admin tax

From IndieWeb
(Redirected from sysadmin tax)


admin tax is all the time you spend maintaining your personal site, rather than actually using it (like to create posts). Note that the list of things considered an admin tax does not mean they are not worth doing, just that it's important to consider the time and cost associated with doing them.

Examples

Comic about blogging and blogging tools, illustrated using a chart with vertical axis for number of blog posts, and horizontal axis for number of posts about elaborate blog setups, with various tools plotted at various points. Examples of admin tax:

Content related admin

Periodic required tasks

Database maintenance

Software maintenance

Mental attention and labor

Social media services

Mastodon hosting

  • 2022-10-06 mastodon.technology Shutdown

    This made me realize how little joy I’ve been getting from being an admin. How I’ve come to resent the work I have volunteered to do. I’ve donated countless hours to running the instance, solving both technical and moderation problems, and I’ve always put the instance above my own needs.
    …
    The server has also gotten too large and too complex for me to administer. I’ve always been keen to learn the next new skill I need to be an effective admin. But I just don’t have it in me anymore. The monitoring that I have in place is insufficient to solve the current problems and I have zero bandwidth to invest in learning the skills to diagnose and fix the issue.

Other Examples

Personal equipment / tools but not necessarily related to a personal website:

Articles

  • 2022-02-25 Terence Eden: What does it mean to run your own servers?
    • "I used to be a member of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Flickr, etc. But I felt guilty because I didn't run my own servers. […] So I've not been able to post much on social since I started studying for a Phd in Computer Science." (NB. the cited "goat farming" analogy)

See Also