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Smol fedi - how I think fediverse should work (readme.makary.online)
submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by thegreenman@slrpnk.net to c/smolweb@slrpnk.net
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So I wrote a blog post on how I feel we can encourage more people to fedi, and it starts with DON'T TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THE FEDIVERSE, because I'm very clever, or something. Would be happy to get your thoughts on that!

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[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 weeks ago

Okay, so many thoughts. I'm not even done, but already I love this.

I 100% agree with the point that we shouldn't recommend "the fediverse" to people, but should focus on the actual places (ie websites) that just happen to use ActivityPub. It's like in the phpBB days -- you didn't get regular people to join your communities by pitching them on "open-source php" but on cool websites they could join.

[-] Kirk@startrek.website 3 points 4 weeks ago

Excellent post, it really made me think! I wonder if you saw this recent video that made the rounds by @ele@videos.elenarossini.com? She breaks (bends) some of your suggestions but I still thought it was in the right ballpark.

[-] thegreenman@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 weeks ago

Hi! Of course I did, I think it is awesome, and that Elena should get a Fediverse Nobel Prize! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should abandon mentioning federation completely, quite the opposite, the Don't Tell People About Fediverse was more of a provocation ;) I think that having our communities federate is a huge strength we have, and I think that vid is a perfect explainer of 'what actually is federation, and I believe we direly needed that kind of friendly, helpful and premade response, I absolutely plan to use it on my instances to introduce people to the concept and explain it :) I'm just saying, that in day-to-day human interactions, I think we should start with 'There is this awesome community I'm in!' and then later go to 'AND you can follow other communities from within it, no need to make an extra account!' - as I did in my text BTW. We absolutely should do both, but I have noticed people focusing on geeking out on the awesomeness of The Fediverse - and understandably, it is awesome - but failing to mention what actually we do have here, if that makes sense to you?

Also, thank you for taking time to read and comment on this, live long and prosper 🖖

[-] Kirk@startrek.website 2 points 4 weeks ago

Yeah agree with your points fully and really examined my own behavior. It does make me wish Fedi had more "things you can't get on twitter/facebook/etc". I think the opportunity for many specific local/regional servers and more topic focused instances are a better idea than fewer, large general purpose instances. Like, it's hard to convince a newbie to join a local instance when Mastodon.social is "the one where everyone is".

[-] thegreenman@slrpnk.net 3 points 4 weeks ago

See, that's the beauty - you can tell them 'you can join one that's owned by your community instead, an still be able to follow anyone on there! This way you will support your own people and also will have a say in how it is ran' ;)

[-] Kirk@startrek.website 3 points 4 weeks ago

But promoting the structure and not the community goes against the logic of "DON’T TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THE FEDIVERSE"! haha back to square one.

I've added your blog to my RSS reader, looking forward to future posts.

[-] thegreenman@slrpnk.net 3 points 4 weeks ago

I hope you are excited to read my upcoming update on... checks drafts Switching my upcoming Mobilizon instance from OAuth to LDAP login with external provider :P

this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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