this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2025
70 points (93.8% liked)

Selfhosted

60910 readers
867 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

Detailed Rules Post

  1. Be civil.

  2. No spam.

  3. Posts are to be related to self-hosting.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title.

  6. No trolling.

  7. Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.

  8. AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm using CloudFlare to hide my home IP and to reduce traffic from clankers. However, I'm using the free tier, so how am I the product? What am I sacrificing? Is there another way to do the above without selling my digital soul?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

This is why Microsoft allowed a lot of world to pirate their OS.

Microsoft actually took a unique approach to piracy. In a lot of lesser developed countries in the past, users were 'allowed' to use pirated copies. There used to be a running joke that the Israelis ran their country on a single license of MS. How true that is remains to be seen. So, while companies bristle in public about piracy, it is indeed a topic of discussion in the board room and is often a part of their loss leader strategies.

Cloudflare kind of the same thing. I can tell you that even tho I realize a large portion of the user base here are anti-Cloudflare, and while there are definite pros and cons one needs to understand before using their services, and even tho I know there are other ways to skin the cat....... even on the free tier side, I am more apt to recommend that which works well for me.