I think the user’s just need to coalesce around a single instance’s community and let the other ones go away. Don’t treat each instance’s version of a community the same. Subscribe to the one that has the most users (or best mods) and let the other ones die.
It’s no different than reddit having multiple subreddits with similar themes. r/xbox vs r/xboxone for instance. If I’m looking to subscribe to one, I will look at the subreddit with the most users and ignore the other one.
This is what I do too, but doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of the fediverse? Naturally the communities on the largest instances will have the most users. I realize this shouldn’t need to be the case but after several months using lemmy it clearly is the case.
If everything settles down onto 2-3 monolithic instances, aren’t we just back to a slightly worse reddit?
Well, as a Lemmy pioneer, you are a part of the user’s that decides which instance’s community wins. Quit supporting all instance’s versions of the same community. Choose one, and if a different one wins out, switch.
So, as a new user to Lemmy: i have to go and hunt down all the cool communities, not just within my own instance (akin to reddit) but across the fediverse?
The only annoying part about it (and believe me, it is certainly annoying) is trying to subscribe to a community that no one on your home instance has subscribed to yet. I don’t think I ever got it to work. The UX of that needs to be improved, definitely. But once your instance has at least one person subscribed to a community your instance “knows” about it and it shows up in the search (and “r/all”, not sure what to call it on Lemmy) just like everything else on your instance.
So no, it’s really not all that different except for brand new communities no one on your instance has subscribed to yet.
I think since you are the one who finds it to be shitty UX perhaps you could propose something. And since lemmy is opensource, you can have a look at where the hooks are needed to enable the proposed solution.
The large number of upvotes suggest I’m not alone in my thinking.
I could take a look at how to enable this solution, I might even get away with doing it myself, but finding the right solution that makes things actually better is more important right now.
I wasn’t suggesting it isn’t popular. I was suggesting that we, as a community, have the ability to influence the code directly, either by writing code, or by making/bumping issues on the development github.
Unlike reddit, this is actually ‘ours’ to the extent that we can make real changes to the system through PRs, Forks, Etc…
If we want the flexibility of not being beholden to a monolith of mods like reddit, then we have to accept the consequence that anyone can create a community anywhere.
It’s not hard to search the fediverse, just takes effort to filter. In fact, the great overwhelming volume we get from it is testament to how much better this is than reddit.
Im here because im making a conscious effort because reddit is descending into “crypto moderator damnation bullshittery,” not because it has cemented itself into habituality yet.
And im not sure it will at this rate, and that oeaves a goant stinking hole in my online habits of “using reddit but I’d really rather not be”.
Lol, there’s a name for “doing it but I really don’t/shouldn’t be”.
I’m kinda relieved. I too was spending far too much time there. Got a new start here, thing I’m gonna “curate” (ugh, hate that word) my feed to just useful stuff. Block news, politics, emotional tugs, etc. Just “how does this work” kinda stuff.
That’s no different than Reddit. You want to follow a hobby on Reddit, you need to find the specific community that is most popular even though there could be thousands.
I think the user’s just need to coalesce around a single instance’s community and let the other ones go away. Don’t treat each instance’s version of a community the same. Subscribe to the one that has the most users (or best mods) and let the other ones die.
It’s no different than reddit having multiple subreddits with similar themes. r/xbox vs r/xboxone for instance. If I’m looking to subscribe to one, I will look at the subreddit with the most users and ignore the other one.
This is what I do too, but doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of the fediverse? Naturally the communities on the largest instances will have the most users. I realize this shouldn’t need to be the case but after several months using lemmy it clearly is the case.
If everything settles down onto 2-3 monolithic instances, aren’t we just back to a slightly worse reddit?
2-3 monolithic instances is probably inevitable for general usage. And also, this is 100% better than a single privately controlled corporation.
There are also niche instances where specific communities may fit better on than the general instances.
And also, if the 2-3 monolithic instances start fucking around, there are plenty of alternate instances we can migrate to.
How long do I wait?
Well, as a Lemmy pioneer, you are a part of the user’s that decides which instance’s community wins. Quit supporting all instance’s versions of the same community. Choose one, and if a different one wins out, switch.
So, as a new user to Lemmy: i have to go and hunt down all the cool communities, not just within my own instance (akin to reddit) but across the fediverse?
That’s some shitty UX. We can do better.
It’s not really all that different.
Please, propose an aternative.
The only annoying part about it (and believe me, it is certainly annoying) is trying to subscribe to a community that no one on your home instance has subscribed to yet. I don’t think I ever got it to work. The UX of that needs to be improved, definitely. But once your instance has at least one person subscribed to a community your instance “knows” about it and it shows up in the search (and “r/all”, not sure what to call it on Lemmy) just like everything else on your instance.
So no, it’s really not all that different except for brand new communities no one on your instance has subscribed to yet.
I think since you are the one who finds it to be shitty UX perhaps you could propose something. And since lemmy is opensource, you can have a look at where the hooks are needed to enable the proposed solution.
The large number of upvotes suggest I’m not alone in my thinking.
I could take a look at how to enable this solution, I might even get away with doing it myself, but finding the right solution that makes things actually better is more important right now.
I wasn’t suggesting it isn’t popular. I was suggesting that we, as a community, have the ability to influence the code directly, either by writing code, or by making/bumping issues on the development github.
Unlike reddit, this is actually ‘ours’ to the extent that we can make real changes to the system through PRs, Forks, Etc…
Tradeoffs.
If we want the flexibility of not being beholden to a monolith of mods like reddit, then we have to accept the consequence that anyone can create a community anywhere.
It’s not hard to search the fediverse, just takes effort to filter. In fact, the great overwhelming volume we get from it is testament to how much better this is than reddit.
Seems to me you’re tilting at windmills.
At what point would that trade of be not worth it?
Right now in my head, it seems that too many communities are being started, and for most interests there is no clear “winning” community.
Huh?
You’re here aren’t you? I think that says you consider the tradeoffs worth it.
Im here because im making a conscious effort because reddit is descending into “crypto moderator damnation bullshittery,” not because it has cemented itself into habituality yet.
And im not sure it will at this rate, and that oeaves a goant stinking hole in my online habits of “using reddit but I’d really rather not be”.
Lol, there’s a name for “doing it but I really don’t/shouldn’t be”.
I’m kinda relieved. I too was spending far too much time there. Got a new start here, thing I’m gonna “curate” (ugh, hate that word) my feed to just useful stuff. Block news, politics, emotional tugs, etc. Just “how does this work” kinda stuff.
That’s no different than Reddit. You want to follow a hobby on Reddit, you need to find the specific community that is most popular even though there could be thousands.