It was and still is hard - or at least tedious - for me as a software developer to find out how to use the fediverse and lemmy. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be for a normal user. The one thing I really liked about reddit, is that you can find a well written guide for everything, often pinned at the top of a specific sub. Is there something like that anywhere?
buddy i’m not even using lemmy to read this.
Seems like a lot of people think this part of the fediverse is just lemmy.
Yea that’s been bumming me out
zip
…wait…this is lemmy? Which way is the bathroom?
It’s on the right, as the man sang.
well, i am from kbin and the people i have migrated are also on kbin, there has never been any confusion, it’s made migration really easy. i have been told lemmy has intimidated and put off migrants by those migrants themselves. i think initially people should start on kbin, they will grow a natural understanding about federation and the fediverse, and from there they can choose if lemmy or others suits them more as a platform.
but, we have to actually get people here first.
Why do you think kbin is easier and that people should start there instead of Lemmy?
If i had to guess, one single platform is something people new to federation can easily understand. What happens behind the scenes is nothing the average user needs to know or should even notice. Time will change that understanding, this is just the beginning and there should not be a rush because that will scare people away.
I just wrote a semi-deep dive into Lemmy! https://open.substack.com/pub/domilleswondrousworks/p/the-emergence-of-lemmy-as-an-alternative?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
If it is missing anything, or if you have questions, please let me know and I would be happy to update the post!
I’m new to Kbin (<24 hours) although I’ve been on Mastodon for a while. Coming from Reddit, I found this to be a useful introduction.
Trying to get redditors from r/NCD over here. I will say it has taken me an hour to understand somewhat how to create an account and get into a community that I wanted into. I still do not understand 90% of what lemmy is
I don’t even think I’m on Lemmy. I’m on kbin. Maybe I’m on Lemmy too? None of it makes any sense.
There are several levels to this. First, the actual software. In the Fediverse (simply the agglomeration of software that can interact through a common protocol called Activitypub) there are several solutions that offer a Reddit like experience. Kbin and Lemmy are the ones we focus on for now. Its different software with similar goals that can interact with each other.
Now, the second level is the actual server (also called instance). There is no central Kbin or Lemmy server (although the instances that are run by the developers tend to basically become that). Instead there are a lot of servers (e.g beehaw, feddit.de, lemmy.world) that run either Lemmy or Kbin. These servers can interact with each other, because their software can, this is called federation.
This brings us to the third level, the users, you and me. I have an account on Kbin.social, because thats where i went to sign up. Kbin.social runs Kbin, so I use Kbin. Same for you. Bread2390 has a sh.itjust.works account, which runs Lemmy, as far as i know. So they are on a different server (instance) with a different software (lemmy) but we can interact just fine because of federation.Now, all of this sounds complicated and kinda is, but in your interaction you didnt even notice that they are on a different server running different software. But if kbin.social went down, or tge software kbin would somehow turn to shit, bread2390’s account would keep working just fine.
I hope this helped!
It’s so confusing because web2 is evolving into web3 and we are the pioneers. If you’re on one you’re basically on all of the fediverse, mastodon/pixelated/kbin/Lemmy/peertube and makertube is even newer. Just remember don’t click stupid links and do ask stupid questions, someone else probably needs to know too.
I feel like people are overcomplicating this (& it doesn’t help that most early adopters are techies, who enjoy talking about things like federation protocols)
One doesn’t need to understand the Fediverse in order to use it. That’s like trying to understand the mechanisms of internal combustion engine because I want to drive a car. I mean, that is fun and there are not-too-esoteric scenarios where the knowledge might even be helpful, but it sure as hell isn’t necessary!
Migration was a breeze once I stopped worrying about the internal combustion engine.
Stuff like the user guides took time in reddit. Besides that though, Lemmy isn’t really ready for mainstream yet. They are performance issues and significant features missing. Things will get better eventually though and it will become more mainstream over time.
I wish more people appreciated the adventure of it all. It’s not like most of the content is absolutely necessary for our daily functioning. Whether I spend an hour learning about the fediverse or looking at a stream of “rule” posts, my life won’t be diminished.
I’ve been on Lemmy and Kbin on separate accounts now for about a month and I still don’t really know what I’m doing. The same thing happened to me when I joined Reddit about 12 years ago.
I just learned as I went along. I’m going to do the same this time around.
Maybe we need a Fediverse wiki with specific sections to guide people through choosing an app, an instance, account creation and migration from another platform.
One thing about Kbin and Lemmy is we are probably the best positioned to create these guides, at least, due to the redditlike nature of these apps.
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