@sarahgilbert has published an amazing post on the 8 year history of tensions between volunteer moderators and the company— with a great Q&A discussion
There's such a natural fit between decentralised social media (fediverse/threadiverse for non-microblogging) and the sub-reddit ecosystem. It's honestly a bit weird that there isn't more of a push to just get a migration to happen.
Yes, you need the platforms, but we have #lemmy and #kbin already.
What's missing, IMO, is an easy hosting service so that a reddit mod can click a few buttons, have an instance+community and donations portal and go.
Ok, I've seen enough questions and confusions about what the fediverse is and how it works on #lemmy (where the latest migration wave is happening, off of #reddit)...
Why, by now, is there not a "go-to" webpage or video that explains everything?! Starts basic and progressively gets into details.
I'm hoping I've missed it, because by now, not having something like this just known as the resource to point newbies to, is another user-unfriendly failing of the #fediverse.
Reddit is killing 3rd party apps. Why? Those 3rd party apps filter out Ads and spam/scams and have good focus on usability. Reddit want only two options: Their shity Website or official app to show you more Ads. This is why the central cloud and forums are evil. More here https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/141pk1t/reddit_is_killing_3rd_party_apps/
Today, a post of mine on the Fediverse went viral—with hundreds of interactions. That happens quite often to me. Here’s why that particular post is notable:
It happened on an originating server with 1 GB of RAM. And the server didn’t go down.
There was momentary latency, but now everything’s back to normal. I didn’t have to to any back end twiddling. Everything just works.
How’s this possible?
Because I’m using a fully-managed Pleroma server that’s highly optimized 😀
@atomicpoet From what I've seen, it's the main issue they're working on over at #lemmy
The backend is written in rust, but the devs admit they're not SQL/DB experts and that that's their performance and scaling bottle neck. They've been asking for help in preparation for more reddit migration.
Any scope/benefit to collecting expertise for the fediverse at large on this? I recall the kernel.social admin commenting on pleroma also needing DB optimisations.
@feb@hamiller_friendica
ja, also #Lemmy gefällt mir ja schon ganz gut (und ist schön übersichtlich). Aber #kBin kann echt noch einiges mehr - auch microblogging und Hashtags bspw. (ist aber dafür nicht mehr so selbsterklärend)
jedenfalls sollte dazu auch was in der Fediverse-Artikelserie kommen und ich suche noch Leute, die dazu schreiben würden - zur Not schreibe ich auch wieder mit...😁
Hier im #JoinFediverseWiki wurde auch gerade der WhatIs-Artikel zu kbin ergänzt: https://joinfediverse.wiki/What_is_Kbin%3F
@feb ja, das stimmt, ich habe auch ein paar abonniert und mit Lemmy inzwischen auch etwas Erfahrung.
Lemmy und kbin sind soweit kompatibel und auch von Friendica u.a. ist die Föderation ja sehr gut und es können auch eigene Beiträge erstellt werden.
Was genau jetzt aber #kBin noch anders oder mehr kann als #Lemmy habe ich noch nicht durchschaut.
kBin ist schon noch etwas komplexer, hier das fand ich interessant: https://blahaj.zone/notes/9fgc8wqewv @hamiller_friendica
@gary_host_laptop In any case, I'm not salty about it, because it's now configurable (which it always should have been IMHO), just using it as an example to point out the bias and pro-censorship leanings of those running the #Lemmy software project, who I believe are also running lemmy.ml unless something changed recently
The lemmyverse sounds perfect, but it ignores alternatives like kbin etc. It would be better if we didn't end up with the situation we have with Mastodon where people assume Mastodon is the fediverse....
So, is it time now for "spread mastodon/fediverse" to adapt somewhat and spread the "#Threadiverse" (my moniker, fediverse for reddit-like platforms, eg #Lemmy and #kbin)
And to stress the need for help ... here's the core #lemmy dev calling for the load to be spread amongst instances as the core/flagship instance is being overrun: https://lemmy.ml/post/1147770
Would it be an interesting idea for various current mastodon admins to put up parallel lemmy (or alternative #Threadiverse instances)?
Even Nostr has a Reddit type alternative called Nvote
Nvote is a decentralized, vote-driven community similar to services like Reddit and HackerNews. Nvote is powered by Nostr (yes Nostr is more than just posting short or long-form social media text posts).
Why should I want to use this instead of a centraliz ...continues
Some of us follow different #Lemmy communities on different Lemmy instances right from here, Mastodon. If we comment a Lemmy post it appears on Lemmy so everyone sees it. 👍
You can use Lemmy also on your browser, but you can also use a app like Jerboa.
@paul Time to cancel Reddit and move over #lemmy . It's 100% Open Source and part of the #fediverse. We did it omce with Twitter and we could do it again.
The more I'm using #kbin the more I like it. There is a lot going on here (much more than pictured, but this should give a basic idea of using it for reading and subscribing to things). There is a learning curve (like the rest of the Fediverse) but it becomes easier once you get the hang of it. Descriptions of the screenshots are in the image captions. I have a separate account there as a "soft" partition and (edit- changed) an important thing to know is that upvotes translate into feed boosts.
You are not logged in.
However, you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon.
To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !technology
But when I search '!technology' in Mastodon.world, then nothing appears.
So I can't post yet in #Lemmy from my Mastodon account.
Put the title of the post in the first line (or at least before any other IDs/users/groups). Then tag the lemmy community as though they are an account.
Then tag other people at the end if you want them included.
catching up on the little reddit to lemmy migration thats happening and so cool to see all sorts of people joining the fediverse not even realizing it. that they can be followed and interacted with by the whole fediverse and not just lemmy is the most striking part of this situation though this is like a side note or added feature in a list of "reddit alternatives"
@liaizon particularly #lemmy; I don't see the posts I've been making to some Lemmy channels, and images don't appear in the comments I've left (example; #https://calckey.social/notes/9fir1sw6c136ko7d)
@liaizon I have created accounts on #kbin and #lemmy, and although I have followed both of them with my #calckey and #mastodon accounts and vice versa, I don't feel like I am seeing any of my activities with one on the other.
the federated / global feed does more than the single reddit server could.
reddit will only tell you what's on its own domain, what it's own users post. It can't automatically pull from, say, hacker news.
#Lemmy / #Kbin will tell you what's on the front page of /other/ servers, that at least one of the people on your server is following.
so it's not overwhelmingly everything, but there's still that serendipity - it's not just your own server, it's your server AND its neighbors' interesting content.
@freemind ja, das wäre sicher hilfreich. Aber auch schwierig, weil nicht alles für alle passt.
Wie vollständig die Beiträge anderer Softwares angezeigt werden und ob sie intern oder extern geöffnet werden, ist ja, je nachdem welche Software der Account und welcher Client, unterschiedlich.
Ein genereller #Tipp ist: kopiere die URL des Beitrags ins Suchfeld, um ihn intern zu öffnen, dann kann man ihn kommentieren usw. Um aber die vollständigen Inhalte zu sehen, ist es vor allem mit Mastodon öfter nötig, den Beitrag (auch) extern zu öffnen, weil nur so die Inhalte vollständig angezeigt werden. Andere Softwares zeigen die Inhalte bereits intern i.d.R. vollständig und ansehlich an, so dass ein externes Öffnen keinen/weniger Mehrwert hat. Zum Teil wird aber nicht alles föderiert und ist nur dann zu sehen, wenn es extern geöffnet wird (z.B. ältere Beiträge eines Profils). Von da aus kann auch wieder die URL ins Suchfeld kopiert werden.
Dann gibt es wiederum spezielle Suchen, die besser geeignet sind, als nur die interne Suche:
Bspw. für weitere Inhalte von #Peertube kann am besten auf #SepiaSearch gesucht werden: sepiasearch.org/
Dann die URL des Beitrags ins Suchfeld, um zu kommentieren, teilen usw. bzw. die URL/das Handle des Kanals, um ihm zu folgen
Oder für die Suche nach Foren/Communitys: Hier kann zB nach #Lemmy -Communitys gesucht werden, hier nach #Friendica -Foren
Oder Suche nach Accounts, da gibt es ja auch einige Tools wie #mastodirmastodir.de/ oder #FediverseInfofediverse.info/explore/people
Da ist die Suche doch wesentlich komfortabler, aber die Suchergebnisse müssen dann eben reinkopiert werden, um mit seinem Account zu interagieren, ihnen zu folgen usw.
Das wären ein paar Ansätze für eine Anleitung... @kuketzblog@imke
Welcome to another edition of The Roundup! I’ve mentioned this blog post by Signal a few times before, and will do so again. One of the reasons why I think it is so relevant, is that it shows how the same communication platform is used it wildly different ways in different geographical regions, with people often not even realising that this happens. This already happens when everyone uses the same app, Signal. I’ve pointed out before that this effect must therefore be even stronger on the fediverse, where people are not even using the same app.
This differentiation in the fediverse is starting to play out in more and more pronounced ways. For most fediverse users in the Western world, the fediverse is tightly linked with Mastodon. But the Japanese fediverse community is growing extremely rapidly, mainly using Misskey. It has grown in less than half a year from 75k accounts to 325k accounts. Not only that, people on misskey.io love to post. Compared to Mastodon’s biggest server, mastodon.social, people on misskey.io post 12 times as much!
The language barrier between English and Japanese contributes that these groups do not overlap much, with people often not really knowing what happens at the other side. Still, if you want to understand the fediverse, its getting harder and harder to ignore Misskey. We used to have a moment where people referred to Misskey and Calckey as *key, but with Calckey getting a rebranding and name change soon, the field of fediverse microblogging clients keep expanding.
Discussion platforms
Beyond the expanding scene of microblogging services is the field of forums and link aggregators. Reddit’s changes to their API pricing, effectively killing 3rd party apps, has a lot of people upset, and some are looking for new places to go.
Lemmy is one of the main recipients of the new inflow of people. As an illustration, Beehaw.org is a small Lemmy community that is focusing on being a safe and diverse place. They have had to restrict signups after their user base doubled in the last few days. Lemmy has an Android client, and an iOS client that entered TestFlight beta a few weeks ago. Another project to work on a read-only client for Lemmy is underway as well. Lemmy is not without controversy though; the large account FediTips voiced their concern about the politics of the developers, regarding the denial of human rights abuses. As one of the largest Lemmy server explicitly states that they like Stalin, and some developers of Lemmy associate with this server, it is understandable that people are hesitant to recommend Lemmy. For a more in-depth article regarding this, as well as the context where this happens regarding Reddit’s changes, as well as the potential for Kbin in this, I recommend this article by @jayeless.
Forum software Discourse has been working on a plugin to enable federation, and the first version of this is available. As of now, it only publishes a note to the rest of the fediverse when a new topic is created, and does not allow for the federation of comments yet. The ActivityPub Social Hub is one of the first forums to make use of this functionality, so you can now easily see on your fediverse account when new topics are created.
The links
Mastodon is featured on the Apple App Store. It describes Mastodon in fairly good detail, and links to popular client apps such as Ivory and Mona.
Trunks is a Mastodon app for iOS, Android and web client, and after 5 months in beta has now officially been released.
An excellent article that goes into the details of making an app for the fediverse, and the practical complications with interoperability. While in theory all apps should talk with each other via ActivityPub, getting the details correct for the implementation turns out to be quite a bit more complicated.
Web browser Vivaldi has been running their own Mastodon server for a while now. In a new interview, the CEO talks more about federation and running their own server.
An overview of the top 30 most popular servers that relate to the fediverse in some way. This list takes the widest possible interpretation of fediverse. Quite a few people will disagree with including Truth Social on the list for example, as it does not federate. I personally see this list as a good overview of what is out there, even though I hold a narrower definition of fediverse.
Bonfire is a microblogging client that is still in alpha testing, that focuses on circles and boundaries. A new blog post explains their thinking in more detail.
Calckey has the feature to add plugins. This is barely used, as their is little documentation on how to make plugins. Jeff Sikes has been building plugins, and documenting the process on how to make them.
Owncast celebrates its 3 year anniversary with a major update.
PixelFed has updated their onboarding process for new users. One notable thing is that they use the word ‘communities’ to describe servers/instances. Personally I think that is a great term that makes it easier for new users to understand what is going on with federation.
John Gruber might have some mixed feelings on Mastodon (stating last month that Mastodon is doomed to relative obscurity, compared to Bluesky), but still implemented federation for his blog Daring Fireball.
Beyond the fediverse
Quite a lot of news this week that is not directly about the fediverse, but still relates to it in some way.
On Bluesky: This article by The Intercept answers some basic questions about Bluesky in an detailed manner, such as who exactly owns Bluesky. It also reiterates Bluesky’s goal to federate with other servers that run ATproto. If/when that happens, bridging to the ActivityPub fediverse is all but guaranteed. This will complicate the question about what the fediverse entails even further.
Bluesky, continued: Bluesky has a roadmap update. They give a shout out to an extension Skylink, that shows you if a domain that you visit while browsing is used as a domain on Bluesky. This is pretty much the exact thing as the StreetPass extension for Mastodon.
One of the servers in the far-right server cluster that include places like Kiwifarms suffered a databreach, which includes leaked DMs. The Daily Dot reports that the DMs show that Alex Gleason is working closely with Trump’s Truth Social as well. This in itself is not surprising news, as both platforms use the Soapbox front-end, of which Alex Gleason is the creator. Gleason claims that this information was public all along. The story by Daily Dot did bring this connection into the spotlight, with outlets like Yahoo also reporting on it.
WordPress.com has launched paid newsletters in a challenge to Substack. This is not fediverse news, for now, but the impact might be visible in the fediverse later on. WordPress is actively working on further integration into the fediverse with their ActivityPub plugin. Substack has so far not focused on interoperability with other platforms. Their new microblogging platform, Notes, does not interoperate, for example. How this will play out is uncertain, but worth watching.
Given the current furor over reddit and the changes they are making to their API pricing, I'm wondering if there would be a use for #FriendOfDeSoto#lemmy server? I'm probably asking in the wrong group. But I'm curious if it is something that would be useful to the admins of the @GreatestTrek subreddit in the future...
China tightens access to Tiananmen Square while 32 are detained in Hong Kong (www.npr.org)
What do we call the Lemmy/Kbin Universe?
The lemmyverse sounds perfect, but it ignores alternatives like kbin etc. It would be better if we didn't end up with the situation we have with Mastodon where people assume Mastodon is the fediverse....