Having to explain federation is kind of the issue in my opinion.

I don't, nowadays, I just point to piefed.zip

This would just be an alternative

The issue is that there aren't really instances that are similar enough to be considered interchangeable. They all have their specificity, be it admin style, defederation, downvotes enabled or disabled, front-ends available, etc.

Block them if you don't like their posts ?

I'm not a programmer so I can't speak to how hard this is, but I think it would be a big asset to building user base if there was a neutral sign up website that wasn't a specific instance. It would basically choose an instance for you automatically and skip that part. I figure there could be some list of general purpose instances compiled that are all fair game and the site would try to spread the load across instances.

Average user doesn't care about federation, and all of that complexity is a big turn off. I know because I almost didn't sign up myself because of that. Having to pick a team just to get in the door feels kinda bad.

Yep. I agree with this. Re-creating Reddit at the same scale just brings all the same problems. I like that federation means smaller more localised communities that can be connected (or not). I get that it’s not what everyone wants or is used to, and that’s okay.

Yeah that's a good point. Maybe it's too different for it to work. I maintain that complexity will continue to push people away, though. If instances are that different we might have better luck referring to them as their own sites. That would just increase the flocking to single mega instances though. The most important feature of any social media site is who's on it.

Ah yes. The common solution to everything. Make my own little universe where everyone and everything is perfect and everyone agrees with me.

I keep things unblocked for a reason.

https://lemmy.world/modlog?userId=752415

I never post, and I don't comment much but I did get banned once cause I downvoted a moderator's comment

I mean with how many instances have launched a piefed server the last few months and with how small Lemmy is in the first place even a thousand or so users switching would explain some of that slight downward slope at the end.

• Clicks "All", "Top Six Hours"

  • Sees impersonal biased news sources reporting how bad the world is
  • Every post repetition of the one above it

• Clicks "Comments"

  • Scrolls for a while
  • Finds one person talking about how good their day is or one topic they're passionate about

It's okay if they join one instance. I'm not a fan of the LW dominance, but it's better to have another LW user than no user at all

I was in the same boat as you regarding signing up. I also agree with you that the concept of federation might be confusing for new users. Just gave up at the promt to explore other instances (in lemmy.world sign up) and signed up to lemmy.world.

Based on what I've seen, much of this could be from instances with redundant accounts shutting down.

In other words, a lot of folks can't sustain the burden of hosting an instance long term. That's fine, and expected.

Be the change you want to see. This is your time to shine.

People attack me constantly on Lemmy if I suggest to look at the positive a little more.

Rare user from feddit.it

People have started using Piefed insted of Lemmy, but I'm not sure we should throw away hope for the fediverse because of that.

https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/stats&months=48

https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/stats&months=48

That moderator left the platform since then