this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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Your help needed: PhD research on why people choose to self-host (survey.lpt.feri.um.si)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
141 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi everyone,

I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.

To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.

🔗 Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=ls

This study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.

If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.

Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!

Cheers!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

Filled in the survey. A few notes:

  • Some of my answers make no sense on the surface - like the "experiment with new technology" block (4 questions). I've answered "Agree" to all of them, because I have taken time into account, which is not represented on the questions. Long story short - I do love experimenting with new tech, I'm almost always the first one to try something among my peers, but at the same I never blindly jump in (I'm hesitant) as most of the "new technology" is just
    • Someone repackaging foss and relabeling it
    • Some LLM bullshit
    • An inferior product to what already exists

There are also scenarios where I have already found something that's the best solution for my case, so I won't even bother looking at something new, even if it might be the best thing since sliced bread for someone else.

  • TIme and effort setting up/maintaining (4 questions). It doesn't take much time nor effort to set anything up now, but it did when I was starting out initially. I knew very little and a bunch of concepts hadn't clicked, yet, so it took me days to set up Nextcloud and about half a year (on and off. Probably a week or so if it were all squeezed together) for email.

  • The performance and intent to use in the future questions are weird - they feel like the same question, just leveling off in intensity. I've selected the same answer for all of them. They probably should've been a single question with agree/disagree options swapped for intensity levels.

Good luck with your PhD!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

Because I dont need to pay rent for my files and I don't have to worry about AI and VCs trying invade my privacy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I self host for the same reason I'm not clicking some random link: distrust lol

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

um.si is for University of Maribor in Maribor, Slovenia. It looks legit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (4 children)

As a fellow comp sci graduate (different uni, long time ago) that doesn't fill me with a ton of confidence lol.

This could actually be a study on phishing lol
Or a less ethical study on virus propagation
Or maybe he has just gone rogue and his university hasn't noticed because they probably don't actually monitor what students are hosting very closely, as long as it's not causing problematic network traffic.\

I doubt it, but I'm still not gonna click a link that someone is asking me to click lol

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

If I have a file, I have it.

If google has my file, they say they have it. I'm told it's there. For how long? I dunno. Private? Hell no. Forever? Likely not.

This small discrepancy is the entire drive behind me selfhosting.

I'm a minimalist with selfhosting, a raspberrypi with a vpn connection, syncthing and a samba share is all most anyone really need-needs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Also there's that a file on a cloud service might change. E.g. Amazon sometimes updates ebook covers to advertise that there's a show - even for those who have paid extra to have the ad-free option.

E.g. the sticker-type graphic on this and that the title is updated to "The Fires Of Heaven: Book 5 of the Wheel of Time (Now a major TV series)":

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Many of my self hosted solutions are just DIY cludges. I was talking to a friend of a friend on Saturday about media streaming and he told me all about his Jellyfin setup and then asked about mine and I was just like "I just store MP4s on an SSHFS drive and play them in VLC on my TV (which runs Linux Mint)." When the survey asked about the various types of software I was like "No... I don't use anything like that... wait... yes I do! I just don't use a prebuilt solution!"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Ad a German, I was confused by the second education question and what I should fill out.

(mapping Grundschule / Hauptschule / Realschule / Gymnasium / Studium)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'll never understand social media. Maybe it's me (might as well be as neurodivergent, but then again might say something about tolerance and inclusion... anyhow) but I'd love to understand the downvotes.

The difference in education systems is not a choice of any of the conversations attendees and the differences in education system are fact.

Maybe a downvote for Germany? For not knowing by heart? Or maybe because I stated the issue. Of course, research helps but in details sometimes creates even more confusion so it's best to ask.

Communication as a way to be helpful. As I want to be to this research because I think it's a good statement as research to be done.

(Last but not least - I don't emotionally care about downvotes. I love understanding though.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thank you for your feedback!

We understand that the question about education levels may have been confusing, especially when trying to map the German school system to the categories provided.

The answer options in our survey are based on ISCED 2011 – the International Standard Classification of Education, developed by UNESCO. This is a globally recognized framework used to ensure that education levels can be compared across countries, despite differences in national education systems.

To help clarify, here is how the German terms you mentioned generally correspond to ISCED categories:

  • Grundschule → Primary Education
  • Hauptschule / Realschule → Lower Secondary Education
  • Gymnasium (until Abitur) → Upper Secondary Education
  • Studium (university studies) → depending on the degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent tertiary education level / Master’s degree or equivalent tertiary education level Doctoral degree or equivalent tertiary education level)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Thank you, that is helpful.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Hmm. The first section about cloud service providers is a bit weird to me. There are providers which "keep my best interests in mind" as part of their business model, backblaze would be one. Their whole idea is to provide a good backup services. Encrypting my data before transit also doesn't make me worried that it will be accessed by them or any of their employees because they will only get some garbled mess.

Compare that to google, another cloud service provider. Their business model is to make money by selling me ads (foremost), they do that by gathering as much data as possible. Here all my answers would be negative.

This puts me in an awkward spot where I nearly every time answer with "Neither agree nor disagree", because there is more to it and not because I don't have an opinion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Felt that too. Its throwing all providers in one bucket which makes it very hard to judge

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Thank you very much for your thoughtful feedback!

You’ve raised an important point: cloud service providers are not all the same, and their business models can significantly influence how much trust users place in them. We fully agree that there's a big difference between providers like Backblaze, whose value proposition is built on privacy and reliability, and companies like Google, where monetization often relies on extensive data collection.

The purpose of this section in the survey is to explore general perceptions and motivations behind, not to evaluate individual providers. However, we understand that this generalization can be limiting — especially for respondents who distinguish clearly between different types of services and trust models. Your situation, where you answered "Neither agree nor disagree" not out of indecision but due to the complexity of the issue, is very insightful.

Thanks again for taking the time to share this, it’s greatly appreciated!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Done, and link forwarded to my non Lemmy using selfhosting mentor. Maybe can get at least one more respondant. Maybe more. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hope it helps. There are whole categories of self hosted software I hadn't thought of before. Maybe I should try some of them! 😁

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Good luck on the thesis and I hope my data points can assist your research! I'm sure the community would love to see your finished thesis when it is done

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I did it for ya....good luck with your phd

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Thank you so much, really appreciate it! :)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Did my part! Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it! :)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I added my answers. Good luck on your thesis!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Thanks a lot for your input and kind wishes, really appreciate it!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I have answered, and had to put "Other" in employment status because I am self employed. An option for self employment would have been useful in my opinion!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago

Thank you for your feedback! You're right, self-employment could be listed more clearly, but choosing “Other” was absolutely fine and your response is fully valid. Thanks again!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Done

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Thanks, much appreciated!

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