gemini://hyperreal.coffee/gemlog/2022-09-17-considering-using-ipfs-for-content-hosting.gmi

I like the concept of IPFS. I'm considering using it to host my homepage and possibly my Gemini capsule, and to pin some resources pertaining to FOSS, mental health, and digital rights. I'm just not sure about its adjacency to the NFT/Web3 scene.

In theory, I would setup an IPFS node on my Digital Ocean VPS, and use DNSLink to link my domain to an IPFS content address that points to the latest version of my homepage. The IPFS node would also contain pinned web resources that I'd like to keep available through IPFS.

One could use IPFS for its decentralization aand p2p features without ever using Protocol Lab's Filecoin-based NFT and Web3 storage. At least Filecoin uses proof-of-storage cryptocurrency algorithms that are greener and fairer than the computation-based proof-of-work algorithm of Bitcoin, so that kind of eases my conscience a bit.

From what I've gathered, Filecoin uses proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime consensus algorithms. Proof-of-replication is a kind of proof-of-storage that ensures that a user is dedicating a unique physical storage location to a piece of data and does not have replicas of the data in the same location. This prevents servers from creating multiple "Sybil" identities that can provide valid proofs-of-storage for each replica, selling those replicas to the same user, and then deduplicating them to their original unique copy which would render the sold replicas invalid. Proof-of-spacetime ensures that a user is using a certain amount of storage space over a period of time.

Still, though, I don't like the idea of being complicit in the NFT/Web3 hype. Aside from the environmental hazards involved in minting NFTs and mining cryptocurrency, it's a Ponzi scheme that deceives people into investing monetary value into something that is inherently valueless and thrives off the delusion that they own the thing.

Considering using IPFS for content hosting

END