this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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Selfhosted

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73
Risks of self-hosting a public-facing forum? (lemmy.radio)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by early_riser@lemmy.radio to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I've wanted to do this for a long time. My current ADHD hyperfixation is NodeBB, but I think my questions fit most anything that you want to be available to the general public and not just yourself and your friends.

Basically, I want to host a NodeBB instance intended for the general public out of my house. What are the risks of doing this? In particular, what are the risks of doling out a web address that points to my personal IP address? Is this even a good idea? Or should I just rent a VPS? This is 80% me wanting to improve my sysadmin skills, and 20% me wanting to create a community.

I have a DMZ in place. Hosts in the DMZ cannot reach the LAN, but LAN hosts can reach the DMZ. If necessary, I can make sure DMZ hosts can't communicate with each other.

I have synchronous 1 Gb fiber internet. Based on the user traffic of similar forums, I don't anticipate a crush of people.

I know the basics of how to set up a NodeBB instance, and I've successfully backed up and restored an instance on another machine.

I'm not 100% on things like HTTPS certs. I can paste a certbot command from a tutorial, that's it.

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

EDIT:

I also have a domain, a couple of them, actually. They're like potato chips; you can't stop at just one.

I don't plan on self-hosting email used for forum registration and announcements. I'm not a masochist.

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 0 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

take a chill pill and come back to read from start to finish.

you were the first one to respond with hostility, prick. I commented on how it's a bad idea to have SSL certs last for a decade.

that's when you responded with heavy sarcasm, like a angsty child.

maybe if you didn't have tissue paper for skin you could see how much of a petulant child you are. I can even see how fragile your ego is from all your interactions with others.

I don't know what's more pathetic, your overwhelming desire to be right or your desperate need to prove you're smarter than somebody else.

some friendly advice before I block you forever. if you think everyone around you is an asshole, you're the asshole.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 22 hours ago

if you think everyone around you is an asshole, you’re the asshole.

Most people I run across aren't assholes, you're just an exception.