LandChad, a site dedicated to turning internet peasants into Internet Landlords

Here's a summary of the themes discussed in the Hacker News thread, with direct quotes from users:

Server Setup and Practicality of Self-Hosting

The discussion frequently touches on the practical aspects and challenges of setting up and maintaining one's own servers, particularly for email and websites. While the advice is generally seen as valuable for those interested in self-sufficiency, some users point out the steep learning curve and the need for more foundational knowledge.

• "These are good guides, but it should be kept in mind that they don't try to teach you anything - they're more guides to simply follow, and if you happen to learn something along the way, great." - johnklos
• "But it makes sense to have guides that just tell you how to do a thing and don't explain it, because that represents a good chunk of the people out there. It wouldn't be bad to have links to stuff for those who want to understand what they're doing, though." - johnklos
• "I would suggest Caddy over nginX if this is for casual sysadmins." - christophilus
• "I would even suggest apache. It is ubiquitous, config samples are easy to find, it can act like a file server and certbot --apache easily sets up your https." - nurettin
• "This is a great concept, but it’s not really for internet peasants. It’s for internet plumbers who already know how to do a whole bunch of stuff. An internet normie who doesn’t know their way around the command line wouldn’t even know where to start with this." - saaaaaam

The Analogy of "Landlord" and "Ownership"

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the aptness and accuracy of the term "landlord" and the concept of "ownership" in the context of web services and infrastructure. Users question whether renting a VPS or a domain name truly constitutes ownership or a landlord-like position, often drawing parallels to real-world property ownership and the nuances of leases and taxes.

• "Nitpick though, “FOSSPAY” seems to make no sense because it’s really just Stripe?" - nerdsniper
• "The second instruction says to rent a VPS. How are you a landlord if you're renting a server?" - ai-christianson
• "How are you a landlord if you're paying property taxes?" - lsb
• “I’d probably say “…internet homeowners where, like in the UK leasehold property system, you’re still basically a tenant but without paying someone else’s mortgage, and even when you’re a freeholder the king actually still more or less owns the land”." - rorads
• "In some countries (e.g. Singapore, China, Israel), when you buy a house, on paper you get something like a 99-year renewable lease on land — different from a domain name in scale, but not so much in substance. So I guess the aptness of the analogy is unevenly distributed geographically. :)" - animuchan
• "This is a great resource. I just think the term “landlord” is a misnomer here. It implies you’ll be making income off the rent of your new self-administered infra, and as has been pointed out already - mostly this site pertains to stuff built on hyperscaler platforms." - rorads
• "Nice website that focuses on the simple basics of setting up one's own infrastructure, like it was back in the '90s. Disagree with the "land ownership" portion of the title as it will be obvious to anybody following the tutorials that they don't own their web server or their domain name." - rchaud

The Purpose and Viability of Self-Hosted Email Servers

The discussion delves into the reasons for and the practical challenges of running one's own email server, with a focus on deliverability to major email providers like Gmail and Outlook. While some users share positive experiences with reliable delivery, others express skepticism due to potential spam filtering issues.

• "What is the point of setting up your own email server if all of your sent messages go to spam for the majority of gmail/o365 users?" - beeflet
• "I set up a new mailserver a few years ago and have had no delivery problems whatsoever. All messages get through to gmail and outlook/o365 inboxes I've sent to. Didn't even have to register the IP with O365, it's just worked flawlessly from day one." - racingmars
• "2Gkashmiri: I followed his email guide but installed mailinaabox. I was able to install it in one go about 4 years ago. Smooth sailing since. This is a goldmine" - 2Gkashmiri
• "honestly I wouldn't mind an email server just to have temp throwaway emails for services that require email signup. Not sure how those that detect temp mail services would work with this though" - asimovDev

General Sentiment and Praise for the Resource

Despite some specific criticisms and debates, the overall sentiment towards the website and its mission is positive. Many users find the resource valuable, reminiscent of earlier internet days, and encourage its existence.

• "I kove the vibe of this website and their mission." - nerdsniper
• "Really helpful site from Luke Smith. I would advise anyone interested in web development to check out this page. There's a lot of cool stuff on there." - Babkock
• "Overall, we need more sites like these." - johnklos
• "This gave me pre-mobile Internet vibes" - est
• "Nice resource! What always bothers me is that virtually every resource of this type leave what is imo the most important part: backups and restore." - ornornor

The Role of "Landlords" and Property Ownership

The concept of landlords beyond the digital realm is briefly explored, with users questioning the nature of providing services for a fee and the fundamental idea of property ownership, even in the physical world when considering taxes and government structures.

• "Why aren’t landlords a good thing? Is it unreasonable for people to provide a service to people seeking it?" - alexchamberlain
• "The government graciously allows you to sublet their property as long as you keep up with the annual protection racket payments" - anonym29
• "If you want to be a real rent-seeker (sorry, meant to say “landlord”) you’ll need to purchase an AS and become a BGP-peering sovereign citizen cutting deals with backbone networks." - Uehreka
• "This is a great resource. I just think the term “landlord” is a misnomer here... I’d probably say “…internet homeowners where, like in the UK leasehold property system, you’re still basically a tenant but without paying someone else’s mortgage, and even when you’re a freeholder the king actually still more or less owns the land”." - rorads