We got the instance updated to Lemmy version 0.18.2 ___ Nothing special happened this time, so no extended logs.

Well, our volunteer staff made an oops on the migration of the core router to its new firmware. The rules permitting incoming email to our mail server got left out of the migration and it is no wonder that it has been a quiet few days now.

This has been resolved and it has been verified that we can receive mail from the outside world once again. Sorry for any issues this has caused anyone trying to reach us.

Our Lemmy instance ran into some unexpected down time today when I restarted the VM it runs on. It seems the error is related to having a site icon at the top of the page that was causing the UI to have timeouts. Only thing I can find on the issue is maybe DNS related with the way docker is setup through the playbook.

The site icon has been removed from the database and it appears the website is back online.

Hey guys, Our Lemmy instance has been updated to 0.18.0 as of this evening. Let us know if anything is off or broken so that our volunteer staff can look into it. ___ Also something to be aware of, Marbled Fennec Networks has made the preemptive decision to go ahead and block all traffic to and from Meta/FaceBook when it comes to our Lemmy instance. There has been word going around the fediverse that Meta may be working on their own client or integration for ActivityPub, the underlying protocol.

I will admit this decision comes from myself (Skylar) and may appear to be heavy handed, but it is of my belief that good things rarely come from an income driven company wedging themselves into open and free spaces on the internet. Meta has shown time and time again that peoples' privacy, protection and well being is not one of their core values. Until given reason otherwise, they will remain blocked entirely from our instance.

As of right now, however, I have not and most likely will not take a stand on blocking them from the rest of the network. I only aim to protect our Lemmy instance from direct injection of their business practices, which I view as rather unhealthy. ___ I still stand behind the fact that Marbled Fennec Networks should be and will remain a mostly neutral IP carrier for pretty much every other use case. As long as our project members are doing things on the network that are legal in Canada and the US, it isn't the network's job to police them. I just feel that this is going to lead to a slippery slope if a company like Meta/FaceBook is allowed to enter the fediverse because it could lead to additional spam, poorly adjusted users and attempted commercialization of the space.

Marbled Fennec Networks will be open to considering removing the ASN bans put in place on the instance once and if Meta/FaceBook proves that they can behave and respectful everything that everyone has contributed and built within the fediverse.

What is ‘The MFN Project’?

The project is the end result of a very loose knit group of computer and networking hobbyist. We work together to bring IPv6 connectivity to other hobbyist homelabs and devices, making things such as port forwarding and direct connectivity easier to access and deploy. We run Marbled Fennec Networks, a space for learning and working together.

Why do y’all do this?

To learn new skills relating to IT and ISP tech, to practice building and maintaining computer networks, to apply our skills and make the IPv6 internet more accessible. But mostly, we run the project just for fun. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew, sometimes subprojects get abandoned or shutdown and sometimes things go the way we intended them to do. It is all about having fun and learning while doing so.

The whole idea is that Marbled Fennec Networks will try to provide a space that can get accepted members connected to the greater IPv6 internet and they then can learn and experiment with networking within their homelab.

Do you accept just anyone?

It is not that simple. Our resources and time are limited, so we tend to limit who and what we accept into our project and network. Anyone can make an application through the support desk, but that doesn't mean you'll be accepted in. We have to be mindful of current server load, network bandwidth and ability of our volunteer staff to keep up with everyone.

Whats the cost?

For members of the project, nothing. We don’t sell bandwidth or hosting; we don’t provide support beyond getting end users up and running on our network and we don’t have much overhead because our project runs on a purely volunteer handled basis.

For the project’s core group, we foot the operational cost of MFN ourselves, usually taking turns every month or two to front the cost of keeping the lights on. At the end of the day, The MFN Project only exist because we want it to and we put in the effort to keep it going.

What about reliability of your network?

The MFN Project is not a commercial company or a commercially sponsored project. We have maybe two or three volunteer staff on a good day handling tickets, creating/modifying connection profiles, working on routing, keeping the firewall in check and so on. If you need a service provider who has pure uptime and commercial stability in mind; you need to look elsewhere, just being very up front about this.

For most homelab users, our network will likely do okay for getting their services/VMs publicly accessible. We deliver IPv6 connectivity just for that purpose. Bandwidth might be a little limited, but hey, at the end of the day..folks get online even if they are behind a 5G, LTE or otherwise limited configurable internet connection.

While our volunteer staff and network moderators do strive for quick turn around on tickets and emails, fast connections for new members and firewall setup for homelabs; all of our volunteer staff have lives outside of the project that come first. Again, we do this for fun. Not for a profit.

Something else to keep in mind is that because our time for moderation and project related task is limited; we tend to be choosy about which service applications we approve and work with. We cannot simply accept everyone onto our network. We have a limited set of resources such as moderation staff, bandwidth and server hardware.

…And the purpose of all this is?

For those involved in our project to learn, grow and have fun. I guess you could say it is one of those “because we could” kind of things. Hopefully the project survives for a little while longer this time around. We tend to come and go, as the finances aren't always there to keep everything together.

Will y'all be here tomorrow?

We can't make any promises, but we always try to survive another month. It depends on having enough volunteer staff members to keep everything updated and running; as well as having the financing from our core members to keep the lights on. I'd like to say "Yes! We'll be here until we burn out!" but in all honesty with you, the project's wake takes a slow toll on various folks play money. We'll do our best to keep marching forward for as long as the money is there to do so.

Lemon Bar Hangout is a shared instance run by MFN mostly for fun, so most of what is below won't apply to visitors. But if you are a project member who applied for registration and it was granted, you need to read and follow this.

While we aim to be present and stay on top of things, our volunteer staff are split across Canadian and US timezones and that means that it may take us a bit to catch reports.

The Rules:

Lemon Bar Hangout should not be used in any way that would be considered as:

• Posting or distributing anything that is illegal under Canadian or US Law.
• Posting or distributing copyrighted material without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
• Intent to create violence against an individual, group, scripted violence or support for systemic violence.
• Posts or comments that are discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic.
• Commercial advertising.
• Disclosure of personal or sensitive information without the explicit permission of the relevant persons.
• Harassment or bullying.
• Impersonation or puppet accounts.
• Vote manipulation.
• Circumventing rules or moderation on federated websites.

Federation Ideals:

The volunteer staff that run Marbled Fennec Networks will be open and transparent about any communities that we end up having to defederate from. We aim to have open federation with most lemmy instances until given a reason to no longer allow our instance to interact with theirs. Such things will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Defederation with instances will occur for the following reasons:

• The instance promotes, distributes or otherwise harbors hate speech, hate ideology or otherwise unsavory character.
• The instance does not provide the needed moderation for their community or refuses to discuss needed moderation when cross community issues arise.
• The instance serves communities with the explicit stance of promoting, distributing and hosting pirated content.
• The instance possesses or is known for having a community that is overly hateful, aggressive or otherwise annoying.

Honestly, it comes down to just play nice and be fair to one another. Our staff consist of volunteers with lives outside of The MFN Project and no one wants to have to babysit this instance or other parts of our network because folks can't behave.