Hi all, I’ve been noticing a pattern in self-hosting communities, and I’m curious if others see it too.
Whenever someone asks for a more beginner-friendly solution, something with a UI, automated setup, or fewer manual configs, there’s often a response like:
“If you can’t configure Docker, reverse proxies, and Yaml files, you shouldn’t be self-hosting.”
Sometimes it feels like a portion of the community views complexity as a badge of honour. Don’t get me wrong, I love the technical side of self-hosting. I enjoy tinkering, breaking things, fixing them, learning along the way. That’s how most of us got into it.
But here’s the question: Is gatekeeping slowing down the adoption of self-hosting?
If we want more people to own their data, escape Big Tech, and embrace open-source alternatives, shouldn’t we welcome solutions that lower the entry barrier?
There’s room for everyone:
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people who want full control and custom setups,
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people who want semi-manual but guided,
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and people who want it to work with minimal friction.
Just like not every Linux user compiles from source, but they’re still Linux users.
Where do you stand? Should self-hosting stay DIY-only or is there value in easier, more accessible ways to self-host?
My project focuses on building a tool that makes self-hosting more accessible without sacrificing data ownership, so I genuinely want your honest take before releasing it more widely.
I’ve been following this community for a while now and have not yet found the courage to selfhost anything.
I find the answers generally either assume a lot of knowledge, or throw out a single solution provider (synology, nextcloud, yunohost). Neither of these approaches helps me advance the big picture overview that I’m lacking, or a way of evaluating what the best setup is for me. I’ve started drafting an overview document for myself with the vague idea of asking for feedback here but I’m not sure such a request would be welcome.
So, yes, I would be interested in a solution that makes self-hosting more accessible.
Find the skills gaps that you have; find the thing that interests you about it; and dig into that fundamental piece, don’t understand what the fundamentals might be, go check out .edu, or certification outlines with the vocabulary/knowledge you do have so you can build from the concepts (and benefit from their already determined progressions) , so you can developed additional vocabulary and knowledge of the discipline.
The best thing to do is just start with whatever you already have. An old gaming rig, laptop or Raspberry Pi, doesn’t matter. Each will present some technical obstacle that you need to overcome (for example keeping the laptop going when the lid is closed). That’s part of learning.
Self-hosting is a hobby where we gradually learn more. Experimentation is just as important as reading the docs.
As an aside, be careful running your laptop with the lid closed. Some need to be open for proper cooling.
Honestly the best thing to do is just start trying things and don’t only rely on your own stuff until you have a good understanding.
Just get an old computer and install an os you want to learn, worst case you break it and reinstall.
I suggest proxmox since you can lean on community scripts and can backup and restore any containers pretty easily if needed.
But as with anything don’t go in expecting to be perfect, just get started, break some eggs and learn from mistakes. You will learn what you like about it, what you would change and you can burn it all down and start again if you want as well.