705)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18220475](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18220475)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17347560](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17347560)

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all2
As an advertiser, can I work with creators to play my ads before or during
their videos?

Could creators have a 'subscription' that allows consumers to bypass my
advertisements?

Or maybe the 'subscription' allows early access, or extra content hidden to
regular viewers?

Without some localized incentive (money) for creators, this won't work. I know
there is the "Support" button, but that doesn't really do what a creator
needs. Hoping for money isn't a business model (and major content creators run
businesses, regardless of the image they project).

~~~
hcal
I don't think it is intended to be a business or business model. I think its
just about the technology. It aims to provide scalable distribution of video
without a huge youtube-size infrastructure. Maybe you can build a business
model on top... or maybe you just host your own videos and use the federation
tools to share the files with others.

~~~
all2
I think what I've described is possible given the API documentation.

An application on top of this would be interesting, I think.

[https://docs.joinpeertube.org/api.html](https://docs.joinpeertube.org/api.html)

