Think about things from the point of view of someone who has never used Reddit or the fediverse, but you've heard about them both from recent news articles and want to see what they are about.
Reddit:- You Google Reddit and your first result is Reddit.com. You click the link and are presented with the front page. You from scroll from a few hours and end up signing up and staying.
Lemmy:- You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister... Your second result might be join-lemmy.org, which you're smart enough to realise it's probably more likely what the news is about.
You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code...
There is very little chance you're going to investigate further.
If we want the fediverse to replace Reddit then either
A) Lemmy needs to improve its initial impression and Search engine optimization
B) We should be promoting a different platform with a better initial first impression.
I'd recommend kbin personally as it gives the same sort of experience as Reddit from the initial interaction.
3 of the top 4 results for me are fediverse related when searching for "lemmy".
I don't think its the signing up, its the lack of centralization/community. reddit was a singularity, the community is protesting en-masse because they felt they were all part of the same thing.
to me, the fediverse is a segmented.. oddly connected group of overlapping communities. it lacks cohesion.
The Fediverse is just the world wide social web. It lacks cohesion just the same way that the regular web does.
That's going to limit its appeal for the people who see the internet as 3 cellphone apps. But that's also ok. It doesn't need to be for them.
If kbin/lemmy/the fediverse are to be something the average reddit user wants to migrate to, then a lot of ground has to be covered still. There is no "reddit migration" possible or remotely likely without significant change, as much as I want the fediverse to succeed and as cool as I find it
"If" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, to be honest.
The average internet user has been ok with everything collapsing into a monolithic search engine and 4 giant social websites owned by 3 guys.
Maybe we accept complexity and expect a little more out of the people who end up here. People whole like what things have become can stay where they are.
The average user doesn't want to migrate here, though. The average user is either content to keep their Reddit account or thinking on migrating to another big centralised platform.
Open-source decentralised platforms like the fediverse and its projects aren't remotedly interesting for the average user.
Maybe the goal for the fediverse should go further than just being a replacement for reddit. Maybe having various individual communities again is a good thing. Basing a new website heavily off of one that failed sounds like a different form of potential failure. There were other flaws with Reddit that existed the recent spez debacle. We should really look into those problems as well if we want this platform to succeed.
We already have multiple massive social media sites where anyone can just sign up easily. I would argue that most of those places aren't doing so great right now, both in terms of the platforms themselves, and in terms of the users that they stereotypically have. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, etc don't exactly have a great reputation at the moment, you know? The trolls are everywhere.
What I'm trying to get at is that having some sites require a little more effort might be a good thing in the long run. Having more communities with patient and understanding people might also be a good thing. Everyone is still only human, even if they run a website.
Regardless of how much anyone wants an immediate replacement for reddit, it is not a fair ask of the mods or developers here. They have had a very short time to try to expand everything for a massive sudden influx of people, and I commend them for still working so hard at it. It must be a thankless job. More people should try their own hand at running this stuff if they feel irritated with the progress so far. I really mean that.
It's also a hell of a lot clunkier. For all the talk of federation, it can be a total pain in the ass to view content on a non-native instance. Edits not loading, boosts/upvotes not taking, some posts just not showing up at all...
I tried signing up on various instances of lemmy for 2 weeks prior to the shut down. it failed over and over, kbin was recommended if I didn't have any particular reason for choosing lemmy instead. I'm grateful. I hope we don't kill Ernest though.
This is a great take on the whole thing. Well said. But maybe the lack of centralization is why is seems so much more welcoming and friendly. Or maybe it’s just new and small. I almost never posted on Reddit in 6 years, but here I feel more part of the conversation because it isn’t one big overwhelming behemoth that I get lost in. Instead of a little fish in a big pond it feels more like a regular fish in a bunch of puddles.
Agreed, and honestly this is why I don't think these federated platforms will ever truly get to a large scale. The amount of disconnection on a service that is meant for connecting people together. Unless its changed, the fediverse will be only for the group of people who are quite comfortable with technology (beyond just downloading an app and creating an account). The complexity needs to be hidden.