I run a website that I pay for out of pocket. It's not super expensive and it's a hobby of mine, so I don't really mind.

The infrastructure I pay for wouldn't be able to handle thousands of users simultaneously, but it could easily handle a few dozen or a couple hundred people simultaneously.

I'm considering setting up a kbin/lemmy instance specifically for my niche interest (fencing). Across the English speaking internet, there isn't that large a regular online community, and I think the infrastructure would be affordable for one person out-of-pocket, as a hobby - maybe with a few donations once a year.

If every small community had someone doing something like this, it would basically self-solve