Curious what you all thought for what things like Lemmy, Revolt, Mastodon, PeerTube, Bluesky, Flashes, etc would need to be able to grow fast and well to get many users joining up
Because it’s high time everyone drops all the way less than ideal platforms/apps/websites/news sources
I’ll add on too:
Content creators that are engaging, clear, & entertaining explaining things with great videos showing Fediverse, etc stuff will help in various ways
Word of mouth and time. Lots of it. All the ones that need you to be your own algorithm will take longer to gain acceptance with the general public. We’ll need a few more Muskerbergian s-storms to motivate people away from the silos as well.
I don’t think there is a future without algorithms, but I do think it’s important to implement them in a way similar to how bsky did where they’re opt-in and configurable by individual users.
Lack of an algorithm makes finding new content much more difficult. And most people don’t want to spend time actively looking for stuff, they just want to log in, laugh at funny memes and look at pieces of art.
You’re probably right that we need something like that to appeal to the masses. Sadly.
I think the handcrafted feed will always reign supreme.
Time and contribution from users like me and you, probably more you because you’ve posted something!
Support the communities you enjoy, and report the trolls in the comments. Block people who are trying to cause trouble and encourage others to do the same.
Accessibility, as the easier it s with people with disabilities, it would be a lot easier for people who don’t have them, accessibility is incredibly powerful and extremely good for everyone
https://rblind.com/ implements specific themes
It all needs to get a lot less complex and confusing. I know the complexity is a byproduct of the defederated nature of the whole thing, but it’s also the primary thing limiting growth. The fediverse is never going to grow to anything other than a tiny niche if it isn’t immediately understandable to people who have 0 background in tech.
The fediverse is never going to grow to anything other than a tiny niche if it isn’t immediately understandable to people who have 0 background in tech.
What is Lemmy in one sentence?
Lemmy is an alternative to Reddit, you can visit https://phtn.app/ to have a look at the content, and install an app using https://vger.app/settings/install.
https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1j0xkqa/lemmy_as_an_alternative_to_reddit_using/
i think normies can understand federation no problem if they really wanted, just like they did with email.
Userbase being more friendly towards different ideologies.
People don’t want to admit it. But this is a very toxic place for people who are not of a very specific ideology.
And when confronted about it the usual response is “I don’t want people thinking like that here” which is a rephrase of “I just want people like me here”. Which is ok, but inconsistent with a wish for growth as the idea of people turning your ideology because you think you are so convincing it’s a fantasy.
Funny, to me it’s kind of the opposite - we need to give diversified environments where people can feel welcome, not trying to jam everyone into one big “community” which is anything but.
I think that’s what was great about the forum and personal website era. If you wanted a place where you can use edgy language and spend your time shitting on things, there’s a website you could go to. Unicorns and hopeposting are over here. Nerds and geeks are over there.
That doesn’t mean segregating and creating ideology bubbles. Everyone can visit and be part of any, and can stay well away from the ones you know you don’t like. Take /b/ for example: it is famous for having a certain demographic, and if you don’t want to see it, you simply don’t go there. It’s not in your face, they’re happy about not having “normies” there, you’re happy about not having them in your digital home, every one wins. And if you’re ever in a certain mood and would like to venture in the woods, it’s there.
The same set of rules can’t fit all the possible users, purposes, times, etc. And although I also subscribed to the thought bubble theory , the counterargument that it’s actually the opposite - the lack of “social glue” between participants in discussions, made a lot of sense to me.
Kurzgesagt - The Internet Is Worse Than Ever - Now What? (YT)
Also go forbid you have any criticism towards Linux.
Platforms and protocols should be tools first and foremost, sure, but communities should never be tolerant of fascists and nazis. Any viable platform should have, at the absolute bare minimum, enforced rules against hate speech, which is something that’s not remotely enforced on any big platform today.
Letting the right run rampant is why social media is in the state its in today, and a shift to open platforms is our chance to take these spaces back and show the right that they’re not welcome in society as a whole.
The principles of operation of the fediverse are actually very aligned with the “small government, personal freedom, free speech” ethos that conservatives in the US claim to have.
The culture on most fedi spaces is hostile towards anything less than luxury gay space communism politically but it’s pretty easy to ignore because the power structure of the fediverse is ideal and makes it so you filter out the very worst of the tankies if you so choose.
Now if you are a fascist who is only concerned about dominating others opinions and rights, and only care about freeze peach and not freedom of association and expression I can see how you might find the fediverse objectionable.
The fedi needs more voices from all sides, it does not need fascists.
Money, donate money to the projects.
Two big issues.
Usability: A lot of these alternative platforms are incredibly confusing for people who aren’t tech-savvy. You can’t expect most folks to really understand the idea of Lemmy instances for example. Bsky kind of hit the sweetspot of being super easy to use, offers not just familiar features but better features than its competitor (blocklists), while also being an open protocol. Though they’re FAR from perfect (their team is extremely questionable to say the least), and it doesn’t seem like the protocol itself is gaining traction.
Population: This is a self-defeating prophecy. We saw it with twitter to bluesky, and we’re JUST starting to see it with reddit to lemmy. The vast majority of people just won’t shift to platforms where the people they want to interact with aren’t present. They won’t move until they feel like they absolutely have to. People put off moving from the Nazi bar formerly known as twitter for literally a year - the site’s been nothing but a cesspool for ages now, but the vast majority of users couldn’t be bothered to moved to an alternative site until bsky got lucky. Hell, even now, so many people still stick to it because they’re afraid of losing engagement or some bullshit.
You can’t expect most folks to really understand the idea of Lemmy instances for example.
They don’t need to. Nowadays the recommendation to promote Lemmy is
What is Lemmy in one sentence?
Lemmy is an alternative to Reddit, you can visit https://phtn.app/ to have a look at the content, and install an app using https://vger.app/settings/install.
https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1j0xkqa/lemmy_as_an_alternative_to_reddit_using/
Algorithms
https://quiblr.com/ can help with that
You vastly overestimating the average person’s willingness to learn new things
It’s not about learning, it’s inertia.
Bluesky is easier to use than Mastodon, but still doesn’t have the same level of popularity as Twitter. Sports and entertainment for instance, are still mostly happening on Twitter.
Corporate buy in, just look at bluesky. I don’t want lemmy to grow.
I want Lemmy to grow, without corporations’ grip, and without centralization.
As the growth of Bluesky showed, most users do not care about decentralization as much as they care about usability. In his talk at ATmosphereConf last month, Paul Frazee explained that this is why his team built ATProto instead of using ActivityPub.
What I’d like to see is someone build an ATProto forum like Lemmy, and for it to be fully federated with Lemmy using Bridgy Fed.
Isn’t that what https://frontpage.fyi/ is?
It’s not ready for prime time. It’s also not bridged.
Also, Lemmy is not bridged because Bridgy Fed requires users to opt-in by following a certain account, and we can’t do that on Lemmy.
Not only do I not care about the decentralization, I dislike it. When instances started banning each other last year I stopped using lemmy and I only come back occasionally.
More instances. Should make it super easy to roll your own. Lots of small instances just takes me back to 00s message boards, it was a good time.
