I think there will need to be a re-invention/ re-write before the ‘real’ lemmy happens.
The issues around discovery, identity and communities being attached to a server, and how this impacts the math of the networking aspect of the whole concept are really what is preventing Lemmy from not only beating social media like Reddit, but representing a major improvement. The project has grown enough to make that kind of re-investment of time more palatable, but as lemmy currently stands, the protocol is in the way.
We don’t need to beat reddit. We don’t need to beat anyone. There are no investors or shareholders. There are no stock listings. There are no ads or addictive algos. We are fine as we are now. There is no need for exponential growth. Lemmy should simply be.
Yeah actually, being better matters. Projects like this die with stagnation and attitudes like yours. Sure they’ll limp around for years with some core die hards or niche communities, but thats (see: fark, SA, usenet, CL ads, etc…), but that’s not the point. Lemmys design is working against its self. Its not clear that it can be fixed under ‘lemmy’ as it currently exists.
The experience can be much better and there is a clear path towards it. The basic math of how networks operate that creates this issue and its baked into the underlying structure of how lemmy was planned. If these improvements arent implemented, the platform will stagnate: all platforms that don’t improve do this. They may persist but they fail to grow, and attrition is constant.
What’s wrong with Usenet? Sure there’s not a ton of users, but that’s a good thing.
While I agree that we don’t need to “beat” anything or strive for growth, I do think those things will happen naturally if the system is an improvement. And while lemmy’s potential is great, there are challenges that come with federation, like those mentioned above. And those problems should be solved in time. Not to generate growth but to improve the system. Growth may follow
I already love it here, no notes 😅
I guess if i had to make a prediction, maybe a significant chunk of the whole network will migrate over to Veilid protocol? Probably not, just throwing it out there
Uhg, you don’t even want to know my opinion
Its all startrek memes isnt it?
🤣
Well now I do
Lol 🤣 Oh man, alright. The Fediverse is a giant farce. Wolf in sheep’s clothing.
"ItS JuSt LiKe EmAiL "
-_-
Gimme a break.
Everything will turn into little Eco Chambers (as we are seeing) because everyone will constantly defederate.
Pretty much destroying the whole reddit-type experience that we’re all looking for and came here to get.
There’s too many people who are admins and moderators that are self obsessed and narcissistic and think that hosting a Lemmy server makes them the next Elon musk somehow.
You’re not. You’re a sociopathic self-obsessed psycho eating Doritos in your basement thinking that you’re in charge of something important that will change the world.
This is getting to their heads and breaking instances off, isolating them, causing the user to have to make 16 different accounts so they can access information scattered all over a bunch of servers that is the awesome thing we call the 'fediverse ’
Sorry about the rant.
Anyway, there’s too many people who want the ‘power’ to control other instances and regulate what ppl see. There’s nothing convenient about it, and to me it seems like the more it goes on there’s just going to be added steps, setup, protocols, and other bs and hoops the users are going to have to jump through ( like filling out a fucking personality questionnaire just to join their goddamn server.)
Just be able to even use a website/s where you are not even in charge of what you get to see and who you interact with.
That said, the whole idea of the fediverse just seems like a bunch of bs setup so that a few people can feel powerful and play ‘admin’ and ‘moderator’
It’s really Juvenile and ridiculous in my opinion.
Go have a look at their Matrix chats. I’m being serious with you here all they talk about is Def Federation Banning users blocking users limiting users content that they can see. That’s all they fucking talk about. Just no thank you I’m good
Everything will turn into little Eco Chambers (as we are seeing) because everyone will constantly defederate.
I think when users can block instances themselves, defederation will hopefully become less common and less talked about
Alice is still angry because everyone defederated from exploding-heads
Admittedly not a techie person, so anything on that side of things I can’t speak to at all, but on the political side of the fence (politics is what you’re describing) it seems like we’re in the nation state building era of the fediverse. Lines are being drawn, borders created, and rules invented. I think it’ll take some time for the dust to settle, but eventually we’ll probably end up with several super large (relatively, anyway) instances, run by major players, probably corporate, and a bunch of little servers that are forced to either be niche communities unto themselves (think Cuba) or effectively vassal states of the larger instances (think Micronesia) or run by one of the larger ones, but semi independent (think Guam).
But honestly, I still think that’s better than the alternatives. That sea of fediverse Cubas is just recreating forums in a new way, and I’d love to get back to that. And even if there are massive corporately run instances, it seems like you’ll still have way more freedom than you currently do under the meta/reddit/Twitter climate. (With that caveat that I do not know things about tech, so maybe not?)
But no, despite lemmy being a reddit lookalike, or Mastodon being twitteresque, none of these are replacements for those. They’re their own thing, that will evolve and become more and more distinct as time goes on. Hopefully anyway. I still like it here way better than Reddit, even aside from my personal feelings about open source software, political bullshit surrounding rich people and corps. I like the climate here, there’s plenty of content, and I feel like I can have actual conversations again (like this one!) Instead of just me being baited by someone looking for karma like on reddit. Yes, I hope Reddit dies, and yes, I came to lemmy from reddit, but even if neither of those were the case, I still think it’s nicer here, and that the model has potential. Again, I don’t know shit about tech. For all I know this isn’t super scalable. But from the view point of instances as states instead of email, I see it being pretty expandable. We just have to figure out how to prevent America from nuking anyone. :p
I think your rant is incredibly on point. However, I also think the reality of the modern internet is bots, state level disinformation campaigns, and truly bad faith shitlords who are just there to ruin the experience for everyone else.
but this point:
This is getting to their heads and breaking instances off, isolating them, causing the user to have to make 16 different accounts so they can access information scattered all over a bunch of servers that is the awesome thing we call the 'fediverse ’
Is exactly why in its current state, this isn’t going to work.
Thank. You make incredibly good points. How long until you throw the fediverse out of your routine?
How long until you throw the fediverse out of your routine?
I won’t be. Its this or nothing for me. I’ll be working to make it what it needs to be.
I gotchu. Oh really??? You’re a developer? Go on watcha gunna work on
