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What's the best general-interest Lemmy instance?
(lemmy.world)
I've enjoyed lemm.ee
I'd definitely add a +1 to lemm.ee
The admin is open and honest, he's got a clear set of goals, which is to make lemmy accessible - nothing more, nothing less.
Lemm.ee doesn't participate in the whole "federate vs non-federate" drama or crippling features (ie: removing downvotes) because it goes against their ethos/mantra.
There are instances that lemm.ee defederates from, but they are usually due to extreme vore, cp, or other content that could expose lemm.ee to some legal problems.
I just checked the list at https://lemm.ee/instances
The only blocked entries are Threads and burger/burggit, which is defunct. I was not able to search defend.xyz to see who is blocking them.
For anyone considering it, just be aware that it will be a much less filtered experience. Most instances block lemmygrad, hexbear, etc. Most also block porn.
You will likely want to set up your own instance blocks
You will likely want to set up your own instance blocks
As a former Redditor, I gave up on /r/all years before the enshittification (due to the poor signal to noise ratio) and started culling a list of meaningful subreddits. For me this was a game changer.
If you plan on using lemm.ee (or any Lemmy instance) as a pre-curated r/all, I think you're going to have a bad experience. Lemmy, in it's current state, wasn't really made for that (the sorting is too simplistic).
For myself, I simply subscribe to the communities that I'm interested in. If I feel my daily feed is sparse, then I'll look at what's threads are trending in the entire fediverse and add those communities, then repeat. After following this process for a couple of weeks, I seldomly want/need to check the entire fediverse.
I appreciate that Lemm.ee will let me choose the communities that I'm interested in, regardless of they happen to exist on Lemmy.world, hexbear, etc.
Defederating is more than just blocking communities hosted on those instances. Most importantly, and the reason why most instances get defederated, is that it blocks comments.
If your instance blocks hexbear, it blocks all comments from hexbear users. That also applies to all communities on other instances.
"Enjoyed" is a big word. I haven't had a single bad experience with this instance since I joined Lemmy.
Updoot
Second
Pick one of the top 50 or 100 ones at random, just avoid lemmy.world and lemmy.ml, they are larger than they should be.
I am currently using discuss.tchncs.de, you can try it out.
Lemmy's introduction website is good at this btw:
https://join-lemmy.org/instances?topic=all_topics&language=en&scroll=true
What's up with world? I've seen that there are a lot of complaints going on about it, but what is the underlying problem?
It's reddit. As in reddit right now reddit. Just without the ads.
Also the entire point of federated networks is decentralization, if any one instance is too big, it risks snowballing into the only populated instance.
big, it risks snowballing into the only populated instance.
...which has been happening for a few months now. 90% of the newcomers join LW, either because someone recommends it to them or because they just don't care about decentralization or don't understand federation.
LW should actually close their registrations down for a while, but I guess they just don't want to (iirc the admins acted pretty ignorant). It is very concerning that most active communities are in LW or Lemmy.ml.
It is very concerning that most active communities are in LW or Lemmy.ml.
Any plans to move !asklemmy@lemmy.world to another instance?
No idea, I'm not the one that owns !asklemmy@lemmy.world, so ask @Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world instead. In fact, you asked me about this in the past. Didn't you say you would make one?
It's definitely better to have the existing mods onboard than to try to compete with the existing community, which is why I asked you.
Not sure if you ping went through, so I'll ping @Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world too.
Still a bit surprised you guys don't have discussions regarding the community, that's usually how we do it in the ones I mod, but you do you.
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yeah, lemmy.world is a good starter server. To find your next one:
- look here to see the relative server sizes (sort by "MAU" = Monthly Active Users): https://fedidb.org/software/lemmy
- look here to see who is defederated from each other: https://defed.xyz/
Also, consider going past the first page on FediDB and picking a smaller instance. I'm not knocking the big instances (I volunteer my time to two of the biggest, after all). It's just that the whole point of this Fediverse experiment is for things to be distributed. Going by the numbers on FediDB, fully half of all monthly active Lemmy users are concentrated on the three largest instances.
the whole point of this Fediverse experiment is for things to be distributed
I strongly disagree with this. This point is that it CAN be distributed, not that it needs to be.
That's like saying the whole point of making divorce legal is so that everybody gets divorced. It's the option that's the important bit.
But if the fediverse isn't actually distributed, then you don't actually have the option, right? If 80% of activity is on one server, then that server effectively controls the fediverse, and if you have a problem with their admins or moderators, you don't have a viable alternative.
If it's not actually distributed, the fact that it theoretically could be doesn't really matter. And this isn't even mentioning the possibility of a centralized server having technical or legal issues.
The divorce analogy is not a good one because that's an individual decision, whereas migrating servers and communities is not something that one individual person can just suddenly choose to do. It requires time, effort, and collective action, so it's better to be pre-emptively distributed to eliminate that vulnerability in the first place.
Why not go to Discuit and their 194 weekly active users if you want a fully centralized initiative?
As much as federeation gets criticized on Lemmy (and to be fair, it brings some issues), the numbers still show that Lemmy is the most successful Reddit alternative. By far.
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yeah, lemmy.world is a good starter server
I agree with you, I ditched it when they started blocking the piracy communities though... I am unsure if they undo that movement as of now...
Most instances to be honest. Just make note of the blocked instances and see if they don't block anything you wish to see.
Unless you want local to be diverse, that is.
I'd avoid anything federated with Hexbear or Lemmygrad.
Why? You can block instances from the user side, why bother if the main instance is federated with them?
It's weird to be in a comment chain where you're not seeing the replies that other people are seeing.
What’s wrong with lemmy.world though? It’s the biggest general server and will probably outlast most others.
Not liking what I've seen from the moderation lately.
As in their heavyhanded defederation?
Lemmy.sdf.org
Or sh.itjust.works are good with a (very) light touch on the defederation trigger
The administration or the moderation? Either way, if that’s your issue, then you know which criteria to look for, on a new server.
I recommend just signing up for another instance or five.
IMO, there's really no reason to "move" on Lemmy. If you see an instance that looks interesting, sign up for it. Spend some time there and poke around and see how it's different (they're all at least subtly different, since they all have different sets of federated instances and subscribed communities). If you see another one that interests you, sign up for it too. Keep going like that and eventually you'll find yourself settling into one or maybe a few not because you took a guess or followed someone else's recommendation, but because they simply turned out to be the ones you liked best.
I have no idea how many instances I've signed up for over the last couple of years - a couple of dozen at least. Of those, I generally have three or four that I use the most, though the specific ones have changed, as some of my earlier favorites have gone notably downhill or have shut down and new favorites have arisen.
All that said, overall I've been most satisfied with this account - Sopuli.xyz. I also spend a fair amount of time on dbzer0, lemm.ee and Fedia.io (which is notable because it's not Lemmy, but mbin, which is an entirely different piece of software that offers all the same basic functionality of Lemmy, but is formatted a bit differently, and in many ways is actually better than Lemmy). I have a .world account, and in fact it's my oldest account, but I find myself using it less all the time.
The problem with that is that if you're someone who comments in a lot of threads, you have to keep switching between the accounts to see if someone responded to you. I made a second account when .World was dealing with all the attacks, but I find I rarely use it for that reason.
try this instance im using. its general purpose and easy to sign up.
I've been thinking about switching over to Lemmy.today
Lemmy Shit Post is the best for just a laugh and with little political nonsense
I like 'Reddthat'; it's smaller size makes it feel cozy and responsive to their community. I have accounts on multiple instances, but reddthat is what I'm using 95% of the time
The one I am using is. It's easy to get into and doesn't block everything in sight. Although let's just say I just discovered just now I mistook this one for another one and signed up for the wrong one (I went to make an account on another one for modding). Brb, will return on a new one and hope nobody tries getting the wrong idea (had a few people try speaking for my intent without my authority earlier).
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this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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