[SFS] NextCloud, diaspora*, email, etc.

[P. Hoemke]

So for those of us wanting to take complete and total control of "all
the things" independently, how are you using things like NextCloud,
social networking, hosting, and of course that wicked old monster,
email?

Worst first: Hosting your own email is just begging for trouble,
because damn the spammers! But it can be done -- who's doing it, and
how bad is it, and what stack do you use?

NextCloud, that seems pretty straightforward, wherever you host it
(home/colo hardware, AWS/Azure, hosting co, SaaS vendor), unless you
want addons maybe?

Social networking is now all walled gardens that are more like cattle
pens -- but what's the alternative? That I'm not sure of: diaspora*?
Mastodon? Other? Back to blogs?

Curious everybody's thoughts and approaches. Seems like I need to
seize the carpe by the horns, as the poets say... :)

Thanks,
Paul.