this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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I've been thinking about this more and more. According to the sidebar, this community is "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." Based on that I don't think Plex qualifies.

Privacy: Plex clearly records the metadata of what you watch. When I used it, it would send me a report by email of what my "friends" were watching. Even with that turned off, their services still track telemetry.

Control: Plex has all of it. They can (and do) make unilateral changes to the service, how authentication works, where you can run it, etc.

So I ask, when you are hosting something that is entirely dependent on a commercial entity to function, is Plex really selfhosting in the spirit of this community?

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[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 97 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (4 children)

Is really Self Hosting?

I don't really get hung up on the nomenclature and definitions. If you run your services off of a VPS and call it selfhosting, more power to you. No skin off my nose. If you run your services off of a homelab rack that dims the lights whenever you power it on and you call it selfhosting, more power to you. If you're running your services off of an old repurposed, disposable vape unit, and you call it selfhosting, git sum. It's a big umbrella and we can all coexist without nitpicking each other. Gatekeeping is something I don't do, and it gets tiresome to hear others regurgitate the same trope over and over again.

ETA: @CallMeAl@piefed.zip, nice profile shot.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Achtually, if the lights dim less power to him.

[–] JadedBlueEyes@programming.dev 1 points 7 hours ago

No, no, he needs more power if the lights are dimming! That means the servers are hungry!

[–] zener_diode@feddit.org 19 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

If you run your services off of a homelab rack that dims the lights whenever you power it on

If you are in this situation, then you definetly should get some more power, or at least a UPS to make sure you don't trip a breaker.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Ooohhhhh, now I get it.

My first thought was dimming the lights like when a movie starts and that seemed silly.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Hey if you like a more intimate setting when you're with your server, far be it from me to interfere. Throw on a little Barry White and some Ottis Redding and git sum.

[–] meltedcheese@c.im 5 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

@irmadlad This is such a great idea. I sometimes tell my rack, “you are my everything” and I give it whatever it wants. I’m about to reposition some of the equipment. That is plenty intimate enough to play Barry White.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Bow Chicka Wow Wow

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 7 points 17 hours ago

Also make sure you don’t have a loose neutral somewhere 😬

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

If you are in this situation

It was a whimsical exaggeration.

[–] DaGeek247@fedia.io 4 points 15 hours ago

It was a whimsical exaggeration.

... Taken to it's logical conclusion and combined with snarky, but mildly helpful, advice.

As is tradition.

[–] bigredgiraffe@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Yeah this is where I am at too, it’s more about who is responsible when it breaks for me and if Plex breaks I have to fix it no matter where it runs. This community is more about learning how to do it than what specific tools to use for me as well, all tools come and go over a long enough timeframe, this is a good place to learn about the next one.

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

The gates hath been declared open!

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

Back in the late 60s, I heard a song by Jimi Hendrix called 'If A 6 Were 9'. One line has stuck with me for decades and I've pretty much lived my life this way:

I got my own life to live. I'm the one that's gonna have to die when it's time for me to die. So let me live my life the way I want to.