I am running a lightning node and about to open a few channels to try and get some fees. Any experienced person to explain to me in advance how I will rug myself in the process?
Discussion
Open just a couple channels for your own/family use to save yourself chain fees, don't expect to earn routing fees and go overboard. Routing isn't for casuals.
Appreciate the word of caution. I am still leaning into trying to route and get some fees. not looking for meaningful financial return at all, more for the experience and learning.
In that case I would recommend reading and watching anything written or presented by Alex Bosworth over the last 5 years
Good starting point, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlPIB6jt6ww
If you don’t have at least a few BTC to devote to a routing node, keep things simple. 3-4 private (unannounced) channels to well connected nodes is all you need for personal use and payments.
Are private channels capable of routing or are they designed specifically for personal use. In the end that's where I'll land, but I am willing to do some routing for the experience.
No since they are unannounced they won’t show up in the LN network graph. They only route if you know they exist, ie use route hints when creating invoices, or sending from one of the connected nodes.
Once you begin forwarding payments, you open yourself up to a lot more risk related to stuck HTLCS, forced closures etc. This is where a lot of the unexpected costs of running a node come in
Make sure your fee rate is set high enough on your funding transfers.
Would you mind elaborate on why? thanks
I was new to the GUI on lightning and accidentally set my fee rate too low for my funding transfer to clear. So I ended up having to do a roundabout CPFP transfer of additional sats with a high fee to kick it over the finish line and get a miner to pick it up. Not world ending, but it was a pain in the ass and I had to go through quite a learning curve to learn how to do it all. Ultimately it taught me more about how fees work, so I guess it wasn’t bad