IMO Lighting nodes will become centralized if the backend usability is not improved.  You almost need a mirrored server just to run it reliably to minimize risk of losing funds.  Not everyone is a network admin to run one. 

 That's a myth. You could have a decent node in 3 days spending only 5 minutes a day on it with zero command line interaction.  

 Yeah I've been running a lightning node on umbrel for a few years with about 20 channels, still use it every day to zap and stuff. Not many issues and have done 0 maintenance in the past year. Maybe I'm lucky  

 nah youre doin it right. the lightning FUD people are those who have never actually tried it  

 spinning up nodes is very easy.  What to do if something goes wrong, such as data corruption, hardware faults...etc...  is something else entirely on Lightning. 

 What do you do if the sun explodes idk  

 Yup, that's the point, you don't know. 

 real world experience and advice. 💎  

 My node running on a Start9 Pure Server only runs on tor hopefully they are updating soon to run on clearnet behind some type of VPN. Only got 5mil sats channels! Thanks 🙏🏽 

 Just want to add onto this...the value from running your own LN node comes when you are actually using it to make payments. Example: The amount you spend on chain to open and possibly close channels divided by an average fee of an on chain transaction = the amount of lightning payments you need to do before you start having value out of your node. Now, if you are receiving because you are using your node as a business AND making payments, thats nice. I think anything over 50 channels is SUPER overkill. Trash peers are the worst. Efficiency is key.  

 Cheers sir. 

 🫡🫡🫡 

 But what about  the learning experience ?!!!!!

**punches self in head for a few years**

😭 🤕 

JUST CALL NATE @Voltage 

 Please don't take these as disagreement, just thoughts on my experiences. I haven't found it to be that bad, but I'm not running a node that is receiving boosts and streaming from podcasts and video, that's a huge burden in that case. For the average user it's not that crazy. Being able to pay directly from my own node for almost everything is awesome.

1. Self sovereignty comes at a cost. (initial time effort can be big if you're not technical, find someone who can help that's done it before. On the plus side you'll learn a lot about computers/servers/bitcoin)
2. It's not about the money you'll make (cause you wont), it's about ease of personal use. Also, get good solid routing friends that aren't going to ditch you.
3. Definitely understand that you'll need in and out liquidity, but it depends on how much you want to send/receive overall, plan accordingly. If you have friends, partner up and then have one BIG node each with a good sized channel (each person should have a different provider), so you get touch points all over the lightning network with only a hop or two away and enough that multiple people can send through it.
4. TOR can be a nightmare at times. Run a TOR/Clearnet connection through a VPS (so you don't dox your home IP) and your connections will be solid. (Pleb-VPN is a good option, for example)
5. Running with Voltage may be easier, but it will likely cost more as there is a monthly fee. 

 💯

nostr:nevent1qqsysptq4r5chju667ewwy2grzmydgykeqpnm602wt5kwevk6g5l8rsppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsg06vtkec9yl2yx7dawwnvjg90avg4997qcpjsesvzzwpc34npdaqrqsqqqqqpwul870 

 It's ok to disagree if you're right.