Well, it certainly would have made our lives a lot easier. And yes, i think if we dont have such a thing there will be signifigantly less "nodes" on the network. That being said I am not very upset, here are a few reasons.
- If ISP's come forward and offer to host / help admin the software we are most of the way there to a node hoster. This is expected to happen. If our code is distributed right once you get it installed it wont be that big of a deal to learn how to admin it, even with little technical experience. With a 24/7 manned staff of helpers i think just about anyone who is dedicated to setting a community up could get one. - It will force us to distribute the network. We are building a distributed network. If we host it all together one one server it isn't distibuted. Decidedly uncool imho. - It would force this network to be much more of a grassroots effort. It would mean that communities would have to be some what more involved in the process of setting up their homes to get one. This is a good thing for many reasons. It means that the Dean campaign will have a much bigger advantages then other campaigns with smaller bases, they are constrained by the same rules we are. It also means that people within our campaign will be more involved in helping eachother set these things up. So its a bit of work, its what barn raising is all about. What do you guys think? -Zack
