How do I join, I am so frustrated now because you are wasting my time. First it says I need a invite, then I think ok maybe if I create an account on lemmy.world. Then I do that and try but am being asked for a instance. All I know is I am trying to join https://lemmy.world/c/autism but now very much suspecting that this community will be unmoderated and hostile as well given how many tricks you have been using. Communities are either unmoderated or moderated but apply unwritten rules.
I try to explain this in a structured way, so that you hopefully don’t feel too overwhelmed. Feel free to ask if something doesn’t make sense.
Lemmy
Lemmy is like e-Mail, there are multiple websites where you can make an account, but you can still communicate/participate with users from other sites. (This is called decentralisation.)
Instance
An instance is a website that you use for logging in to Lemmy. You only need an account on one website to participate (e.g. writing posts/comments) in Lemmy.
So, since you already have an account, that means you already have chosen an instance, it’s lemmy.world.
Community
Like users, communities can be created on different instances. There can even be a community with the same name on two different instances.
For example:
- lemmy.world/c/Autism
- lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/Autism
These communities can still be accessed on your instance, they are all synced. (With some exceptions which I’m not going into right now.)
How to participate in communities of your instance
- Go to your instance (lemmy.world)
- Log in
- Go to the community you want to participate in (lemmy.world/c/Autism)
- You don’t need to “join” a community, but you can subscribe, so that new posts show up in your feed
How to participate in other instances
- Go to your instance (lemmy.world)
- Log in
- Go to the community you want to participate in but ad the instance to the back like this: lemmy.world/c/[email protected]
- You don’t need to “join” a community, but you can subscribe, so that new posts show up in your feed
Direct links
Since constructing the URL like described above is quite annoying, Lemmy can use special links that work across all instances. They are as follows:
Apps
There exist many Lemmy apps. They can facilitate things (especially when you want to browse on your phone), but this also means that the look&feel is different. Some step by step guides might not work exactly the same on different apps.
If I want to try element-desktop , I am able to login to my account but these discussions are not there. I checked and see there are sessions which I click to verify but they expect me to press something on the device. The device is my case is nixos 24.11 stable on firefox 137.0 but nothing appears. I tried in element to search for lemmy.world and even https://lemmy.world/c/[email protected] which I think your saying is a community on the lemmy.world instance, but nothing is found in the search for public spaces or places. When I logged into element it had an option for changing server and I tried lemmy.world but my account was not found and I had to switch back to matrix.com. I guess all is well if I just keep using the browser but I was curious about trying the various clients. Which you say each have their own guides. I guess i should research their guide.
I have no experience with Element, as far as I can tell it’s a client for Matrix, which is not directly connected to Lemmy.
What I found was this post. Apparently lemmy.world has Matrix support in addition to Lemmy itself.
This can be a bit confusing since both apparently use “lemmy.world”, but I don’t think Lemmy and Matrix are connected directly (as in synced). And that’s why you can find lemmy.world with Element, but can’t see Lemmy stuff with your Matrix login.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
This was extremely helpful. I do apologize for my panic attack and this clears things up for me. I was able to get access and have a better understanding.
You can read c/autism and post comments there without joining anything at all.
I’m surprised it’s asking you for an ‘invite’, though. Never seen that. I’d suggest sending a note to the listed moderator. Just click ‘send message’ on their page.
Lemmy is kinda confusing, but it’s worth the hassle. (:
you’ve already got an account, click [email protected] and then the Subscribe button
are you using a mobile app or just the lemmy.world website?
I dont know what Instance I am
you are on lemmy.world
but am being asked for a instance
it sounds like you were trying to Subscribe without being logged in
so I’m guessing you have your login in an app instead of the website and then you opened the community in your web browser instead of in the app which already had your login
the link I provided should work in your app or wherever you’re commenting from
I followed it from my instance without issue just now. The link you sent asks me to enter the instance I am on so that I can follow it. The main mod @[email protected] seems quite active. I think you will be welcome there :)
Don’t worry! The fediverse and lemmy are confusing. You are not alone.
I dont understand what instance to issue. I appreciate your trying to help me. I was having a panic and getting sad and overwhelmed. I can understand if matrix is decentralized but beyond that I have not researched it so I dont know what Instance I am on or what to put there.
“your instance” is where you made your account, so lemmy.world
take a breather and come back to it later, the place will still be here :)
