this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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What happens to the content when a Lemmy server is decommissioned? (aussie.zone)
submitted 10 months ago by yoz@aussie.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
19 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Checked Fediverse Observer and whole bunch of server has been decommissioned because of which users can't login and because they can't login , Lemmy is losing active users. Any plans to fix this ? I am more concerned about the content thats lost.

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[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 37 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Each Lemmy instance keeps a copy of posts and contents made in communities followed by its users, so even though an instance is decommissioned, the content lives on on other instance.

For example my instance was off for a month (I was moving out, setting up my NAS was my last priority) and during this time my posts and comments were still available on other instances.

As for users unable to login on decommissioned instances, unfortunately all they can do is create an account on another instance.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Followup question, is it possible to get that content on a new instance after?

Say the following happens

  • Instance A created
  • Instance B created
  • post p is made on instance A
  • A shut down (B still has p)
  • Instance C created

Can the users on C ever see post p?

Or a more specific example. If a new instance was created today, could it get the posts from Lemmy.film

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately no: only new posts are federated.

The only exception is when an instance federates with a community for the first time, the instance will fetch the last few posts from this community. But in your example, since lemmy.film no longer exist, no instance will ever be able to fetch last posts from [!moviesandtv@lemmy.film](/c/moviesandtv@lemmy.film).

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Shouldnt it fetch if a users goes back in time on the instance?
Or will it just go "No data here, Sir" on me and make me go visit a browser.

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 2 points 10 months ago

I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.

[–] taladar@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

There is no instance to fetch it from any more. Content is only ever fetched from its home instance.

[–] PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Each Lemmy instance keeps a copy of posts and contents made in communities followed by its users

This is exactly why I stopped hosting an instance. Too much liability for something out of my control.

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 5 points 10 months ago

Baring technical issues, deletions and moderation are federated. The only thing that isn't is media removal, but there are tools to automate the process https://github.com/db0/fedi-safety

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The local copies cease to exist online. Remote copies on other instances stay. There's a number of communities I subscribed to that no longer exist independently, but which I can still see on my old instance, for example.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Are they dependamt on the cache some users actively purge or are they stored indefinitely (assuming they had no interaction beyond a view).

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They are stored until the instance admin(s) choose to purge the community. Then all posts from the community will be purged from the instance.

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 1 points 10 months ago

I don't actually know the answer to that one. I'd guess it's permanent, though. That being said, Lemmy's been built on a lot since I last looked at the source code.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The content shouldn't be gone as long as that server was federated with somewhere?

It will be more difficult to get to IMO - you'll have to either use a search engine, or query the lemmy resolve object (rs) api method on random instances until you hit one that has the federated content AFAICT.

Images are definitely lost though unless they're uploaded to a third party that is still operational

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Aren’t images propagated to other instances as well? Wasn’t that the issue with the illegal content a couple of months ago where instance owners had to go and purge the images themselves even if it was only posted on one instance?

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 4 points 10 months ago

Instances copy images locally to avoid overloading remote instances. For instance I have 16GB of pictures and videos stored even though I only posted a few pictures.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 2 points 10 months ago

I was under the impression that only thumbnails/lower res copies were federated, rather than the full high-res original - if that's changed then that's great πŸ‘Œ

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The Elder Lord Farzghiqud absorbs the data into his eternal glorious form where it will be analyzed and used for the eventual enslavement of your species.

All hail Farzghiqud!