I'm not sure I understand why "Threads" and "Microblogs" are separate entities in kbin. From my understanding, "Threads" are like Reddit's link/image posts and "Microblogs" are like text posts. Why are these only viewable in separate tabs? It seems like a bad thing to completely separate certain content from the same Magazine and make it unable to view everything at once. Am I misunderstanding something?
@bleuy007 Microblogs are where posts from the wider fediverse show up - generally from Mastodon. As they have no attached information about threading etc a best effort is made to just show them.
Magazine mods can associate hashtags with their magazine and then anything from the fediverse tagged with that ends up showing in that magazines microblog section. This is a great way to bring in a lot of content you can interact with even if it's not in the longform KBin/Lemmy format.
I am a little confused; so, if I want to make a text thread with threaded replies/comments etc. like in a normal forum, do I select microblog? In particular, how was this thread created, where the first post is text?
@ykonstant This was created by using the + button and choosing "Add new post" instead of "Add new article".
To create a forum post you would use Add new article. I agree with the idea that microblogs should just become threads in the corresponding magazine, it would simplify the surface view.
@joan@bleuy007@ykonstant It would be nice but I think there is a fairly large technical hurdle in that microblogs just don't have the association with the group/community/magazine that it would need to work properly. Notice non of these have downvote options?
I'm not saying it's not a solvable problem but I don't think it's a particularly easy one - especially if you want to retain wider fediverse compatibility.
@VerifiablyMrWonka I think this shouldn't be looked at from the microblogging side because it pulls things down in terms of usability.
To me it just looks like microblogging has a strict subset of the features of kbin threads. So on kbin users should just be able to post new threads. No need for the downgrade and added confusion.
It is only when federating mastodon posts using a particular hashtag into the relevant community/magazine that we would interact with microblogs, in this case and only in this case we would not be able to experience the full featureset.
Microblog = smaller posts, on any topic and seriousness.
Threads - articles, more meaningful entries, longer posts. Where the OP usually expects extensive interaction with other users
For example, your post is a short question. You should get an answer and that closes the topic. In threads in this case, there should be a description of the problem, ideas for a solution, information on what causes what, etc. Or a link to such content.
The /r/Belgium subreddit had a daily slowchat post where people just talked about whatever was going on in their lives, so is a microblog kind of like that then? is there just one microblog per magazine? what's the structure like?
@Pietson Yes, a microblog is something between a chat and normal entries. In short, it's built-in Twitter/Mastodon, which in this case is not the main and practically the only functionality.
What is important, or rather the most important in this type of threads (UI/UX) is a matter of time. The project is developed by one man/programmer who is both backend and frontend developer, DevOPS, CEO, CIO, CMO, helpdesk, etc. :) And the project itself, despite the rapid increase in popularity, is in the alpha phase.
For this reason, it is natural for minor and major ailments to be visible. Also conceptual. Also remember that kbin is not reddit, mastodon, twitter, lemmy or any other 1:1 platform. This project should not be considered as an attempt to copy. In which direction the development will go, I don't know.
I have the same question as @bleuy007, as a Reddit refugee. I don't have twitter or any other account, just used Reddit for 13 years until today. You say that the 'Threads' are articles, links, media entries and that the 'microblog' is like a text comment. How then, when I look at the 'Threads', are people posting purely text-based posts there? When I goto the navigation bar at the top, under the + symbol I have "Add new link", "Add new article", "Add new photo", "Add new post", "Add new video", and "Create new magazine". I clicked on 'Add new post' and typed one out, but it created a 'Microblog' instead of a "thread" and I didn't see any option to choose....
@bleuy007 The way I see it is Threads : Reddit, Microblogs: Twitter. I think it has been done this way to fit with both Lemmy and Mastodon instances (but I agree it adds some complexity for new users).
@bleuy007 I think of it like a comment thread on the magazine itself, not tied to any individual thread. Good place for sentiments and just posting random half cooked ideas that don't hog up the main feed.
@bleuy007 Also, from what I've seen lemmy instances only have Threads, so if you make a microblog post on kbin and a lemmy user is subscribed to the magazine he won't see it on his lemmy instance?
@bleuy007 Agreed, but surely there must be a way to combine them in one overview in the future. The way I see it, there is still much room for improvement, but we gotta start somewhere. I think the main priorities for now are stability (getting some 404 errors left and right, which is understandable) and a mobile app. Optimizing things like overviews can be a nice next step
@bleuy007 From what i understand a post is a tweet that goes out to other sites across the fediverse as a text post, a thread goes out as a link that you share on the other sites.
On here posts are kinda like the "daily discussion" threads on subreddits.
@bleuy007 I'm not sure what the intended relationship between magazine, thread, and microblog is, but one use for microblogs (within a magazine) that I can envision is to use them in place of the daily/weekly discussion threads that are common at reddit.
@bleuy007 A microblog post is like a tweet, it doesn't have a title. They are pulled in from all of the fediverse based on tags the moderator applies to their magazine.
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