A Beginner-Friendly Official PeerTube Server

[T3kn3vr4]

Suggestion Overview:

PeerTube could host and maintain an official, beginner-friendly server, similar in purpose to Mastodon.Social for Mastodon or Lemmy.World for Lemmy.

This server could function as an easy onboarding point for new users, enabling them to sign up and immediately start exploring videos without the need to understand or manage federated server distinctions.

This server could provide an experience akin to YouTube, where users can browse, search, and watch videos from both the local server and federated servers seamlessly.

By simplifying the experience, this initiative could help make PeerTube more appealing to mainstream audiences and lower the barrier to entry.

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Features and Benefits

1. Centralized Onboarding for New Users

• Provide a trusted, official PeerTube instance that's beginner-friendly.
• Serve as a default place where individuals can sign up without having to research or choose from numerous third-party servers (which can be confusing).

2. Discoverability of Videos Across Federated Servers

• Users could watch and search for videos from the official server as well as from federated PeerTube instances without needing to understand server distinctions.
• Implement a streamlined user interface for easy video discovery, resembling YouTube’s intuitive navigation.

3. Support for Technologically Less Savvy Audiences

• Many users, particularly older individuals or those unfamiliar with decentralized platforms, could benefit from a simplified entry point.
• Reduce complexity by hiding the technical aspects of federation for these users while still allowing advanced users to explore federated options if desired.

4. Expand PeerTube’s Reach and Adoption

• By offering an official, centralized entry point, PeerTube could attract more users who otherwise might find the platform intimidating or confusing.
• This initiative could serve as a showcase for PeerTube, demonstrating the power of federated video sharing to a broader audience.

5. Potential Revenue and Sustainability

• The official server could offer optional donations or crowdfunding to cover hosting costs, similar to Mastodon.Social.

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Addressing Concerns

1. Maintaining Decentralization Values

• While offering a centralized starting point, the server would remain federated and open, encouraging users to explore other PeerTube instances if they wish.
• This server would not undermine the decentralized nature of PeerTube but rather serve as a gateway to the broader federated ecosystem.

2. Balancing Resources

• To reduce strain, the server’s video hosting capacity could focus on curated or user-uploaded content while still federating videos from other servers for a comprehensive experience.
• Encourage other PeerTube server admins to adopt a similar model to distribute the load.

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Closing Thoughts

This initiative could help make PeerTube more accessible while staying true to the values of decentralization. Creating an official, beginner-friendly PeerTube server would not only improve user adoption but also demonstrate PeerTube’s capacity to deliver a federated video-sharing experience that rivals mainstream platforms.

[frenzybiscuit]

Who is paying for it?

[T3kn3vr4]

Maybe have a PeerTube Premium subscription option?

I. e Peertube+, which could offer multiple perks like Supporter Badges on user profile, better download/upload options, support for Peertube.Video, Peertube. Social, or whatever server name that PeerTube decides upon, etc.?

Or maybe a crowdfunding or Donations?

[vencabot]

I think that this is largely a good idea. Straight up, one of the reasons that it took me so long to create a PeerTube account is that many of the servers I was finding had closed registration. Even more straight-up, I didn't have a PeerTube account until I created my own instance. Without a PeerTube account, it was a lot more frustrating to follow channels, comment on videos, etc., which greatly diminished the PeerTube experience.

I think that the obvious concerns are hosting fees and moderation. Maybe especially moderation.

Concerns about costs are valid, of course, but this proposed platform wouldn't be hosting or encoding any videos, so I think it could end up being very affordable to host (maybe you all have reasons to think otherwise?). On the other hand, moderation can be a very time-consuming task for any platform which requires dedicated personnel. To me, that would seem to be an even trickier problem to address than funding.

Still, I'm glad that this discussion is coming up, because I do think that an official instance, with sepia search, could be huge for PeerTube in terms of on-boarding. An upload quota of 0; just a place where people can create accounts and watch and interact with videos.

Every single day, because of my livestream (multi-streamed to Twitch), I'm trying to explain PeerTube to people and sell them on the concept: people that don't understand what 'open source' is, don't particularly understand what it means to be 'decentralized', and who just want an alternative to YouTube. They become frustrated when they search for 'PeerTube' and don't immediately end up on a site where they can watch videos. Maybe an official instance would do wonders to communicate what PeerTube is and how fantastic it is for those that can't figure out what a 'platform' even is, yet.