For now. Commercial servers are possible, especially if communities become multi-instance in the future.
Every mature decentralized service calls them providers. Phone providers, ISPs, email providers, etc. I guess usenet just calls them “news servers”, though.
What would you call gmail vs hotmail?
Providers.
But that’s a provider/customer relationship, on the fediverse it isn’t.
For now. Commercial servers are possible, especially if communities become multi-instance in the future.
Every mature decentralized service calls them providers. Phone providers, ISPs, email providers, etc. I guess usenet just calls them “news servers”, though.
Agree on a technical level, but in terms of the average netizen being able to visualize the relationship, “providers” makes it much easier
It’s provider/consumer (not customer, something being a “provider” doesn’t necessarily mean they are selling stuff).
We are consumers, we consume the content that the instances provide, as content providers.