For years, the internet has been shrinking. Not in size, not in data, but in ownership. A vast, decentralized network of personal blogs, forums, and independent communities has been corralled into a handful of paved prison yards controlled by a few massive corporations. Every post, every “friend,” every creative work—
  • Hejej@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6·
    11 days ago

    The problem is that it’s “too complicated“ by presenting choices before knowing what they mean. It’s a decision tree without knowing the outcomes.

    I’m new to Lemmy and it wasn’t as easy to sign up and use as Reddit or other social networks.

    First I had to choose a server. To do that I had learn the consequences of choosing a server. Once I decided .ml had a sign up process where I had to be approved.

    Then I wanted to choose a community, I think it’s called, and found there were multiple communities with the same name. Once again I had to make a choose without knowing the difference.

    It all reminded me of the Paradox of Choice TED talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice .

    Finally I had to choose an app, as there is no official one. Now I’m in Mlem, but I don’t know if it’s better or worse than the others.

    Choice is great but for easier onboarding a first stop for server and app would be great. Like browser, you’re given one when you start and if you want better, and you’re ready too look for one, you can go looking.

    • Raptorox@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      11 days ago

      There is an issue open on Lemmy’s github about merging communities of the same name together in the ui by an “all” button, but sadly it’s been inactive for a year: #1113

        • 4am@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          I’m not in a rush to endorse client apps adding large, experience changing features. That will radically alter the way different users interact with the service, they might need two apps to get all the features they want, etc

          Sounds like a good way to make things even MORE confusing for new users.

          • bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            0·
            10 days ago

            I’ve been on Lemmy for a while and still find the duplicate named communities on different insurances confusing. The number of users only somewhat. There are lots of communities still listed from dead instances like feddit.de.

            Unique names for communities would be helpful and also support moving a community to a new instance.

            • 4am@lemm.eeEnglish
              1·
              10 days ago

              Community names are unique if you account for the instance name.

              This is a bit confusing as usernames follow a similar, email-address-like format.

              I would enjoy there being just one community for a given topic that spans all instances, and moderators can either take actions that are instance specific or “global” (happen everywhere) but again that can get complicated fast. Who gets that global power? What if there are disagreements? Can an instance revoke a global action for just their instance? How much extra work does that create? How do instances handle backend storage for stuff like that (do you want CP deleted globally? I’d imagine so because it’s illegal to store it. Who decides to block an instance out of a community for posting offensive/illegal content; and how do you prevent all that from being abused for non-offensive content that instance mods find disagreeable?)

      • GhostlyPixel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        01·
        10 days ago

        I wonder how moderating would work in a merged community, would mods not from instance X only be able to hide a post from that instance from the merged community, or would they have power to remove a post from another instance? I’d imagine that is one of the hiccups of a feature like this, it is a shame it has been collecting dust though

        Edit: re-read the issue, now I understand it would be more of a multi Reddit than a merged community, so mods would only have the power for their own instance/community it sounds like

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      10 days ago

      Finally I had to choose an app, as there is no official one

      It’s called Jerboa and it’s one of the worse ones, but it does exist

    • Thekingoflorda@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      As someone new here, what do you think would have really helped you without changing the fundamental principles of the fediverse? Like a website with clear information, or something else?

      • joanwestenberg@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        I think we need simple, non technical content that gets people who haven’t used the fediverse stoked to find out more and try to get involved. That’s what I’m trying to do with articles like this - add momentum and tap into a big potential audience who are primed for this. But I also do want to put together a Getting Started landing page that helps people kick off.

        I really do think we need to get people pumped enough to want to be educated about it all.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      11 days ago

      Anyone want to clue him in on who runs .ml? I feel like it’s going to break his heart. But also, I kinda feel like he should know…

  • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
    2·
    9 days ago

    The only problem the fediverse has is content.

    Compare Lemmy to mastodon. Mastodon is 10x the size but Lemmy is 10x more interesting an active. Became people on Lemmy make posts and discuss and joke and fight and its fun and new users can join in easily and add.

  • xylogx@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    10 days ago

    I love Lemmy and Voyager and the Fediverse. That said, if it were to become mainstream I forsee some problems. The fact that the login relies on only passwords is pretty terrible. Also, this makes the service vulnerable to bots, sock puppet accounts, brigading, etc.

    • CubitOom@infosec.pubEnglish
      1·
      10 days ago

      What would you propose replace passwords to not be susceptible to those things?

      I personally like how secure and non intrusive passwords are, especially when using a self hosted password manager synced with git.

      • 4am@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        Passkeys are much better. Unlike what FAANG companies want you to believe, they do not have to be tied to a device. Use a password manager that supports them (BitWarden) and pretty much never get hacked again because of a password. Website doesn’t need to store anything that an attacker can use. No downside.