I don’t know how it works, but it does!
Gmail is an email provider, and so is protonmail. They are two companies providing email services. And you can communicate between the two email services by sending emails. Both email providers have their own rules and regulations you have to follow because they are run by different people in different places/countries.
Lemmy is similar. Each Lemmy instance provider is run by different people in different places/countries. When you make a comment or post on one instance, it automatically sends your message/post to the other Lemmy providers/instances (if they don’t block the federation). You have to follow the rules of the provider/instance you join, just like for email providers.
Choosing a Lemmy provider/instance based on location or theme is the most common. Also, it’s recommended to not choose the most popular instance, because that would defeat the purpose of federation if everyone is in one place, like reddit (one company, one location, one rule set for the entire platform).
push the buttons!
Welcome to Lemmy, here are a few pointers to help you settle in
It’s like Reddit, but not owned by a large faceless corporation intent on using it for social engineering. That being said, if you disagree with the political ideology of some instances they’ll give you a ban for racism and not qualify it. Eg don’t talk badly about Russia or Palestine on lemmy.ml posts. Generally, be nice and people will reciprocate. Except lemmy.ml.
Now I don’t understand anymore? Lemmy bans you if you talk bad about Russia??!?!
A few instances are ideologically driven. So lemmy.world and lemm.ee tend to be pretty straightforward instances politically slightly left of centre but there are others like lemmy.ml and hexbear that push Kremlin/CCP propaganda. Anyone can set up an instance and federate with the other instances. But instances can also de-federate with specific instances. For example most instances have de-federated from hexbear and threads so posts made to them won’t show up for users who use lemmy.world for example.
some instances or communities will flat out ban you for almost nothing, just accept that there are bad actors participating in lemmy and don’t worry about blocking instances or users when you see it happening
after a bit you wont notice them and you will be better off for it
There’s no algorithm so it’s up to you to block communities you don’t have an interest in. If you see a user you constantly don’t like you can block them too. By structuring it that way you’ll get a feed of things you want to see and people you want to hear from.
(You can always un-do a block if you change your mind)
There are algorithms, just not ones tailored to individual users.
Lemmy as a whole is a community of people who choose it as a nice place to spend time.
Just participate. Or don’t. Either is fine.
If you do, be kind. Plenty of people here seeking positive interaction and discussion.
If you don’t, make sure you at least up/downvote stuff. It still contributes to this amazing community.
Either way, you are welcome here.
Communities are similar to subreddits, with the main difference that there are many servers (instances) instead of just over main website. I find it helpful to think of it as IRC servers on the larger networks: your user is associated with one instance, but you can access users and Communities associated with different ones more or less seamlessly.
I can’t
Id start by asking for help from experienced vetrans of this site instead of other new users to the site🤪 /s
