So we have an old computer lying around and I wanna put it to good use. It’s an Apple laptop from like 2016. I don’t have the money for a VPS as I have no job, I’ve had trouble with cards in the past, and I only have a few dollars on my gift cards. I was thinking I could use just the computer and have it run 24/7 despite being inefficient, potentially, but what about hosting it on my own network and the CSAM/weird content issues that I have to face?
What is going on with you? Anyway, if you want to try self-hosting on a VPS, make an account on lowendspirit.com and hang out there for a while. There are lots of offers for free or ridiculously cheap VPS there. Like this starts at 25 cents per month ($3 per year):
https://lowendspirit.com/discussion/10636/tierhive-256mb-ram-3gb-disk-3-p-year-hourly-vps-kvm-big-project-updates-more-ports-ipv6
Open a thread there saying what you’re trying to do, and ask for hosting and for technical help if you need that.