The Problem with the Fediverse
I have no issues with the way it is implemented, I have no issues with it at all. For context, I left Twitter to join the Fedi, and it has been great so far! I use Misskey for microblogging, PeerTube for uploading videos, and Lemmy for Reddit-style discussions. The Fediverse is amazing!
Except, idk, for the fact that it is too fragmented? I hope I am using the right words. Like, the current instance I am on does not have support for communities, so i have to do it the hard way and mention @[email protected] so that I can post here. It’s a good workaround, considering it doesn’t have built-in support for communities.
But my point still stands. It’s not a Lemmy/PieFed problem. It’s mostly a fediverse problem. Implementing communities for every platform would help the Fediverse. Not only does it solve discoverability/algorithm issues of the Fediverse (since now when you follow a community, you get all posts from that community), but also it would interconnect every platform (Misskey, PeerTube, Mastodon, etc.)
Imagine you don’t have to use your Lemmy account to check everything on Lemmy. Instead of creating channels in PeerTube, just post to an existing channel/community, and people subscribed to that channel/community can find you easily. I see this as an absolute win for everyone.
I understand this would require collaboration between all developers of all software. But hopefully, this is possible?
Or am I asking for too much?
If I am wrong, then is there any way in which we can solve this issue?
The developers of Fedi software have different philosophies. Some developers are just not interested in implementing and supporting all kinds of AP actors, kinds of media, ways of attaching media etc. Because they want their software to focus on a certain thing.
Others want to implement everything and interconnect with every platform.
Mbin has support for both microblogging and communities (so Twitter and Reddit like): https://fedia.io/ Maybe that’s something that can interest you.
It doesn’t seem too popular, probably because the Twitter and Reddit crowd always had a limited overlap.
It doesn’t seem too popular
This is probably why it’s not a focus for developers. If Mbin was some huge success, it would show demand for the feature, and more developers would prioritize it higher.
I really don’t mind having a separate account for Lemmy and Mastodon. It’s not pleasant to force different types of content into different website formats, even if the implementation is “ideal”.
That said, I am surprised Misskey doesn’t allow you to follow @[email protected] as you would follow a user, Mastodon allows this (it’s not as good as viewing inside Lemmy but it does work).
Yeah same. The way I think about federation is in a kind of per “product” approach. That’s a piece of software can be run by anyone and all communicate and work as a whole is the main benefit. Cross compatibility between “products”/software is just an added bonus, but not necessary
@mkmusic well well well
Why ask when you can contribute(we, I need to do a project for my portfolio aswell)
What do you say? Next year??For me and the clients and fwiends I talk to the issue with the fediverse for them is the decentralised nature. Most of them are NOT tech inclined and the suggestion that they would have to choose a server and that choice will influence the experience is a deal breaker - pure and simple. To follow up then if they do join, the sheer lack of numbers baffles them and they quit
What about just pointing them to https://feddit.uk/ , with https://getvoyager.app/ for an app?
Lemmy.ca got a lot of new joiners following the boycottUSA movement in February
so i have to do it the hard way and mention @[email protected] so that I can post here. It’s a good workaround, considering it doesn’t have built-in support for communities.
That IS the built in support.
If I am wrong, then is there any way in which we can solve this issue?
Yes you are wrong, just keep doing it the way you just successfully did in this. That’s the solution.
Implementing communities for every platform would help the Fediverse
From Evan Prodromou, co-author of ActivityPub: The Fediverse should be more like the Facebook Platform (lots of client apps using the same social graph) rather than the Apple App Store (a bunch of one-feature apps that have to bootstrap their own social network each time).
The issue here is that most developers and users are still thinking in terms of the siloed networks. We don’t need “multiple, separate platforms”. We need to get rid of the platforms! We need to build our tools around protocols.
The WWW was incredibly successful because anyone could whip up some HTML and publish a webpage. The “protocol” of structured text alongside with links was simple to understand, any browser could do it. The Social Web should work the same.
