I just joined because I saw a sub I’m following talking about it. It reminds me of old enjin sites where you could use the same login between different websites people made. Seems pretty neat.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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Fedibridge
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A community to organize and discuss the growth of the fediverse as a whole
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Welcome to Lemmy, here are a few pointers to help you settle in
Hey, welcome!
We're glad you're here :)
I kind of have to sympathize with this commenter. Although I don't agree that federated social media is very difficult, it is definitely more confusing than normal social media. I would consider myself to be more technical than the majority of people, and even I had a confusing time switching from traditional social media to federated platforms.
If the goal is to have these platforms become more mainstream (which I would love to see personally), then there does need to be simpler ways to use them, or at least better, more concise explanations.
I think the confusion arises when people try to optimize maximum usage of "Lemmy" instead of just hearing someone say "hey join midwest.social it's fun, I'll see you there", and then they say "ok" and signup and use it as-is, like the old forum days. Don't even need to use the word "Lemmy".
They probably weren't optimally using Reddit to its fullest potential, yet they won't even dip their toe into Lemmy until they have a perfectly optimal gameplan of maximizing their usage of Lemmy better than anyone ever has before. Just jump in! You don't have to be perfect, just click around and upvote and leave comments.
Just jump in! You don't have to be perfect, just click around and upvote and leave comments.
That’s pretty much what I still do, and it’s been something like two years lol.
For like 99% of Reddit accounts, that's all they do anyways lol
Good point
Heck yeah midwest.social
Spreading the word about it and maybe simplifying the process a little is good, but I don't think the goal should be to become mainstream. Then you just end up with Reddit again, fediverse or not. Having a small technological literacy test to filter people out and keep communities somewhat small isn't necessarily bad, it keeps things higher quality and focused by ensuring only people willing to put in at least a tiny bit of effort join. Like how, on Reddit, the "default" subreddits were complete garbage, but the smaller communities people had to put in some effort to find actually tended to have good content.
The problem is that those redditors are basically whining and demanding the impossible - an explanation that is, at the same time: comprehensive, newbie-friendly, accurate, and succinct.
(Note that I'm not even talking about 100WattWalrus individually, but the redditors as a collective thing.)
It's definitely a concern. People ask these questions about Lemmy, but no one asks how the horizontal scaling of Twitter functions and then complains that your explanation is too technical.
Yes, it is. And more importantly, it's a collective problem: user A (like that one) wants a technical explanation, you give it, then user B complains that it's too technical or too verbose or "ackshyually this is inaccurate".
I feel like the best approach might be a mix. Basically, what people have been already doing to advertise Lemmy there.
I don’t get why people act like it’s such a barrier to sign up. I guess cos it’s slightly beyond what they’re used to but damn. It’s really not that hard.
It's analysis paralysis. I do get it. You're presented with a huge list of instances and your brain kind of short circuits. It's a mental fallacy where it feels like a huge decision even though it's really not. You can super easily make another account somewhere else later, but that's not the instinctive feeling you get. Instead you feel like "oh no better not make a mistake and choose the wrong server!" and you end up making no decision at all instead.
It's why there is a constant tension around here between proponents of recommended "default" servers to ease onboarding and opponents who think this leads to an over-concentration of users on big servers in a way antithetical to the Fediverse ideal.
Need it to be more clear when picking a server that you can choose another server or multiple easily later. Also need clear warning about the tankies. Maybe a notice for any server that's significantly defederated
Most of the people who want to sign up for Lemmy are already here. They are technically oriented and don't mind dealing with the quirks of Federated platforms.
The commenter's concerns are valid. For a "normie" who's only used traditional social media, the Fediverse seems like a train wreck. I enjoy the Fediverse because I like figuring out new things and learning new stuff. Normies don't have time for that.
tl/dr: The average person will be very reluctant to use Lemmy.
tl/dr: The average person will be very reluctant to use Lemmy.
Sounds like a positive to me.
I don't know if I trust the average person anymore.
Yeah, I created this post so we could figure out how to handle these questions/concerns, because there's a lot here
Sooo much blocking in the begining, then I just blocked a whole instance. All good now, two years in.
I forgot about that, tbh, but it's true that the first few months were a blocking bonanza after I joined. But then it settled and I haven't blocked anything in over a year. At most I will tag a user now.
Tbh, blocking lemmygrad and hexbear (rest in piss) would have significantly sped up the process of not having to manually block users.
I've come across this user before. It reminds me that one friend that often starts a sentence "I won't be the one defending [insert corporation] but..." then proceeds with a lecture about how great is that company.
That’s the problem with using email to explain lemmy. That user couldn’t understand the connection (even though fundamentally the comparison is correct). A better metaphor would be multiple reddit websites and you can sign up with any of them and see content from the other sites from your account. Then just replace “reddit” with whatever platform you’re having the conversation on. i.e. If you’re talking to someone on twitter, replace reddit with twitter when explaining it.