theATL.social LLC Establishment FAQ

(References to “me” or “I” refer to Michael (@michael/@admin)

Additional questions, thoughts, or concerns? Ask away in this post and I'll be glad to answer

1. Why are you forming an LLC?

• To ensure the sustainable operation of theATL.social for as long as users want to use its services.
• To limit my personal financial and legal liability from operating and funding theATL.social services.
• To consolidate theATL.social resources under a single legal umbrella and de-aggregate those resources from my personal financial and infrastructure investments.
• To establish the ability for theATL.social to establish a bank account, enter into contracts, to purchase services as an independent entity, and not in my personal capacity.

2. What will be the impact of the LLC on day-to-day operations of theATL.social?

• The ultimate impact will be to ensure the sustainable operations of this instance as long as users want to use (and fund) it.
• In

Greetings!

This post will be the first in a series of ongoing financial reports for theATL.social's services, which primarily include theATL.social (Mastodon) and yall.theATL.social (Lemmy) sites.

But first, thank you 🤗 to the contributors that fund operations of theATL.social. Without you, the services provided on these sites would not be possible.

To establish or change your contribution, visit the OpenCollective contributions site

Expenses this month totaled $231.02, an increase from last month's $197.46. The increase was due to an upgrade in specs for the Mastodon API Server, the server costs for the Lemmy Server (currently housed on only one server), and a $10 Patreon donation to the Mastodon organization.

Pledged Contributions (net of Stripe processing fees) are $148.98, for a monthly deficit of -$82.04.

Additional contributions to make up for this deficit are

Greetings,

Based on user feedback and the importance of preventing illegal content, theATL.social (Mastodon) will utilize the Oliphant "Tier 0" block list, which represents the consensus block lists of 60-80% of Mastodon Instances.

The domain block list will be applied to Lemmy in the next day or so.

Of the instances on the block list, there are some with which theATL.social users have followed users, posts, etc. The list of those domains is here:

• shitposter.club
• raspberrypi.social
• qoto.org
• press.coop
• obo.sh
• noagendasocial.com
• newsie.social
• mstdn.jp
• mastodong.lol
• mastodon.se
• masthead.social
• liberdon.com
• feral.cafe
• femboys.love
• cryptodon.lol
• blob.cat
• berserker.town
• bae.st
• abestos.cafe

Barring any immediate or urgent reasons, these domains will remain for at least 2 weeks fromt the date of this post. If users wish to keep these domains off the block list, they may reach out to me. Otherwise, these domains will be blocked at that time.

...or if

Hi theATL.social (Mastodon) and yall.theATL.social (Lemmy) friends. Your friendly admin, @michael, here.

Currently, theATL.social blocks two domains from federation but does not utilize any block lists. the Lemmy yall.theATL.social does not block any domains.

My general admin philosophy is to let users decide what content they want to see, or not see. However, the Mastodon UI can make the adding/removing of domain block lists a bit tedious. (There are some tech/UI-related options to make this easier.)

On the other hand, I am personally not a free speech absolutist, and there are limits to what content could/should be relayed through theATL.social's servers.

For example, illegal content, instances dedicated solely to hate speech/harassment, etc. To that end, the Oliphant Tier 0 block list offers a "floor" to remove literally the worst instances operating on the Fediverse: https://codeberg.org/oliphant/blocklists/src/branch/main/blocklists

As your admin, I don't want to make any un

The TL;DR:

• For financial, legal, and practical reasons, theATL.social needs to move into a legal structure.
• With the current donors and donations, plans need to be shared sooner-than-later.
• While a non-profit is preferred, a for-profit LLC is the least expensive and least complicated structure.
• Financial records will be maintained on OpenCollective, intending to convert/transfer assets into a non-profit or other shared governance model when there is the interest and capacity to do so.

The Details

With the Open Collective donations contributions ramping up (thank you, donors!), Sharing the current pathway for establishing a legal structure for theATL.social would be appropriate as funds are being contributed.

First, what's the status quo?

Michael (me) operates theATL.social services in my capacity as an individual. This means that any income I receive from the site can be taxed as personal income, any services I purchase from vendors are done under my name, and there is

Reflects the current services offered, how to contribute to the server, and updated standards and practices.

Feel free to add any questions or comments here!

Notes on the Future of theATL.social: Financial Stability

TL;DR:

• Thank you, donors! ❤️
• Contributions need to match expenses - goal of August 31, 2023
• $2 per active user (per month) brings us to sustainability.
• All expenses now posted to OpenCollective
• OpenCollective is requested for use for future donations.

First, I want to acknowledge the donors who collectively have contributed nearly $500 via Patreon since theATL.social was established. Those donations have directly supported the operations of the instance. Thank you! 🤗

However, theATL.social has been running at a loss since the site was established. While this cost was sustainable in the short term, as we've reached the six-month anniversary of the instance, a pathway toward financial stability needs to be established.

Currently, expenses are at ~$200/month, and dona

This is a post from theATL.social mastodon admin:

TL;DR:

• A Mastodon server's data in the US was seized by law enforcement due to actions of a server admin. theATL.social users are reminded that no presumption of privacy regarding their content should be made.
• In the event that such a situation occurs, theATL.social must comply with any lawful request for information from law enforcement in the United States and State of Georgia.

Recent news in the Mastodon-universe reported that an instance's (kolectiva.social) backups and equipment were seized by law enforcement in the US (see attached URL). The instance in question noted that their backups were not encrypted and thus announced both the seizure and that data on all server activity was now being reviewed and analyzed by law enforcement.

It is important for all theATL.social users to be aware that with the exception of personal data, login information, and passwords, content (including DMs) posted to the instance should be con

Greetings - for information, news, and announcements related to the theATL.social Mastodon Instance, this community will be used to post this information. Going forward, this community will also be used in lieu of substack.

Although anyone may post on this group, only posts from @[email protected] are "official" posts. Anyone may comment on any posts.