Your help needed: PhD research on why people choose to self-host
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Filled in the survey. A few notes:
- Some of my answers make no sense on the surface - like the "experiment with new technology" block (4 questions). I've answered "Agree" to all of them, because I have taken time into account, which is not represented on the questions. Long story short - I do love experimenting with new tech, I'm almost always the first one to try something among my peers, but at the same I never blindly jump in (I'm hesitant) as most of the "new technology" is just
- Someone repackaging foss and relabeling it
- Some LLM bullshit
- An inferior product to what already exists
There are also scenarios where I have already found something that's the best solution for my case, so I won't even bother looking at something new, even if it might be the best thing since sliced bread for someone else.
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TIme and effort setting up/maintaining (4 questions). It doesn't take much time nor effort to set anything up now, but it did when I was starting out initially. I knew very little and a bunch of concepts hadn't clicked, yet, so it took me days to set up Nextcloud and about half a year (on and off. Probably a week or so if it were all squeezed together) for email.
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The performance and intent to use in the future questions are weird - they feel like the same question, just leveling off in intensity. I've selected the same answer for all of them. They probably should've been a single question with agree/disagree options swapped for intensity levels.
Good luck with your PhD!
- Some of my answers make no sense on the surface - like the "experiment with new technology" block (4 questions). I've answered "Agree" to all of them, because I have taken time into account, which is not represented on the questions. Long story short - I do love experimenting with new tech, I'm almost always the first one to try something among my peers, but at the same I never blindly jump in (I'm hesitant) as most of the "new technology" is just
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um.si is for University of Maribor in Maribor, Slovenia. It looks legit.
As a fellow comp sci graduate (different uni, long time ago) that doesn't fill me with a ton of confidence lol.
This could actually be a study on phishing lol
Or a less ethical study on virus propagation
Or maybe he has just gone rogue and his university hasn't noticed because they probably don't actually monitor what students are hosting very closely, as long as it's not causing problematic network traffic.\I doubt it, but I'm still not gonna click a link that someone is asking me to click lol
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Thank you for your feedback!
We understand that the question about education levels may have been confusing, especially when trying to map the German school system to the categories provided.
The answer options in our survey are based on ISCED 2011 – the International Standard Classification of Education, developed by UNESCO. This is a globally recognized framework used to ensure that education levels can be compared across countries, despite differences in national education systems.
To help clarify, here is how the German terms you mentioned generally correspond to ISCED categories:
- Grundschule → Primary Education
- Hauptschule / Realschule → Lower Secondary Education
- Gymnasium (until Abitur) → Upper Secondary Education
- Studium (university studies) → depending on the degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent tertiary education level / Master’s degree or equivalent tertiary education level Doctoral degree or equivalent tertiary education level)
Thank you, that is helpful.
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Ad a German, I was confused by the second education question and what I should fill out.
(mapping Grundschule / Hauptschule / Realschule / Gymnasium / Studium)
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I'll never understand social media. Maybe it's me (might as well be as neurodivergent, but then again might say something about tolerance and inclusion... anyhow) but I'd love to understand the downvotes.
The difference in education systems is not a choice of any of the conversations attendees and the differences in education system are fact.
Maybe a downvote for Germany? For not knowing by heart? Or maybe because I stated the issue. Of course, research helps but in details sometimes creates even more confusion so it's best to ask.
Communication as a way to be helpful. As I want to be to this research because I think it's a good statement as research to be done.
(Last but not least - I don't emotionally care about downvotes. I love understanding though.)
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If I have a file, I have it.
If google has my file, they say they have it. I'm told it's there. For how long? I dunno. Private? Hell no. Forever? Likely not.
This small discrepancy is the entire drive behind me selfhosting.
I'm a minimalist with selfhosting, a raspberrypi with a vpn connection, syncthing and a samba share is all most anyone really need-needs.
Also there's that a file on a cloud service might change. E.g. Amazon sometimes updates ebook covers to advertise that there's a show - even for those who have paid extra to have the ad-free option.
E.g. the sticker-type graphic on this and that the title is updated to "The Fires Of Heaven: Book 5 of the Wheel of Time (Now a major TV series)":
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As a fellow comp sci graduate (different uni, long time ago) that doesn't fill me with a ton of confidence lol.
This could actually be a study on phishing lol
Or a less ethical study on virus propagation
Or maybe he has just gone rogue and his university hasn't noticed because they probably don't actually monitor what students are hosting very closely, as long as it's not causing problematic network traffic.\I doubt it, but I'm still not gonna click a link that someone is asking me to click lol
If you're that vulnerable to shady URLs, you may want to rework your blockers or even spin up a VM. If you're that venerable you phishing, just don't give them your numbers.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Have you thought about contacting Louis Rossmann? He created an extensive video guide on how to self host using FOSS. Perhaps he'd be willing to highlight your survey to his over 2 million subscribers.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Good Luck Luka!
I feel like I'm a minority in this group in that I really don't like self hosting but I do it anyways because it gives me the things I want from a content/privacy/control/ownership perspective.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
This survey doesn't distinguish between levels of cloud service provider, so I was a little confused.
Virtual private servers, cloud virtual servers (like AWS), cloud-based software where you provide code or a program and the cloud system runs it on a server of its choosing, and cloud-based systems where someone else provides the software (like Google Docs).
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
@SelfhostedResearch Done. But I found the survey design redundant and repetitive. Could demotivate people to complete ;(
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
- It's educational for those who have a lust for learning.
- It's fun.
- It's far more private than using commercial cloud services.
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If I have a file, I have it.
If google has my file, they say they have it. I'm told it's there. For how long? I dunno. Private? Hell no. Forever? Likely not.
This small discrepancy is the entire drive behind me selfhosting.
I'm a minimalist with selfhosting, a raspberrypi with a vpn connection, syncthing and a samba share is all most anyone really need-needs.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I downloaded music I bought online and copied it to my Google drive once. This was years back, mid 2010s, this album just came out for my favorite artist back then. I'd downloaded it back to another pc and a week later - poof. No more mp3s. @.@
Edit: just that folder of that album's mp3s, not my whole music library back then, just to be clear. Still, that was my first big burn from cloud services.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Done. Nobody else wants to know why I have 3 RasPi’s running stuff around the house, so I get to tell you in the survey, lol.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Done. Many questions which are the same or almost similar.
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Shouldn't the control questions / variations of the same be a bit scattered? For me they were all packed together.
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If you're that vulnerable to shady URLs, you may want to rework your blockers or even spin up a VM. If you're that venerable you phishing, just don't give them your numbers.
Why risk it?
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Hi everyone,
I’m a PhD student in Computer Science researching why people choose to self-host software—what motivates you, what concerns you, and what factors affect your decision-making.
To better understand this, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (~10 minutes). Your insights as part of the self-hosting community would be incredibly valuable for this research.
Survey link: https://survey.lpt.feri.um.si/376953?newtest=Y&lang=en&s=lsThis study is part of my doctoral research at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD. All responses are anonymous and used strictly for academic purposes.
If you’ve ever self-hosted anything—or even just considered it—I’d really appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot for your time, and feel free to ask me anything about the project ([email protected])!
Cheers!
Done but I felt lots of questions to be very similar. Maybe there is a form platform that can show only a subset of control questions for every survey.
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Done. Many questions which are the same or almost similar.
Thank you for participating in the survey and for providing your feedback.
We are aware that some of the statements may appear similar or closely related. This is an intentional aspect of the survey design, aimed at capturing different dimensions of the same underlying construct or thematic area. In scientific research, it is a well-established and widely used practice to include multiple, conceptually related items when measuring a specific concept.
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Done but I felt lots of questions to be very similar. Maybe there is a form platform that can show only a subset of control questions for every survey.
Thank you for completing the survey and for your thoughtful feedback. The similarity between some questions is intentional and follows common scientific practice when measuring complex or abstract concepts. Using multiple, slightly varied items that target the same construct increases the reliability and validity of the data by capturing subtle nuances and reducing the influence of random response variation. While your suggestion to show only a subset of such items through adaptive platforms is valid and worth exploring, fixed item sets are generally preferred in research settings to ensure consistent and robust measurement. We appreciate your input and will consider it in future survey design improvements.
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Shouldn't the control questions / variations of the same be a bit scattered? For me they were all packed together.
Thank you for your comment and for completing the survey. It is common practice in research to group together statements that measure the same construct. This arrangement makes it easier for respondents to follow and compare answers on related topics, which contributes to more reliable measurement by helping maintain focus on the subject matter.
