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So much helpful context -- thank you!
I guess I could ask very particular questions on SN (would be an interesting use case) and maybe I will, once we have subs. I admit that I was attracted to the idea of a real-time chat where people were hanging out and there could be ambient information flow.
I had concluded the hub-and-spoke thing myself; it seemed inevitable, at least in the medium term. I wanted to learn how to do the full thing, even if I did a shitty job and lost money and crashed my node a bunch of times, just to really grok the fundamentals of how this all works together. I'm technical in general, but have no expertise in the guts of LN, so it seemed worthwhile.
Thanks again for the reply, it was really the perfect answer. Getting the full perspective with the right context can be a trick.
Still, there are lots of great and active groupchats on TG, Discord, Slack, RocketChat, nostr, and Matrix. They're just more fragmented and focused.
Have a look at all the tech you use for LN (nodes, web GUIs, tooling, etc.) Most of those tools will advertise chat servers where the devs hang out and answer questions. Join them and be active and you may get invited to some more private groups where the real alpha gets leaked.
Ask your questions right here on SN, lol
As for pleb nodes, DarthCoin has recently been popularizing the idea that plebs should not run routing nodes. Which I agree with.
Rather, plebs should run nodes with only unannounced channels, this is for privacy but also, a pleb with poor liquidity can actually cause net harm to "the network". As other nodes will attempt to use your channels for routes, but as a humble pleb, your channels are not actively managed and your public node causes other's payments to fail or timeout. Also, as a pleb, you want your node to work when you go to use it, but if you're not pricing your liquidity correctly, you may find that other nodes have used up your public liquidity causing your own payments to fail or become more expensive.
As for why PlebNet has mostly disappeared:
Recognize LN is still early and the best information comes direct from the source (usually githubs of the projects themselves).
But the support network for LN keeps growing and places like SN and even Reddit are great for asking questions and getting help.