Cohost to shut down at end of 2024

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Cohost, a small co‑op social media platform launched in 2022, is shutting down at the end of 2024 despite relatively strong user support and transparent, non‑exploitative practices. Commenters examine why it couldn’t survive: high fixed costs for payroll, infrastructure, moderation and compliance, dependence on Stripe for key revenue features, and the difficulty of sustaining “ethical” or non‑surveillance social networks without either ads, aggressive growth, or hobbyist-level expectations. The thread broadens into questions about whether federated platforms like Mastodon or Bluesky can ever reach mainstream scale, and whether social media should be a professionalized utility, a government‑like service, or remain a patchwork of small, community‑funded projects.

What Cohost Was & Why Some Liked It

  • Described as a small, non-enshittified social network with a pleasant UI and strong moderation norms.
  • Users liked: chronological feed; no global “firehose”; no like/repost/follow counts; long-form post culture; HTML/CSS posts enabling creative layouts; cohesive repost/comment threading.
  • For some, it felt less “cramped” and less cesspool-like than Twitter/X, Facebook, or even Mastodon.
  • Others bounced off it: small network, not compelling enough vs. existing apps, unclear why to use it over alternatives.

Centralization vs Federation

  • Some saw lack of federation and account portability as a deal-breaker, making shutdown inevitable and offramp painful.
  • Counterargument: federation wouldn’t fix revenue, would add large engineering and moderation burdens, and complicate culture control.
  • Decentralized services are seen as messy (defederation, instance politics, migration), which turns some users off.

Costs, Salaries, and Sustainability

  • Many surprised at ~$41k/month in expenses for a small userbase; discussion concludes most of it is payroll and benefits for four under-market-rate employees.
  • Debate over whether $90k-ish pay is “high” or simply necessary to live and build a serious product.
  • Thread repeatedly contrasts real labor costs (dev, admin, moderation) vs users’ focus on cheap VPS hosting.

Funding, Shutdown Mechanics, and Stripe

  • Cohost’s codebase is collateral on a loan, blocking open-sourcing; speculation that lender may just delete it or sell it.
  • Stripe reportedly killed a key tipping/subscription feature that didn’t gate exclusive content, hurting revenue.
  • Some are baffled by loan terms; others frame this as a typical venture-debt/financing risk.

Ethical Social Media & Business Models

  • “Ethical” is variously defined as: no surveillance capitalism, no ad-driven outrage optimization, user-serving features.
  • Skeptics argue “ethical social media” is either a niche hobby or a money pit; without profit, it can’t scale to mainstream.
  • Others counter that profit motive is harmful and that large-scale social media should resemble a public utility, possibly publicly funded.

Broader Implications & Emotional Reactions

  • Cohost’s failure raises worries about long-term viability of Bluesky, Tumblr, Mastodon/Fediverse, etc., once investor money ends.
  • Some see Mastodon/fediverse growth as modest and possibly a “dead end”; others note it “works” for niche communities.
  • Multiple commenters are saddened; users describe losing a supportive community and creative space, with no guarantee of a comparable replacement.