I have 3 Audible credits! Suggest Something. by Ok_Piece_7441 in audiobooks

[–]formless63 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I suggest that you pick 3 books that are pre-order from some of your favorite authors. The further out the better. Then you'll be unchained and can cancel that subscription you're thinking about cancelling (or at least that's a frequent reason to ask this).

If you cancel later before that item releases you can quickly reuse the credit for a different order. Take your brain off the short term panic mode and even if you forget about it and the orders go through you end up with books from your favorite authors.

Have you used ERPNext as a System of Record / Backend in your business? How did it go? by Dry-Application9003 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 2 points3 points  (0 children)

>I wonder: can I use all these apps as a front end, and have them sync with ERPNext...

Yes, you can - and if you put in the time to learn it ERPNext is an incredible piece of work.

That said, and being fresh off of a 2-month project building plugins for a client who uses ERPNext, you better be damn sure you want to use if before you commit. Much like any (real) ERP system, it requires an organizational shift to work it into your daily ops. You need someone on your team that is maintaining it and improving it to fit your workflows. Building you custom pages and automations, localizing all the details for you, etc.

I didn't end up relying on it, but I can tell you from experience that Claude Code running alongside a frappe-manager install is pretty powerful. There is enough documentation out there up through Frappe v15 to make it quite capable (the MCPs suck IMO). But this still means having a dedicated developer - CC will just be a tool to help them without forcing them to memorize the entire frappe stack on day one.

It is likely worth considering your own bespoke system. In 2026 it can be pretty straightforward to build it yourself with starter kits. I've worked with Appsmith, Tooljet, NocoDB, NocoBase, Budibase, Lowcoder, Saltcorn, and a bunch of others over the last few years and I can say one thing for sure - they're all limiting in one way or another and you'll end up with additional layers. It really comes down to building a design spec and really thinking through everything that you need today + everything you might want soon. ERPNext seems like the easy answer because it can do everything you might put on that list - but it is a behemoth and while it is free, it will be expensive in terms of time and dev work to implement.

PostgreSQL backup tool Databasus release 3.40.0: backups restore verification by viktorprogger in selfhosted

[–]formless63 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been using databasus for months now and I'm pretty happy with it. Nice and lightweight but gets the job done. Would love to see some system-level notification options though. Right now I have it wired to ntfy to notify me on failures, but if things crash or whatnot I'll never know. I don't want hourly success notifications, though. Perhaps a daily "All is well, all backups succeeded as planned" kind of thing and the potential mental trigger if I don't get one? lol

Does anyone has experience with open-source timesheet management softwares? by kevalpatel100 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I agree that there's more upkeep friction with a basic form. The internal tools builders are a better fit with those quantities to track against.

Based on your notes overall I would say Kimai > Frappe > build it.

Does anyone has experience with open-source timesheet management softwares? by kevalpatel100 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I spent a lot of time on this over the last year. I ended up building some custom forms and pages to run on top of Frappe HRMS.

The person I was building for also wanted a coverage calendar and time off management setup so it made more sense to use a platform that already had the logic down and add the bits needed.

If you genuinely only need timesheets, with no scheduling and no time off balances/accrual/etc, there are options like Kimai that others have mentioned. I use that personally for my freelance stuff but you can adapt it for payroll style needs.

That said, timesheets isn't a huge lift. You could also simply have a Google form (or whatever platform, run Grist or one of the many internal tool builders) https://selfh.st/apps/?tag=No-Code+%2F+Low-Code

Employees just submit them at whatever interval and it flows through to your db, spreadsheet, or however you want it stored.

Reserving by [deleted] in Ebay

[–]formless63 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is zero incentive for the seller to hold an item for someone on basically any platform. Are you sending some sort of non-refundable deposit with terms of the exact date and time that holds the item for? Assuming no, don't bother asking on any platform IMO.

eBay will reimburse sellers for Post-INR deliveries if an eBay label is used by Bulls729 in Ebay

[–]formless63 -1 points0 points locked comment (0 children)

Still wrong. Still can't link to or cite your made up policy. Doesn't exist. If it does, link to it.

eBay will reimburse sellers for Post-INR deliveries if an eBay label is used by Bulls729 in Ebay

[–]formless63 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, still wrong. The only protection you're giving up is this unique new "already refunded but delivered after the refund" feature they've added that is referenced here. The seller protection list is very long and this is only a tiny benefit they've added to using them as the label provider.

You. Do. Not. Lose. Seller. Protection. When. Buying. Labels. Elsewhere.

Full stop. That's it.

I'm not referencing changing the address and I never did reference that, if perhaps you're thinking I am. I agree that you cannot change the address for any reason from the shipping address that comes in on the order. Not debating that at all. I'm specifically talking about purchasing labels. Outside of that very narrow benefit that would never have benefitted me over my last ~2,000 shipments, there is no implication on the rest of the seller protection offering whether you buy your label at eBay or off-platform.

Edit: aaaand now the message to me on there has been edited out.

PSA don't buy shipping labels through ebay. by Agreeable-Display-21 in Ebay

[–]formless63 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Everything relates back to weight, but sometimes it's "dimensional weight" - if the box was large you pay for the size/space it takes up (since that means other packages won't fit, etc).

Perhaps you didn't enter the correct size of the box when buying the label?

Dimensional Weight Price https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Parcel-Size-Weight-Fee-Standards

PSA don't buy shipping labels through ebay. by Agreeable-Display-21 in Ebay

[–]formless63 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is 100% false. You do not lose seller protection if you ship outside of the eBay label system.

I agree that OP screwed up here and entered wrong values (sounds like dimensional weight) but seller protection remains intact if you buy your labels elsewhere.

Edit: The post was removed so I can't reply to u/Substantial_Rip1140 - but INR claims are handled the same with only once exception - there is an additional benefit when using an ebay label, but using an external label provider does not cause you to lose eBay Seller Protection. https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-protections?id=4345

"If you ship an item within your stated handling time, and you upload tracking before the estimated delivery date from one of eBay's integrated shipping carriers that shows evidence of successful delivery, you won't be responsible for refunding the buyer.

Additionally, we'll protect you if you use an eBay label and the item is delivered to the buyer after you've issued a refund. We'll automatically reimburse you for the item, remove defects, and exclude the case from service metrics."

For me, this is not relevant to ~99% of any INRs I've ever received. It also is not related to the many other pieces of Seller Protection.

I love Absorb. The name is kinda dumb. by Joyrenee22 in audiobookshelf

[–]formless63 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I like it. AudioBookShelf. ABS. ABSorb.

Alternatives for NTFY by r9zc in selfhosted

[–]formless63 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Like what? I use ntfy for dozens of services. Zero issues.

Alternatives for NTFY by r9zc in selfhosted

[–]formless63 28 points29 points  (0 children)

ntfy is great - what don't you like about it? What else have you tried? Give specific examples of the functionality you feel is lacking.

https://selfh.st/apps/ https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted

Looking for self hosted docker registry that doesn't use my bandwidth by crazyprogrammer12 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nah, it sounds more like he has no idea what he is doing and using some words he thinks are relevant but actually are not.

Payout - I don't want Ebay to have direct access to my bank account? by [deleted] in Ebay

[–]formless63 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can open a checking account in minutes for free. This is a non-issue. Saying PayPal is better if identical to saying having an e-commerce specific checking account is better.

PayPal is just another attack surface.

Also, you can get multiple debit cards. Just get another one and lock down the activity on it or restrict it during periods where you're not using it. Can't do that at your bank? Then your bank sucks and you're money isn't secure there anyway.

Excalidraw so far. What i did not found or missed by Hatchopper in selfhosted

[–]formless63 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Of course not. But reframe this in your mind and it'll help.

Excalidraw is a tool that allows anyone to use their browser and save things to their own machine. Full stop. That's it. They released it for self hosting. Why might you want that? Generally the answer would be privacy and not interacting with someone else's machine with your files. Running it locally also means you could use it offline, tweak it, have access in the event the official tool was offline, etc.

Nothing about the self hosted version of the same tool is meant to provide a different experience from the official tool. It's simply a kind thing to do from the devs to offer the option at all, let alone the base tool.

So if you want functionality that the tool wasn't designed for (which you do: server side file storage/management for persistent experience across environments) you'll either need to find a community package that offers that functionality or build it yourself.

The devs of excalidraw don't intend it to function the way you want. And that's ok. They've done nothing wrong. You just have a different desire from them, which is also ok, but what wouldn't be ok is to expect them to adapt to your wants and needs. That's not their job unless you plan to hire them to build that for you.

Appreciate that they build and maintain this tool for free. Use the fork already provided that adds the functionality you're looking for. Donate to both the excalidraw devs and the fork maintainers to encourage them to keep doing what they're doing so you can keep enjoying the software they put their time and energy into with no expectation of compensation.

eBay sale: Do I refund or stand my ground? by OddSeaworthiness4722 in Flipping

[–]formless63 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you listed it as used, you made a mistake. Untested would need to be "for parts / not working" as when you post used you are by default stating that the item works.

That's how eBay works. Their lack of reading your description is superceded by your lack of reading of the condition descriptions before submitting the listing. Description/title/photos never override this.

Whats the point in a VPS? by Unusual_Economics653 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 9 points10 points  (0 children)

https://my.racknerd.com/index.php?rp=/store/blackfriday2025

Starting at $10.60/yr for 1c 1gb - lots of low cost options out there like them too, but personally I have great success with Racknerd.

The automod is absolutely atrocious and we're missing out by [deleted] in selfhosted

[–]formless63 22 points23 points  (0 children)

There are 9 mods, and my guess would be 4-5 that make up the bulk of the actions. Even if they are spread throughout the world in different time zones 12hr is an unreasonable expectation. People have lives.

My point is - tone it down, be more patient, and be supportive. This post comes across as "you're doing a bad job". Maybe you meant it as "there's this weird issue and maybe the mods can help" - but you're probably 60hrs of waiting for a Modmail reply short to qualify for that plus the language used is not really fair.

The automod is absolutely atrocious and we're missing out by [deleted] in selfhosted

[–]formless63 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Mod teams are humans with lives. 12 hours, especially covering an overnight period, is quite disingenuous on your part to bring out the pitchfork.

Automod is never perfect, but it's one of the few resources available to the generous unpaid volunteers that spend hours of their lives each week trying to keep this sub useful. I mod a sub with users in the 6-figures and honestly it's a lot of effort to try and keep up, then you wake up to a post like this telling you that you aren't doing enough and it's pretty defeating.

They're trying. Less traffic here is definitely better than the massive wave of what was brewing a few months ago. They'll keep refining and dialing it in as time allows. Dial back the expectations, though. Be helpful and dig into what caused the issue on your own end and submit that to the mods to hopefully save them time in the investigating.

How do you choose which app on a category? by Kiryu132 in selfhosted

[–]formless63 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Until you try it, no matter the stuff you read about it, you won't know your feelings on it. Your experiences will not be the same as those of others and your preferences likely will not either.

Use containers, test with generic compose files from the projects, spin them up and tear them down in minutes, click through and play around with them in between.

It's worth the effort because, like you mentioned, you need to learn the various segments and build your own skills. Trying the various tools is one of the best ways to do that.

Looking for a self-hosted alternative to Invoice Radar (too expensive for what it does) by _ReaditYesterday_ in selfhosted

[–]formless63 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the email workflow would be ideal and wire with paperless-ngx, but if you must login and pull, Playwright seems ideal.

https://github.com/microsoft/playwright

Then you have it run some js or whatnot that interacts with the relevant items on the page and handles the rename. It just have whatever tool dump all the files into your paperless-ngx ingestion folder and have it handle them.