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Addressing the Exponential Growth of Communities (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by OptimusPrime@lemmynsfw.com to c/lemmyworld@lemmy.world

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Over the past few days, I've witnessed a remarkable surge in the number of communities on browse.feddit.de. What started with 2k communities quickly grew to 4k, and now it has reached an astonishing 8k. While this exponential growth signifies a thriving platform, it also brings forth challenges such as increased fragmentation and the emergence of echo chambers. To tackle these issues, I propose the implementation of a Cross-Instance Automatic Multireddit feature within Lemmy. This feature aims to consolidate posts from communities with similar topics across all federated instances into a centralized location. By doing so, we can mitigate community fragmentation, counter the formation of echo chambers, and ultimately foster stronger community engagement. I welcome any insights or recommendations regarding the optimal implementation of this feature to ensure its effectiveness and success.

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[-] AllYourSmurf@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 years ago

We need both options. Some systems like USENET use a global groups list (rec.radio.amateur.misc is the same group everywhere). Federated communities need a similar option.

Sure, let me create my own c/gaming if I want, but also give the option to… merge? combine? cross-federate? Not sure what term fits here.

!gaming@me, !gaming@you, and !gaming@them can be 3 separate, distinct, and independent communities (like it is today).

!gaming@me, !gaming@you, and !gaming@them could also be the same !gaming community, replicated and synced across all 3 servers.

Here’s an idea. Add another name to the community designation. So you could have !gaming#context@instance. (Or whatever separator makes sense. You could even just use a subdomain like !gaming@context.instance, but that might be harder).

In this model, #context refers to a shared view of the world that instances can choose to participate in. As the instance admin (or maybe a mod??), I choose to join #context1 but not #context2. When I do, All the !communities under #context1 become available for me. I still choose the ones that are appropriate for my instance. This would mean that when a new instance joins the federation, it acquires the shared set of #contexts that the federation publishes. A different federation of instances could still have different contexts.

(All of this still feels clunky. USENT’s simple hierarchy still makes so much sense, but it unfortunately places all the control at the group level, not the instance/user level.)

[-] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

I recently suggested @global for consolidated communities. There would have to be some kind of consensus on who and how communities would consolidate. I agree that having that does not get rid of all the other permutations.