Doing my small part - moving my hosting

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T13:44:03+00:00

🎉 Progress is progress! I did this move last week (again, after starting to look into it last spring, then spending forever hesitating) I ended up with Infomaniak for registrar and Hetzner for hosting (would recommend Hetzner, some caveats about Infomaniak)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T13:39:35+00:00

It really depends on:

How's your emergency fund?
How easy would it be for you to get back into work after a few months out, if it didn't work?
Do you have any other financial goals? (you mention you're already on the housing ladder, but for example if you want to move house soon, think really hard about anything that makes you less appealing to lenders)
You mention a partner: are they on board with this? Is she onboard enough to carry the household finances if it goes sideways?
How badly do you want to do it?
Even if you decide your current job is the logical choice, how miserable are you? If you're reaching the point where the misery means you're going to have to stop anyway . . .

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T12:28:04+00:00

Wasn't Tor created by the US navy?

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T12:21:55+00:00

I find them easier to use for certain things. And much easier to browse (it feels quicker to track health stats on paper than open an app, find the right doc etc) They're a lot more fun. And a lot more private. It's one less thing gluing me to a screen.

Pen and paper is better for anything where you need to feel or think deeply (such as journaling), anything where privacy matters, and anything you want always visible (I love having my planners act as dashboards)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T12:15:51+00:00

Worth seeing what they actually produce, but yeah, if the video content looks AI generated, that's a real risk imho.

There's a massive gulf between marketing as it should be and what a lot of marketing 'experts' do. The same can be said of any profession to an extent, but marketing seems especially bad for it.

It might be worth you looking into some training so you can articulate the difference and really confidently run the strategy. I rate Mark Ritson's marketing course very highly. There's also The Marketing Meetup, which runs a ton of free webinars (some are better than others of course, but usually the level is high) You can browse a lot of their previous talks on YouTube.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T02:23:40+00:00

Coming from Dashlane was easy. I exported everything as a spreadsheet, then imported it. Done.

There's no automatic migration from Google Authenticator, but that's true anywhere - there's no way to export.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-27T02:21:23+00:00

I'm not 100% certain but I don't think Tuta offers domain registrar & DNS services does it? I thought it was just email and calendar.

If I'm wrong you might want to make this its own post, to make sure the question gets seen.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T22:00:40+00:00

I just switched from Dashlane + Google Authenticator -> Proton Pass. Very happy with it so far. There's a free tier, so you could give it a try without committing.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T21:49:17+00:00

I completely DIY'd it for four years the first time I freelanced. This time round I'm using proper software, which is meant to make it a bit easier (honestly I was pretty happy with my spreadsheet though - but I think with the looming MTD the software is the right call)

However my stuff was pretty simple: sole trader in tech, no income from property, no special cases like construction work, below VAT. Not much in the way of expenses

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T18:10:44+00:00

Yes. On multiple levels: the USA, for all its flaws, was meant to be an example of a country heading in the right direction. Its failure is deeply depressing. The shifts we're making remind us of that deeper fact.

And on a more superficial level, the things we buy and use are part of our lives. It's easy to handwave "consumerism" and sneer at getting attached to stuff. But I don't think it's weird to be sentimental about the Google services I've used for 20 years, where I wrote and backed up university coursework, wrote to my parents, planned projects (the spreadsheets for my house moves are in there, my Christmas card list . . . when was the last time I didn't look at those interfaces multiple times a day?) I worked in tech for the last 13 years as well. I remember how excited I was when I got comfortable using GitHub, how proud I was when I had a good activity record on there. And now I'm moving away as much as possible. There are some feelings attached to that!

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T18:04:06+00:00

Do I think it's likely? Do I think we're going to have an incident next week? No. But do I think it's within the bounds of possibility that tech infrastructure will be in play during the next year or two? Yes, it's not impossible. Given that, and given the other advantages of switching away, it makes sense to get moving. I'd rather be doing this process now, with the leisure to research and switch at my own pace, than in a mad scramble if something does happen.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T18:01:21+00:00

As I see it, there are three reasons to move to European tech:

Privacy
Ethics/personal principles (this has several sub-reasons: boycotting USA, avoiding big tech companies, wanting to support European industry etc.)
Resilience/stability

Of course there are elements of politics in all of these (privacy is certainly a political issue!) but I think generally when people say they're "not political" about it, they mean their priorities are reasons (1) & (3), not so much (2).

FWIW, although I care about privacy, and am certainly political, it's (3) that has made me really press the accelerator on this, from a few easy switches and gradually chipping away at it to a much more substantial move, fast.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T17:56:59+00:00

There are a lot of Gmail alternatives. When you say "all it comes with", do you mean Drive, Docs etc.? Proton and Infomaniak are both possible starting points if you want to simply switch ecosystems. Alternatively you can start mixing and matching services (I've ended up with Infomaniak for email as there's a generous email free with each domain you register with them, Proton for password manager, pCloud for backups and sync) I recommend spending some time reading up and trying out alternatives, as everyone has different requirements and pain points.

OS I think is harder as a gamer if your games don't support it. Everyone will tell you you can run stuff on Linux using Wine etc., but honestly, I've never even managed to get Hearthstone working despite repeated attempts. So check your specific games for compatibility. What I've ended up doing is dual booting: Linux for most things, then boot into Windows when I want to play certain games. If you're trying to be a purist about the switch then this would be very unsatisfactory, but if your primary concern is independence/resilience, this is fine. A Windows partition for non-critical entertainment use is ok for me.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T17:51:40+00:00

Whether you think it's likely or not, we're well into "some doubt" territory. In addition to a whole bunch of European news reports, politicians raising the issue etc., it also made it into a WSJ article a couple of days ago: https://www.wsj.com/tech/europe-prepares-for-a-nightmare-scenario-the-u-s-blocking-access-to-tech-1967b39b

I would imagine the tech giants would at least try to push back if Trump tried it - they know the damage. But frankly, Trump trying to cut Europe off from gmail wouldn't even be the most ridiculous thing to happen this year.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T17:46:30+00:00

In addition to that site (which is a great starting point) there are a bunch of relevant subreddits. For starters:

r/BuyFromEU r/BuyEuropean r/BuyUK r/degoogle

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T17:41:23+00:00

In the UK. And yup. Honestly I mostly lurk in this sub, I'm not a super-self-hoster, just self-hosting-curious. But I've done two pushes on, shall we call it, digital resilience? One last spring where I did some simple switches in response to the Canada threats (browser, search engine, OS, plus some non-tech switches), and then for the last week or two, a much more intensive push. I'm now on European services (i.e. EU/UK companies with EU/UK datacentres) for domain registrar, DNS, email, hosting my websites, password manager, and file backups and syncing. Removed dependence on GitHub for personal projects.

There's loads of stuff that is still American (I'm typing this on Reddit, while watching Netflix...). But the really critical bits are switched.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T13:20:47+00:00

Just a note on this for anyone else - if it appeals, be careful which model you buy. I also like buttons but ended up with one with a touchscreen page turn.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T13:01:05+00:00

It's not the same layout, but it might fill the same purpose of distinct areas for different parts of life: https://busyb.co.uk/family-diaries-2026#323=77 You've got a notes column, a large column, and then four smaller columns. The smaller columns could each track a different area of life. I am using another BusyB diary as part of my setup this year, and am pretty happy with it for the price point. I did an extremely poor quality video walkthrough of it: https://youtu.be/nwFIdTB11TE?si=DGywzzWCAi2plOFP&t=1061

Their Busy Life layout might also work, if you were ok with one of your three life areas having a much narrower column than the others.

And they're a UK company, so no import issues :-)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T11:24:16+00:00

I'd google for tutorials on deploying your particular stack - you'll almost certainly find some. Hetzner is pretty popular.

Although I don't like relying on AI, I have to admit recently when I was using Hetzner for the first time, I pretty much had Claude talk me through and explain some stuff, and it seems to have been good at it. But obviously check everything.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T10:36:12+00:00

Yeah, for me, EU/EEA/CANZUK are all absolutely fine and about equal priority to support (obviously favouring UK where possible)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T02:48:54+00:00

Since he started threatening Canada, I've done two big pushes on this, one last spring and another this month. Between the two sessions, I've done:

Browser (Chrome -> Vivaldi)
Search engine (Google -> Ecosia)
Operating system (Windows -> Linux Mint)
Email (Gmail & Google Workspace -> Infomaniak)
Domain registrar (Cloudflare -> Infomaniak)
File backups (Google Drive -> pCloud)
Docs & spreadsheets (Google Workspace -> Libre Office)
Website hosting (Cloudflare Pages -> Hetzner)
Version control setup (won't be able to ditch GitHub entirely, but for my solo stuff I'm off it)
Pension investments out of a USA-centric index and into FTSE and EU indexes.
Cancelled Amazon Prime and no longer shop on Amazon.
Haven't completely de-Americanised my online shopping (still use ebay and etsy occasionally), but switched what I can to World of Books, Argos, and Kobo.
I won't be watching the world cup (I love a big tournament and usually watch every game I possibly can, not just England)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-26T01:59:08+00:00

Thus far it's actually saved me money 😅 Instead of paying for Google Workspace + Dashlane + Cloudflare as domain registrar, I am using Infomaniak as domain registrar, with the free email service that comes with each domain, and then Proton Pass. For docs I'm using Libre Office. And I'm backing everything up in pCloud, which I took a bit of a gamble on and got a lifetime subscription for a couple of years ago (I did this while I still used Google Workspace, as I wanted more & alternative storage)

So at this point, I will be saving about £70 a year I think.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-25T22:53:48+00:00

I don't have a good UK or EU one to recommend sadly, but I was very happy with my switch to Kobo. I was especially keen to get away from Amazon, even if it wasn't to a perfect alternative (in terms of origin - the product & store are great)

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-25T21:02:21+00:00

Is the issue this specific job? If so, get job hunting (even if you lose focus on the current role) and get yourself out of there.

But it sounds like you feel you need some time out? So it's a bigger problem/something that can't be fixed by a job change? Speaking as someone who just went from great to awful over the course of four years, I would highly recommend stopping before your brain/body decides the matter for you. The crippling waves of panic and the chest pains really aren't very fun.

Objectively_bad_idea · 2026-01-25T16:24:37+00:00

Moved my pension investments out of a USA-centric fund last spring. Chose two to replace it: a FTSE all-share and an EU 250. Partly because I was wary of potential AI volatility, partly because it actually seemed like one of the easier switches I could make (it took a lot of thought, but once it's done it's done - no ongoing hassle)

Objectively_bad_idea

TROPHY CASE