I’m not a programmer so I can’t speak to how hard this is, but I think it would be a big asset to building user base if there was a neutral sign up website that wasn’t a specific instance. It would basically choose an instance for you automatically and skip that part. I figure there could be some list of general purpose instances compiled that are all fair game and the site would try to spread the load across instances.
Average user doesn’t care about federation, and all of that complexity is a big turn off. I know because I almost didn’t sign up myself because of that. Having to pick a team just to get in the door feels kinda bad.
You have a point but maybe the gatekeeping is a good thing?
Average user doesn’t care about federation would translate to the average user doesn’t care about this community. Maybe?
It’s like how some old forums would charge for an account. Kept a certain low effort person from signing up. Sure it might turn people off but if you do enough work to understand how to get in then there’s a level of buying into it that might make you care more.
Having to explain federation is kind of the issue in my opinion. This idea wouldn’t be to remove the normal sign up process, it would be a way to side step it entirely for those who don’t care about the technology aspect of it and just want to be part of the community.
If you want to pick your own instance or suggest one, that would still exist. This would just be an alternative. It would also help to avoid everyone gravitating towards the largest instance, because it would try to load balance people automatically.
Having to explain federation is kind of the issue in my opinion.
I don’t, nowadays, I just point to piefed.zip
This would just be an alternative
The issue is that there aren’t really instances that are similar enough to be considered interchangeable. They all have their specificity, be it admin style, defederation, downvotes enabled or disabled, front-ends available, etc.
Yeah that’s a good point. Maybe it’s too different for it to work. I maintain that complexity will continue to push people away, though. If instances are that different we might have better luck referring to them as their own sites. That would just increase the flocking to single mega instances though. The most important feature of any social media site is who’s on it.
I would agree with that. I think the ability to spin up new instances if something goes wrong with a big one is still a great feature even if one gains dominance.
I don’t know how hard account migration is right now, but that’s probably another UX thing to make easy if the devs decide to work on it.
I was in the same boat as you regarding signing up. I also agree with you that the concept of federation might be confusing for new users. Just gave up at the promt to explore other instances (in lemmy.world sign up) and signed up to lemmy.world.
I ended up where I did because I wanted the closest thing to no instance possible, and the great folks running this one try to do just that. It’s fediverse Switzerland lol
Thank you for your service. I agree with you on the issue, but am a bit afraid that if more people onboard here, the threads will be just the same reddit hivemind circlejerk like ”i also choose this guys wife” etc. But since there is no karma to gain here I wish it will stay like this.
Yep. I agree with this. Re-creating Reddit at the same scale just brings all the same problems. I like that federation means smaller more localised communities that can be connected (or not). I get that it’s not what everyone wants or is used to, and that’s okay.
I think what we can try to do is to create an active community.
In the old place, I recognized I really came for the comments. That’s why I try to keep my threshold for commenting low and comment often.
Even if it’s just to thank someone for a good comment or other low effort commenting, I like to think it helps.
We definitely need better onboarding. I am pushing for this on piefed via directs to [email protected] for new users to introduce themselves
I’m not a programmer so I can’t speak to how hard this is, but I think it would be a big asset to building user base if there was a neutral sign up website that wasn’t a specific instance. It would basically choose an instance for you automatically and skip that part. I figure there could be some list of general purpose instances compiled that are all fair game and the site would try to spread the load across instances.
Average user doesn’t care about federation, and all of that complexity is a big turn off. I know because I almost didn’t sign up myself because of that. Having to pick a team just to get in the door feels kinda bad.
You have a point but maybe the gatekeeping is a good thing?
Average user doesn’t care about federation would translate to the average user doesn’t care about this community. Maybe?
It’s like how some old forums would charge for an account. Kept a certain low effort person from signing up. Sure it might turn people off but if you do enough work to understand how to get in then there’s a level of buying into it that might make you care more.
Just some thoughts.
I would love to have more diversity here, so I’m afraid I don’t agree with that. 🤷♂️
Having to explain federation is kind of the issue in my opinion. This idea wouldn’t be to remove the normal sign up process, it would be a way to side step it entirely for those who don’t care about the technology aspect of it and just want to be part of the community.
If you want to pick your own instance or suggest one, that would still exist. This would just be an alternative. It would also help to avoid everyone gravitating towards the largest instance, because it would try to load balance people automatically.
I don’t, nowadays, I just point to piefed.zip
The issue is that there aren’t really instances that are similar enough to be considered interchangeable. They all have their specificity, be it admin style, defederation, downvotes enabled or disabled, front-ends available, etc.
Yeah that’s a good point. Maybe it’s too different for it to work. I maintain that complexity will continue to push people away, though. If instances are that different we might have better luck referring to them as their own sites. That would just increase the flocking to single mega instances though. The most important feature of any social media site is who’s on it.
It’s okay if they join one instance. I’m not a fan of the LW dominance, but it’s better to have another LW user than no user at all
I would agree with that. I think the ability to spin up new instances if something goes wrong with a big one is still a great feature even if one gains dominance.
I don’t know how hard account migration is right now, but that’s probably another UX thing to make easy if the devs decide to work on it.
I was in the same boat as you regarding signing up. I also agree with you that the concept of federation might be confusing for new users. Just gave up at the promt to explore other instances (in lemmy.world sign up) and signed up to lemmy.world.
I ended up where I did because I wanted the closest thing to no instance possible, and the great folks running this one try to do just that. It’s fediverse Switzerland lol
It’s that live now for Piefed.social ?
Yep, it’s live.
@[email protected]
I haven’t checked personally. Requires making new accounts to check each time
https://chat.piefed.social/#narrow/channel/3-general/topic/Onboarding/near/7719
You’re an admin IIRC?
Staff. I don’t think I can do that. I can check later
Ah, I misremembered!
Ugh that’s a really good point. I need to work on more ‘whatever’ throw away comments
Thank you for your service. I agree with you on the issue, but am a bit afraid that if more people onboard here, the threads will be just the same reddit hivemind circlejerk like ”i also choose this guys wife” etc. But since there is no karma to gain here I wish it will stay like this.
Yep. I agree with this. Re-creating Reddit at the same scale just brings all the same problems. I like that federation means smaller more localised communities that can be connected (or not). I get that it’s not what everyone wants or is used to, and that’s okay.
The rules of the game are different so Lemmy wouldn’t be like Reddit even with the same scale.