People need to realize you can use alternatives
I’m using Lemmy.world, but I still need to get away from the traditional mental model of usernames. It bothers me a bit knowing someone could use my username on another server and interact with the servers I do… But then again, nothing prevents someone from creating my Gmail on Yahoo. So it’s just a matter of getting used to things.
You could always create an account for your username on multiple popular servers if you wanted to. Can’t stop it on small servers but having multiple accounts in the Fediverse is not a crime.
I chose lemmy.ml based on two things:
- I wanted a server that wasn’t likely to close I don’t really know for sure, but I imagine it’s easy to underestimate how much money or time is required to run a server. And I’d really prefer not having to worry about migrating. The ‘run by Lemmy’s developers’ part makes me think that either the risk will be lower or the people running the server will know how to prevent reaching a point like that.
- I didn’t want to join a very specific instance As I see it, there are two possible scenarios:
- The instance I join will affect the content I’m exposed (and not exposed) to, in which case I want to experience ‘the whole internet’ rather than a section of it.
- The instance I choose is irrelevant to the content I get, in which case, (apart from community rules) it shouldn’t really matter which one I choose, so I would just join the biggest instance.
Still something that could help with the choosing-an-instance process is to display in the list of servers the community rules and if they are blocking certain communities.
This was pretty much exactly my thought process. My biggest concern here is account stability-from what I can tell, if your instance gets taken down by its owners, your account is gone.
So until the devs figure out a way to centralize account credentials so that isn’t an issue, I’d much rather join on a big instance than a small one, especially one that the devs of lemmy themselves own. They have a clear interest in keeping it running, so the chances of my account vanishing are small, just like with bigger social media sites.
The hard reality here is that, much like in real life markets, federated social media will likely tend toward a small number of very large instances and lots of significantly smaller ones. Most people want a stable, consistent experience and don’t want to worry about losing communities or accounts. And unless an instance is STRICTLY policing it’s communities, like lemmygrad for instance, then I think we will see the same thing happen with communities-right now there are lots of communities that are basically identical, and I think we’ll see one or two of each become the “main” ones people use-and those will likely be on larger instances.
so the chances of my account vanishing are small
As long as you don’t mention Tiananmen Square or the CCP’s ongoing genocide of Uyghurs 🙃
I keep seeing people joke about this-do the mods here really ban people for talking about it? It seems like it’s a bit of a meme here…
Short answer: yes, the mods consider criticism of the CCP to be “orientalism” (ie, racist against Asians).
There was a bit of a kerfuffle the other day: https://beehaw.org/post/457546
The documentation explaining how fediverse works is so bad. It’s so long and convoluted anyone new just can’t be bothered reading it.
Docu-what now?
Seriously, if the average user needs to understand distributed systems to play in the fediverse pool, they are going to land back at Reddit. Just get people in the door (any door) and fight the technical debt that creates later.
Sure, it’s a shit plan. But, it’s the only way to really capitalise on the current moment. With both Twitter and Reddit blasting away at their own feet, there is a real opportunity for something better to step up. The fediverse can be that thing. But, not if people end up gatekeeping it. Less Stallman style, “RTFM!” And more, “hey, welcome. Let’s get you set up.”
Idk what’s going on, I just know I’m ready for open source options. I’m signed up here and mastodon now and plan to use the duration of the reddit strike to learn more about these platforms, delete my activity on others, and slowly build communities so I’m not reliant on others for news and learning.
I don’t think it’s too difficult to figure out. Seems more like a matter of shifting activity to keep people engaged. I’m far from tech literate, though.
Well, that’s my point. We need a cheat sheet easy to read that gives most of the necessary information to create an account and use different instances and how to post from one to another.
https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/index.html is good but way too much for newcomers
I tried to make an account on lemmy.ml and it looks like their servers are (understandably) overloaded
I ended up choosing lemmy.world instead
My understanding is I’m not missing out on anything by chosing a less-popular instance. Did I get that right?
yes!
lemmy.world in particular doesn’t block any instances
see for comparison:
Oof, I can see why some of those instances are blocked, though. Since I’m on Beehaw, I checked their block list and…wow. Scrolled through each one for a few minutes and now I’m hoping I’m not on some kind FBI list for it. A few highlights from my research expedition:
- A meme featuring various characters (MLP, Vaporeon, Peter Griffin, etc) unironically mourning Ted Kaczynski
- NSFL gore
- People calling for the execution of cops who stopped rioters on Jan 6
- SO. MUCH. LOLICON.
- “Hahaha look at this WOKE LIB 🤣🤣🤣”
- QANON. QANON EVERYWHERE.
I was only on each one for a minute or so. I don’t think I’m missing out on anything except maybe being put on some kind of list.
I saw how long the list is and got kinda concerned I might miss out on content since I’m on beehaw, but now it just sounds like I’m getting sheltered from all the internet wackjobs lol
IDK, beehaw.org and lemmy.world aren’t doing too bad
World crew
Commenting from beehaw here! I still am figuring out what’s what but super happy!
World here. I have no idea how to even Guage that lol. I wish there was a list of popular subs in sidebar. Having to type them in or search is annoying, but we’ll figure it out. So far I found 3 communities I was in before so that’s cool. I’m still figuring this out. It’s been about 1hr since I joined lol.
Check this out, they made a map:
I just got plugged into the matrix 😎
Same.
Awesome, thanks for the link :)
lemmy.world unite!
Just registered. Very excited for this new adventure.
Same! Can’t wait to see what happens.
The best instance 😎
(no instance wars please, I’m being facetious)A fellow Lemmy worlder
This is something that lemmy devs need to better address. This is an “Eternal September” kind of situation. People (me included) are not used to the fediverse. They think you can participate only if you’re in that instance. And people want content, so they think "why’s the instance with most people? Ahh lemmy.ml? Cool, let’s join.
yeah. i think the other problem is that people don’t know if the instance would be good performance wise. i.e. i joined lemmy.ml because it was the one i found first.
A good way to handle it would be to have an instance list. with number of users vs maximum users. like joining a server in a video game. if i see its super full, i’ll pick another server. of course, we’d need some large banners to make sure people know they won’t be missing out on other instances.
I would go one step further that the instance thing should be transparent. Like when you sign up, some process could determine from a “neutral instances pool” which is the one you should join, then when you log in you’re in that instance but you don’t really know where you are. It just “works”. That probably requires a lot of rework and sharing login infomration between instances. But as a more “aspirational thing”
Proud to be a sh.itjust.works user
I’m reppin’ Lemmy.World
I use lemmy.world. they have an associated mastodon as well.
Same here, except I have no interest in Mastodon.
I created my account at sh.itjust.works but I don’t fully understand Lemmy yet. Finding communities seems confusing.
+1 for sh.itjust.works no wait for approval and a bit active. I tried to start a community but it didn’t work, but then I searched for the communit (audiobooks) and there was one already on lemmy.ml so all good in the end!
You have basic serach here: https://browse.feddit.de/ they index all communities on known instances.
The search there is awful. They look at the title of the community but not its name.
Like https://lemmy.ml/c/habs doesn’t show up if you look for habs but show up if you look for Les Canadiens de Montréal
Thanks! And to participate in a community from another instance, do I need to visit it using my instance? Or can I log in in different instances using the same account?
Log into your own instance, and use that to navigate and you will be able to do everything
this is great, doesn’t seems to work flawless buy hey, great start
They need to do away with the ridiculous manual approval process on most servers and recommend servers that forego it on the main site.
I agree with this. Why should you have to write an essay to join a server which communites you might not even chose to interact with? Completely ridiculous
if you don’t wanna apply, then don’t apply, simple as that, just join one of the generic ones without an approval process.
the application requirement exists for a reason: many communities only want certain kind of people in their server, if you’re not a match, and you know it, then why bother even trying or complaining about it? find another one that’s your match because you aren’t their match either.
Lemmy is worthless without users. We need people to switch from reddit to lemmy. If you get new users to belive that lemmy is not like reddit, they won’t switch. Making you write an essay to join a server will get the average person thinking that joining a server is a big deal and mak the conclusion that lemmy will be fragmented and not like reddit and promptly quit making an account on any server. You seem to have a lot of faith in people being willing to understand how lemmy works but the average person will not be idealistic and only check to see if it can be a replacement for reddit. Your mindset is activley killing lemmy and I want lemmy to grow. Your asshole attitude isn’t helping you make your point either.
Generic users should at first join a recommended server. Those don’t require essays. If they wanna join some niche server that has “high standards” in one way or another, then they shouldn’t expect the same requirements.
If you wanna promote lemmy, suggest ppl join any of the recommended servers that don’t require essays. I see no incompatibility with mass adoption (what you propose) and some servers not allowing everyone to join. Just promote the ones that do allow everyone to join and don’t promote any list of servers that puts the essay-requiring ones at the top cuz, as you say, that will obviously make it so very few people join.
I personally joined https://sh.itjust.works because it’s basically open borders and doesn’t require absolutely anything, not even an e-mail address. I just tapped a name and a password clicked registered and I was in. Promote shit like this instead of the picky ones. I don’t see what’s so hard about just giving the right links to ppl.
Not to mention that even after you do the essay, it takes forever to get approval on a lot of places. I signed up on lemmy.one first, and couldn’t log in for a long time…then signed up at beehaw.org. My lemmy.one account finally became active yesterday, while my beehaw.org one still hasn’t been activated, and it’s been 3 days.
I didn’t mind writing an essay, because I had already browsed Beehaw and read all their philosophy links and I really liked it. I had read the blurbs on the other instances (there were only 70-something then)…. So I might tend to over-do stuff anyway. :)
you realize you can still view the communities without logging in, and decide whether you vibe with it.
also, I noticed quite a few instances had pinned posts introducing the instance to new people and telling them about what the instance stood for.
Nah just register at whichever instance that sounds the coolest to append to your name. Just FYI I’m from
programming.dev.I just hope it lasts, worst thing would be if people just went back to reddit
Problem is that a) new users don’t know that they can join communities across servers, and b) it is intuitive use start with the servers that a lot of people like.
Instance browsing and onboarding is probably the biggest challenge to Lemmy’s growth. The current experience either scares new people away, or encourages them to congregate on a limited set of instances.
I applied to 3 instances when I decided to join and lemmy.ml was the only one that responded so there’s that.
Idk why anyone would use the main instance and choose to be admined by pro-CCP tankies
What does this mean?
Is Lemmy made by them?
