[PLDiscordian]

Don't be discouraged! Using your own machine might be painful, but in the meantime https://web3.storage should give you long-term storage for free. It's built on top of Estuary, and the only reason why data isn't said to be kept "forever" is because forever is a long time, and life doesn't give guarantees, but data will persist as long as possible, and notices will be sent out of the service is ever terminated to the best of the team's ability.

I look at web3.storage type services as an excellent resource into getting your data on IPFS/Filecoin for free, without needing to work with the current intimidating situation which is lotus. I'm fairly sure work is going in to make it easier to monetize your free space, but I'm not as deep in the Filecoin teams, and I'm not 100% sure what the work on that front looks like right now. Lotus is really only needed if you want to store other people's data as I understand it.