Not yet, the ones higher than me are... Sorting something out.
We're currently doing various things behind the scenes - this is definitely something we'll look into when we can (might be another day or so).
Everyone who joined the publicly open matrix channel dedicated to setting up a new instance. We couldn't do it on the open web to prevent domain parking.
We were setting up alternative communities on Quackhouse before the plug got pulled
Quackhouse came about from an agreement in a matrix chat. The chat was free to join and posted on this instance. It was composed of people who wanted a new instance. We didn't hold such a discussion publicly as to prevent people from domain parking.
We were wanting to distance ourselves from Lemmy (in name only, the devs are very volatile and give it a bad name, plus lemmy being difficult to explain to more casual people who'd appreciate the forum without an overwhelming technical explanation of how it works. Lastly we wanted a unique identity, like how beehaw or shitjustworks have) and Reddit (for obvious reasons)
We wanted a fun recognisable name, we did come up with ideas like "bri-ish" and I think something along the lines of "ukonline". We tried a pub theme also with "localpub.uk" and "thelemmingandthed.uk" but people opted for the duck theme and "quackhouse" as it sounded fun.
Personally, Quackhouse wasn't my first choice. But it's what everyone was happy enough with come the vote, so that's why I stand by it.
To elaborate more on the unique identity thing, we wanted to have a name we could use to spread in lemmy circles like joinlemmy.org. generally people who already know about Lemmy and want to join wouldn't really care about "lemmy" being in the name. So we thought it actually could detract more.
However, then we had stage two: word of mouth spreading / promoting. Generally just tell people about the site, the unique name wouldn't require explaining the fediverse, there was an idea floating about with "Tell them it's a UK based forum with no trackers or ads and is donation funded", they'd see the content from federation and by the time they realise what's happening, they wouldn't be intimidated by the idea.
Also had a small plan to even post a lemmy client on the play store which by default points to the new instance, name it after it and everything, just for fun :P
We were and are committed to lemmy, would only jump ship from it somehow died or became obsolete (there's no plans on moving away from Lemmy being the actual software or any Lemmy features)
It was the one we all agreed upon. Although it is better than "fake reddit UK".
I agree. Basically all Quackhouse plans were cancelled because Tom sent a single email and didn't show up again. We did have Quackhouse up on a limited extent and were starting to roll it out a few days ago, but they pulled Quackhouse offline again so I cannot work on it. I was hoping to have communities migrated before or around the new year, even if we didn't set up sign-ups by then
Unfortunately we had planned on getting the boat out before that happened. But it happened anyway. For now the instance seems to be back up, but this was a wake-up call.
Start it again on our new instance :)
We're making a contingency for the new instance
We do have three people planned to have shell access atm. I think two have host access. We're going to have some form of system in place where if someone gets hit by a bus, things can be okay.
I agree. A big objection was if we became big, reddit might be able to sue us.
The whole aim of this new instance is actually trying to see if we can attract some people to come onto it without having to really know what lemmy is. Feddit.uk sounded like a reddit knockoff, and having to explain it sounded confusing. If we could spread the word about the new instance without having to mention federation, as to not be intimidating, people may see the content provided from federation and be happy anyway, and not question the inner workings until they are settled.
The Downfall of Feddit.UK - And what comes next
TL;DR, Feddit.UK is down, we’re working on making a fun replacement!
A number of days ago, feddit.uk had kicked the bucket.
The community on there had noticed months ago that the owner was inactive. This was around September (Going off of memory). So they arranged to set up a new community run by the same feddit.uk admins (except the owner, the only one who had host access) which would replace it. However, on the weekend as Quackhouse was going to be launched, the owner responded to an email and made two users admins. Emperor and GreatAlbatross. However, they did not have access to the console, just lemmy adminship. Ever since, the owner has been AWOL. The community were too afraid to go back to setting up Quackhouse incase the owner showed up again.
Unfortunately, that wariness and being afraid led to the worst case scenario happening - Feddit.uk has dropped offline. We believe the instance has reached some form of file size cap. It was basically an aeroplane flying with dead pilots before then. And it appears that aeroplane has crashed.
If you are from the feddit.uk refugee base, please join the new community whenever it is ready. Do not sign up now. We are busy and still setting up and don’t want an influx of new users just yet.
For now, sit tight. I’ll update this post whenever it’s up and running and ready for sign-ups. I am not posting the name for now so we don’t get overrun with sign ups. But we would love to invite you back to our community when it’s set up.
The new community will have it’s own unique identity that doesn’t have to piggyback off of Lemmy and Reddit for it’s name. But it will still aim to be the main UK lemmy instance that feddit.uk was. By all means, it will be a full lemmy instance, still federated, etc. It should be the same experience as feddit.uk. But we actually do have fun plans to create a nice sense of identity with that instance if all goes well! I will warn you, it does have a silly name, but that was the name that was decided upon.
We look forward to having new members. All are welcome, whether or not you were from Feddit.UK or not. We will have the theme be a UK-based lemmy instance.
I’ll try and remember to update this post when we are ready.
~20CX12
Feddit.UK has finally kicked the bucket- and what happens next.
TL;DR, Feddit.UK is down, we're working on making a fun replacement!
A number of days ago, feddit.uk had kicked the bucket.
The community on there had noticed months ago that the owner was inactive. This was around September (Going off of memory). So they arranged to set up a new community run by the same feddit.uk admins (except the owner, the only one who had host access) which would replace it. However, on the weekend as Quackhouse was going to be launched, the owner responded to an email and made two users admins. Emperor and GreatAlbatross. However, they did not have access to the console, just lemmy adminship. Ever since, the owner has been AWOL. The community were too afraid to go back to setting up Quackhouse incase the owner showed up again.
Unfortunately, that wariness and being afraid led to the worst case scenario happening - Feddit.uk has dropped offline. We believe the instance has reached some form of file size cap. It was basically an aeroplane flying with dead pilots before then. And it appears that aeroplane has crashed.
If you are from the feddit.uk refugee base, please join the new community whenever it is ready. Do not sign up now. We are busy and still setting up and don't want an influx of new users just yet.
For now, sit tight. I'll update this post whenever it's up and running and ready for sign-ups. I am not posting the name for now so we don't get overrun with sign ups. But we would love to invite you back to our community when it's set up.
The new community will have it's own unique identity that doesn't have to piggyback off of Lemmy and Reddit for it's name. But it will still aim to be the main UK lemmy instance that feddit.uk was. By all means, it will be a full lemmy instance, still federated, etc. It should be the same experience as feddit.uk. But we actually do have fun plans to create a nice sense of identity with that instance if all goes well! I will warn you, it does have a silly name, but that was the name that was decided upon.
We look forward to having new members. All are welcome, whether or not you were from Feddit.UK or not. We will have the theme be a UK-based lemmy instance.
I'll try and remember to update this post when we are ready.
~20CX12