Dessalines

We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST*

https://lemmy.ml/post/2920188

We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST* - Lemmy

This is an opportunity for any users, server admins, or interested third parties to ask anything they’d like to @[email protected] [https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic] and I about Lemmy. This includes its development and future, as well as wider issues relevant to the social media landscape today. Note: This will be the thread tmrw, so you can use this thread to ask and vote on questions beforehand. Original Announcement thread [https://lemmy.ml/post/2671212]

Aug 6, 2023 at 2:40pmWeb
Show threadCandelestineAug 6, 2023
Now that right there is a very good idea. Thank you. Going to be a busy day for you guys.
Show threadJohnDClayAug 6, 2023
Do you think ‘normies’ (people with very very little technical knowledge/experience) will be able to come to a decentralized platform like lemmy? Can a platform be successful long term (especially in niche areas) without that super huge low effort part of the user base?
Show threadmycroftholmessAug 6, 2023
I think an already established player like Sync or Boost should provide an experience that hand holds newcomers, by leaving little to guess work.
Show threadVantaWhiteAug 6, 2023
I’m an over-50 white Southern lady with no tech skills and I’m loving it. The apps help, and I’m sure I’m missing out on something, but it honestly isn’t that hard to figure out in a general sense.
Show threadpalituAug 7, 2023
Great response. Love to see that it is not just us nerds on here!
Show thread🔸Daniele Turra🔸Aug 8, 2023
@VantaWhite @JohnDClay how did you start using Lemmy? Did someone introduced you to? How could you pick the instance where to register?
Show threadVantaWhiteAug 9, 2023
In my case, like so many others, I’m a Reddit refugee. I was mostly a lurker over there, but I spent enough time to know things were going all the wrong ways. They had some good explanations of what Lemmy was and how to use it, and that’s how I got here. Others have pointed out that us old folks were used to Usenet and other similar things so maybe this isn’t all that alien. Also, fuck spez.
Show thread🔸Daniele Turra🔸Aug 9, 2023
@VantaWhite so basically lemmy.world was the default instance for the app you registered your account on?
Show threadVantaWhiteAug 9, 2023
It was actually the other way around - several of the posts on Reddit about where to go next explicitly mentioned lemmy.world, so I started there. I wandered around for a bit and then looked for apps that offered something similar to the Apollo experience. There are a lot more out there now but Memmy works for me, so that’s where I am.
Show threadOtakuAltairAug 6, 2023
Sync makes it as simple as any mainsfream social media
Show threadJohnDClayAug 6, 2023
I haven’t tried sync yet, how does new account creation work through their app?
Show threadTsincAug 7, 2023
This comment states that they default to lemmy.world. I don’t think it should be handled that way.
We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST* - Feddit

This is an opportunity for any users, server admins, or interested third parties to ask anything they’d like to @[email protected] [https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic] and I about Lemmy. This includes its development and future, as well as wider issues relevant to the social media landscape today. Note: This will be the thread tmrw, so you can use this thread to ask and vote on questions beforehand. Original Announcement thread [https://lemmy.ml/post/2671212]

Show threadjust_the_ticketAug 7, 2023
Which is terrible, it centralizes Lemmy in lemmy.world, they’re already facing performance issues because of this.
Show threadHR_PufnstufAug 7, 2023
So this is an ad. An ad for a platform with ads.
Show thread🔸Daniele Turra🔸Aug 8, 2023
@HR_Pufnstuf @OtakuAltair can you give some more context?
Show threadHR_PufnstufAug 8, 2023
Sync is a client app designed to make money either buy being purchased (cool) or by monetizing Lemmy’s content with their own ads. This person is promoting it, hence it is an ad.
Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
For me its already a huge success that Lemmy got where it is today, with over 50k users. If you had told me that a few months ago, I hardly would have believed it. When I started working on Lemmy, there were a couple dozen active users at most, yet the project didnt die. Instead it kept growing and growing steadily. So I think it will keep growing, and there will be more improvements which make Lemmy more accessible for normal users.
Show threadDessalinesAug 7, 2023

One of the things up next on my agenda, is to re-do join-lemmy.org . We have the mockup for it done, I just need to complete it.

Also as someone who grew up before the “use this single US-based site to connect to everything”, I don’t see how lemmy is too different from older forums. You go to a site, click the signup button, and wait for approval / log in immediately. You don’t need to know anything about activitypub, federation, or the fediverse to sign up and start using a lemmy site.

Show threadCMahaffAug 6, 2023

Maybe I’m completely misremembering things, but at some point wasn’t there a hotfix to Lemmy that hard-limited how many comments a thread could have? Does anyone know if there’s a maximum and if so how many?

Just wondering, cause uh, I could see this one having a lot of comments.

Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
The fix you are referring to only limits how many comments can be retrieved in a single API call (300). This limit is only used when specific parameters are passed, not in all cases.
Show threadDessalinesAug 7, 2023

Tree-paging is a pretty complicated issue, and we really do need some DB / SQL experts to help us with figuring out how to page them correctly. The limit is 300, but only for the top-level comment fetch, which could also have different slices whether you sort by top, or new, and doesn’t apply to the nested comments, which could have thousands.

The limit is a kludge, because ppl were creating thousands of comments, and without proper paging, it was affecting performance.

Serverside Tree/Thread Order Sorting and Pageing Proposal · Issue #949 · LemmyNet/lemmy

Rationale The current design has the server return all comments for a post thread, they may be sorted by post date or rank but in order to display comments and their replies in thread order they mu...

GitHub
Show threadsgtlighttreeAug 6, 2023
How do you plan on improving the onboarding/sign-up process for newcomers, especially when they have little to no understanding about the Fediverse?
Show threadHR_PufnstufAug 7, 2023
Is it hard? Didn’t seem hard.
Show threadsgtlighttreeAug 7, 2023
For me it, wasn’t too hard since by various metrics I am what’d you call a “power user”, but for those who aren’t, it could take a while to get their head around the Fediverse.
Show threadairportlineAug 7, 2023
“Join a server” was enough to kill all interest for plenty of Twitter users looking at Mastodon.
Show threadHR_PufnstufAug 7, 2023
So instead of “Join a server”, maybe something like, “Pick your Home. While the Lemmy is connected by this thing we like to call The Fediverse, choosing a Home for your account is like choosing who you want to share a dorm with. You aren’t necessarily alike, but can see yourself living with and around these people. And because of this Fediverse, you can still visit all the other dorms, friends houses, and even a back alley or two.”
Show threadKaynAug 7, 2023
In all honesty, any sort of picking or choosing will turn off casual users. Ideally there’d be a button that automatically redirects you to the sign-up page of a random smaller trusted instance.
Show threadHR_PufnstufAug 7, 2023
I’d be fine with that, if we can have some sort of HA ranking for the servers out there. To be on the list of random servers they should be able to maintain decent uptime and combat threats and DDOS swiftly. Oh, and be on a non-free and stable DNS domain… that .ml fiasco sucked. Not the server admins fault, but it did suck. Last thing we want are newcomers having their instance disappear. That was my experience… got nestled into my first lemmy home for it to fall to the great .ml purge of 2023. I lamented a week, hoping for it’s return… Finally giving up and joining lemmy.world. And while it’s nice, it seems to get taken down by attacks a LOT. :(
Show thread🔸Daniele Turra🔸Aug 8, 2023
@HKayn @HR_Pufnstuf A wizard that gives you a random choice based on your interests could be an interesting tool from a UX perspective. Questions to refine down the options could be based on language, specialized vs generalist, categories within specialized, number of users (S, M, L) age of the instance
Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
See lemmy.ml/comment/2337049
We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST* - Lemmy

This is an opportunity for any users, server admins, or interested third parties to ask anything they’d like to @[email protected] [https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic] and I about Lemmy. This includes its development and future, as well as wider issues relevant to the social media landscape today. Note: This will be the thread tmrw, so you can use this thread to ask and vote on questions beforehand. Original Announcement thread [https://lemmy.ml/post/2671212]

Show threadSiyahGuraagAug 6, 2023
Firstly, I just have appreciation for you and nutomic for this amazing platform that you’ve created. This has become my favorite source of reading discussions and looking at memes. I know it’s small, but I love it and want it to succeed. My question is Do you see Lemmy or any other federated platforms reaching the level of audiences that other big Social Media Platforms currently have? Do you want it to grow big like them, or remain as it is, An amazing platform hidden in one corner of the Web?
Show threadTheGreenGolemAug 6, 2023
Monday. It’s on Monday.
Show threadSiyahGuraagAug 6, 2023
I’m confused, it’s on Monday, How? In my Time Zone, it’s 4 hours to Monday, So, they’ll start answering then?
Show threadCheshireSnakeAug 6, 2023
15:00 CEST. That’s the time they’ll start answering questions, i think. It’s already Monday where I am lol.
Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
For me Lemmy is already extremely huge now. For a long time it was possible to keep up with all new comments in less than half an hour per day of browsing. So I wouldnt mind if it stays small, but anyway its not my choice. On the other hand its also great to see the project finally grow after we put so much work into it. And getting more users is actually necessary in order to get more donations so that we can make a living.
Show threadSiyahGuraagAug 7, 2023
Yeah, the work that you guys have put into this platform deserves to be acknowledged and appreciated. Personally, I love it, and thank you both for doing the brilliant work. I’m been here only a month, and even I’ve seen it grow. All the new apps, and few of Reddit’s apps transferring to Fediverse, and the new communities popping up. I’m optimistic about Lemmy, and Fediverse. Thanks for the reply.
Show threadDessalinesAug 7, 2023

I don’t know that we’ll ever replace big tech, but none of us can see the future. These giants will likely have a slow decline, whilst open-source and federated services will grow at their expense. But of course in the long term I do want the fediverse to replace the US tech giants, who treat us and our data as commodities to be bought and sold.

Any case where we can draw users away from that exploitation, is a victory.

Show threadSiyahGuraagAug 7, 2023
Yeah, I’m with you, Open source forever over the Monopoly of Few Corporations on the Web. Thanks for the reply, Lemmy Creator.
Show threaddownpunxxAug 6, 2023
Why did you choose to name your social media system after a person who owned the largest personal collection of Nazi memorabilia in the world for years leading up until his death. Lemmy was an entire piece of shit human being. Fuck Lemmy.
Show threadNightAuthorAug 6, 2023
I have a feeling this isn’t federating properly.
Show threadHexadecimalkinkAug 6, 2023
I think you need to go for a walk in nature friend.
Show threadHexadecimalkinkAug 6, 2023
loudersound.com/…/stop-calling-lemmy-kilmister-a-…
Stop calling Lemmy a Nazi, says Motörhead’s Phil Campbell

Phil Campbell corrects Motorhead fan after Lemmy is described as a Nazi.

Louder
Show threadSomething Burger 🍔Aug 6, 2023

I mean Nazism and Communism are religions too, make no mistake, with Hitler and Stalin as God, right? It’s the same thing.

wat

Show threadpwalkerAug 6, 2023
well I guess he means that Nazis are like cultis or rather any zealots of any religion in a sense that they are blindly following some ideology made up by some guy and that he therefore neither likes religions nor nazism To saying Lemmy would “sympathize” with Nazism is just plain wrong. Of course he did have a rather weird hobby…
Show threadAvid AmoebaAug 7, 2023
Brain rot
Show threadansikAug 7, 2023
To the point, ideology is, to a degree, a modern equivalent of religion. It provides a framework to view history and the future, dos and don’t, utopia to strive for, often comes with own set of (almost)religious practices and idolization. It even requires a degree of faith in utopia being achievable. I don’t think it’s that outrageous of a statement.
Show threado_oliAug 6, 2023

Are museums also an issue for holding such artifacts or do you just have a problem with individuals? Because to me ownership or an item doesn’t mean you agree with what it represents. Like it or not the Nazi party has a lot of historical significance.

Now I don’t know anything about Lemmy as a person so he may well be a POS I have no idea but if the above is your basis for it, then it’s weak.

Show threadSimplePhysicsAug 6, 2023

From Wikipedia*: In a 2020 post, Lemmy’s co-creator Dessalines wrote about the origin of the name Lemmy. “It was nameless for a long time, but I wanted to keep with the fediverse tradition of naming projects after animals. I was playing that old-school game Lemmings, and Lemmy (from Motorhead) had passed away that week, and we held a few polls for names, and I went with that.”[8]

(*Accuracy not guaranteed)

Show threadtoastedenoughAug 6, 2023
Oh, last time i checked the criticism was because of communism but ok
Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
Haters gonna hate
Show threadshortgiraffeAug 6, 2023
Does it seem odd to you that the devs would name their platform after a Nazi, when they are Marxists? That just strikes me as exceptionally odd, given everything I know about the two groups.
Show threadDessalinesAug 7, 2023

Lemmy’s obsession with nazi iconography was cringe, but I think you’d have to stretch things to say he was a racist, given his staunch and vocal anti-racist stances.

Also liking someone’s art doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to all of their ideological views, just as you are using lemmy right now yet I greatly doubt you agree with my stances.

Show threadBromSwolligansAug 6, 2023

Something that trips me up a bit about federation and instances is the overlap of identical communities from different instances.

So for example, I’m an atheist, but it’s be years since that was a part of my identity that moved me to care about atheist memes or patting myself on the back for not being religious, which (sorry guys), is what I feel like happens in those communities. So I get them out of my feed by blocking them the way I block plenty of other communities I’m not interested in. In Apollo I was spoiled by the ‘hide subreddit’ feature that I don’t believe existed in Reddit itself, but which was crucial to my enjoyment of that particular app. But since there are multiple instances hosting a version of any given community, I must’ve blocked at least three ‘atheist’ and two or three ‘atheistmemes’ communities, which look the same to me, but are hosted on different instances.

Is my All feed destined to continue having different instance versions of all the topics I don’t want to see, no matter how many times I block them, as long as there are more and more instances hosting those communities? I don’t want to sound unimpressed by this new technology or ungrateful for the amazing service you all are building, but this feels like either a pretty big flaw in the federated user experience or a pretty big gap in my knowledge of how to work the platform. I’m entirely receptive to the idea I may just be doing something wrong.

Just curious. Thank you for everything you do.

Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023
No thats just how it is, and I dont think there is a general solution. Maybe sharing blocklists with other users, but that might create even worse problems. Hopefully the users of such similar communities will over time move to the largest one so its all in one place.
Show threadDessalinesAug 7, 2023

Thanks!

As for fragmentation, see here.

We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST* - Lemmy

This is an opportunity for any users, server admins, or interested third parties to ask anything they’d like to @[email protected] [https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic] and I about Lemmy. This includes its development and future, as well as wider issues relevant to the social media landscape today. Note: This will be the thread tmrw, so you can use this thread to ask and vote on questions beforehand. Original Announcement thread [https://lemmy.ml/post/2671212]

Show threadsabreW4K3Aug 7, 2023
Subscribe to more communities and only look at all when your Subscribed moves too slowly.
Show threadmaegul (he/they)Aug 6, 2023

Hope multiples are ok …

  • As platform developers, do you have any thoughts about ActivityPub? Positive/negative critiques, needed developments (in your opinions), usage gripes or tips for other platform devs, future predictions?
  • As devs of (now) the second largest platform next to mastodon (by some metrics), which are probably as distinct platforms can be in terms of format, do you have any views on interoperability between platfroms over ActivityPub, where a common critique (AFAIK), from *diaspora devs for example, is that sharing posts/information of different formats just doesn’t work well over AtivityPub and so is one of its major flaws?
  • Arguably the fediverse has so far sought to replicate the corporate big-social platforms … should new design evolution occur now and if so how?
  • Much has been made by some of how the lack of user-friendliness of the fediverse really isn’t anything to celebrate and should be taken more seriously by users and devs alike (see, eg, Erin Kissane who focuses on mastodon). However much this applies to lemmy (where issues of user mobility probably do apply), do you think the fediverse needs a better story around catering to user needs?
  • Do you have any thoughts on the server-based architecture of the fediverse (where all user accounts are bound to a particular user) and whether alternative architectures have a future or could be better (p2p, more single-user based for instance)?
  • Should lemmy and the fediverse seek to grow with any and all users or seek to stay relatively small and limited to ensure a healthy cutlure?
  • Journalism and journalists … should they be on the fediverse (like the BBC recently with their own mastodon instance) … and if so, how?
  • What are the biggest or proudest moments you’ve had with Lemmy so far, and the worst or most embarrassing?
  • How does it feel to have so many users using and developing against your software?!
    • Erin Kissane (@[email protected])

    5.85K Posts, 1.28K Following, 15.4K Followers · Doing uspol info mutual aid at Unbreaking.org. Squinting about knowledge and networks at wreckage/salvage. Previously: COVID Tracking Project + Knight Moz OpenNews + editorial and community in tech and culture orgs. I want our tools and networks to be better in more ways for more people in more places.

    mas.to
    Show threadNutomicAug 7, 2023

    Haha youre a very curious one :D

  • See lemmy.ml/comment/2348893
  • It sure isnt perfect, partly because Mastodon makes no efforts to be compatible and expects everyone else to cater to their way of doing things. Regardless, the fact that you can interact between different platforms is a huge improvement over current social media platforms. And Im certain that interoperability will only get better over time.
  • Its already happening, look at Kbin combining the concepts of Reddit and Twitter into one. Or mitra which adds cryptocurrency integrations. There are probably others which Im unaware of.
  • Sure usability needs to improved, this will happen naturally over time as more users join and suggest improvements.
  • Its really genius because it combines the best aspect of centralized (simple login with username/password and an admin who manages technical stuff) with those of p2p (no central point of failure). Real p2p is great in theory, but it requires way too much technical knowledge for the average user, so its unlikely to ever gain mass appeal.
  • Personally I think the Fediverse is really the future of social media, so it will grow whether we want it or not. And its much healthier than the corporate platforms with their tracking, advertising and manipulating algorithms, so the more people leave them behind, the better. I dont see a way to influence this growth, we just need to adapt and deal with it.
  • Basically my previous reply, I dont know enough about journalism to give a more specific answer.
  • The biggest and proudest was definitely when tens of thousands of Reddit users suddenly came here, and most of them actually liked it. Cant say there was anything bad or embarrassing, the experience for me is really positive.
  • It feels great, I never expected this when I started contributing to Lemmy.
    • We're the creators of Lemmy, Ask Us Anything. *Starts Monday, 7 Aug, 1500 CEST* - Lemmy

    This is an opportunity for any users, server admins, or interested third parties to ask anything they’d like to @[email protected] [https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic] and I about Lemmy. This includes its development and future, as well as wider issues relevant to the social media landscape today. Note: This will be the thread tmrw, so you can use this thread to ask and vote on questions beforehand. Original Announcement thread [https://lemmy.ml/post/2671212]

    Show threadmaegul (he/they)Aug 7, 2023
  • … I never expected this when I started contributing to Lemmy.

    • Honestly heart warming to hear!

    Show threadHexadecimalkinkAug 6, 2023
    How do you see Lemmy working with duplicate communities on different instances? For example if Lemmy.World and Lemmy.ml have a PersonalFinance community, are people expected to cross-post? Or have you conceived of a system to allow people to find the right community efficiently?