[HacktionLab] On the Autistici/Inventati shutdown...

Sun Sep 13 13:22:26 UTC 2026

Hi Mike, & all,

No disagreement with Mike here, of course a lot depends on capacity. I simply had the experience that puscii, which hosts 250+ lists, had no difficulty in accepting another one when I proposed - this while the host of the list in question was complaining about how much work it was to host a list. Puscii's maintainer told me that 'one list more or one list less ...'

The other issue is the KYC one (to borrow the banking term 'Know Your Customer'): A/I was always very strict about that, just as is puscii: 'we host only people we know and trust' (puscii even adds 'personally'). So there too, due diligence should be at least workable, even if not sufficient to waiwe all risks.

But yes it's delicate and complicated. So thanks Mike for the extensive explanation , and no reproach or accusation was intended on my side. 

Cheers to all, p+2D!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Harris" <mike at mbharris.co.uk>
To: hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org
Sent: Sunday, 13 September, 2026 13:55:52
Subject: Re: [HacktionLab] On the Autistici/Inventati shutdown...

Hi p+2D,

Great to hear from you :)

That brings me on the subject of hosting 'refugees' from A/I. Depending on their requirements it should not meet a blanket refusal, as I understand, maybe incorrectly, Mike's post. Hosting blogs/mailing lists can be very low maintenance, and should not be a problem, for instance. I don't know about more complicated requests, but I think 'we' should try to do as much as possible. The A/I refugees won't meet very much 'good luck' outside 'alternative' circles ...

You might have misunderstood.  In general with all hosting it's a 
question of asking what the point of view of the person asking to be 
hosted is and whether that chimes with the philosophy of the provider, 
but also it is asking ourselves "do we have the capacity to host 
this?".  This capacity might be in terms of the technical requirements 
for the specific software behind the blog, or it could be in terms of 
the technical resources, or in terms of the load, if the site were very 
popular for example.

For N23 it's that we already have a sluggish and overloaded server.  We 
run WordPress, which in monolithic in architecture, requires quite a lot 
of resources to run, and, with all the plugins involved, bloatware.  (by 
the way I think a standalone well-maintained WP site with only a few 
essential plugins is a perfectly good solution, but that's not the case 
with N23).  Our server is under-resourced to deal with the current load 
as it stands without taking on more sites.

Also, obviously one might refuse to take on an already proscribed 
organisation (to use an extreme example) without understanding the full 
consequences in that for the want of a single site hosted, the whole 
kingdom might be lost.   Also that becomes a big headache for those 
involved.  As I know some of us know from first-hand experience.

To be clear: it's not that we don't care, but rather that I don't think 
we have the capacity to do so.

M

On 13/09/2026 12:13, Patrice Riemens wrote:
> Ciao tutte.i ;-)
>
> Great that Mike mentions the A/I affair. It shows it gets the absolutely needed wider traction (it's a big item in Italy, where I live, tho not at this very moment).
>
> I have also been involved, if from the side line, with it, as some of my friends are with A/I, and my own provider, puscii.nl is sortof the equivalent of A/I in the Netherlands, tho much smaller. I have written quite extensively about it on Nettime, tho mostly passing on Italian sources. You can look there if you like.
>
> That brings me on the subject of hosting 'refugees' from A/I. Depending on their requirements it should not meet a blanket refusal, as I understand, maybe incorrectly, Mike's post. Hosting blogs/mailing lists can be very low maintenance, and should not be a problem, for instance. I don't know about more complicated requests, but I think 'we' should try to do as much as possible. The A/I refugees won't meet very much 'good luck' outside 'alternative' circles ...
>
> Regarding A/I itself, I think the most important point is that they have taken, immo, the incredibly courageous decision to close shop rather than playing the game of fighting a cruel, unhinged, and for now, overly powerful force. It's not a David vs Goliath fight, we have to do here with a rogue Godzilla on steroids, which like the original one will be destroyed ... by its own excesses. Let us not get trampled for nothing in the process!
>
> Lal Salaam, p+2D!
>
> And please post to the max about the discussions this w/e!
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Harris" <mike at mbharris.co.uk>
> To: hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org
> Sent: Sunday, 13 September, 2026 12:31:05
> Subject: [HacktionLab] On the Autistici/Inventati shutdown...
>
> Hi all,
>
> I think a topic on at least some of our minds is the recent shutdown of
> the alternative Italian hosting collective Autistici/Inventati (A/I).
>
> See:
>
> https://keepitfree.ai/announcements/a/i-shuts-down-stay-human/
> https://thenextweb.com/news/autistici-inventati-shutdown-us-terrorist-designation
>
> And many more you can find on the World-Wide-Web.
>
> As a member of the Network23 collective (https://network23.org), which
> has been hosting blogs build on WordPress for social movements and other
> organisations on the left, we have started to get requests for blogs
> from a small sprinkling of the users of the estimated 10,000 blogs that
> A/I hosted.
>
> The problem, N23 is a small project in comparison to A/I and Riseup.
> We're under resources in terms of tech stack, platform, and expert
> time.  It seems that we can only honestly reply to enquiries "sorry, but
> we haven't the resources to host you, good luck!".
>
> There's a lot to talk about here I think: resources, alternatives,
> sustainability, different platform options, where things are hosted,
> having multiple small organisations, rather than all our eggs in one
> basket, time, money, etc...
>
> I think it'll make for some interesting discussions at some point over
> the weekend.
>
> M
>
-- 
Mike Harris
+44 07811 671 893
https://mbharris.co.uk - https://hacktionlab.org - https://xtreamlab.net

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