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✨ What is your favorite thing about kbin? ✨ (kbin.social)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Here are mine! A handful of things come to mind right away, but there are plenty more:

⭐ The admin @ernest is an incredibly hardworking, kind, supportive, and an all-around good person. This is my tip top most favorite thing because good leadership and communication is essential to a good and thriving community. Ernest is a star!

⭐ The ability to edit titles!!! This is sooo convenient!

⭐ The ability to customize mags with CSS! I could spend hours doing this, it's so fun! I don't know any other social media site that allows you that level of freedom of customization. It really makes it feel more personal. All my mags are decked out :3

⭐ I enjoy making scripts/styles for kbin. kbin is the reason I began learning JS, HTML, and CSS. I am so happy I started learning, and it's all thanks to kbin.

⭐Posts and conversations here are much more GENUINE. It feels like I am interacting with real people, with the goal of socializing just for the sake of socializing, which I don't get elsewhere. Everywhere else it's a competition to say the wittiest thing and get the most likes/upvotes.

⭐ No malicious, tricky, over-calculated algorithm. It's very straight-forward and honest here. I love seeing a mix of upvoted/downvoted comments in comment sections too, rather than just top upvoted, because it makes me feel more apart of the conversation with everyone. Your contributions and thoughts won't get drowned out by upvoted witty remarks, that is truly unique to kbin (and maybe elsewhere on the fediverse?).

⭐ kbin gives me the urge to contribute, interact, and create because our contributions have actual impact. Can't say the same for other sites. Everywhere else is lurk only.

⭐ Tightknit but welcoming. kbin is small enough that I run into familiar people all the time, and I recognize usernames everywhere.

⭐ Authenticity. kbin is authentic and real. It's not pushing a product, not manipulating what you see, not building an ad profile. It is what a forum should be.

That only scratches the surface! How about you guys? If you guys share the same favorite things as me, I would love to hear your thoughts on why.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if I can think of a favorite, but here are a few candidates:

  • The fact that Kbin is built for both microblogs and threads. They're neatly distinguished from one another, and the UI accounts for their unique formats. It's very clearly thread aggregation + microblogging, not thread aggregation with microblog posts crammed in there or vice versa.

  • The UI, which is what made me pick it over Lemmy. I just find it a lot cleaner and more pleasant, especially with the Tokyo night theme.

  • The community around userscripts and userstyles, or at least what there was initially. It's dwindled a ton, but it's what got me to learn HTML/CSS. Being able to make a userstyle is also really nice for improving Kbin's UI to my tastes.

  • @ernest. Alongside just being kind, he also keeps us up to date and lets us be involved in the development process. The daily updates on @kbinDevlog have been awesome for seeing and helping the platform develop.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

hey, someone else who got inspired to learn html/css from kbin! speaking of recognizing usernames, i see you around a lot :D. yea, i really miss the community on @kbinStyles. its sad that it's pretty much gone now. that was the most fun for me, the scripts and styles. im always scripting and making styles, maybe ill post there soon, i wont let it die completely lol

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Also recognize you as well! I'd love to see @kbinStyles revived sometime and to contribute to that goal if given the chance. I've just imagined that a thread for every idkbin update would be more annoying than appreciated. It's also helpful that the magazine is in the official kbin collection, so that might help visibility.

EDIT: Fixed link

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

i'd like to see it revived as well, maybe we can both try to post a bit, even small stuff! this is the first im seeing of kbin collections, that's pretty cool :D. and i didn't know you made idkbin! thats awesome! coincidentally, i was just looking at the css for that to see how to select pinned posts in mags. its so neat and nice lol, whatever you've been doing is working bc ur waaaay better than me at css lmfao.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Eh, I try. Idk if I'm great at CSS, but I'm pretty happy with what I've managed to make. You should also give yourself some credit, since the stuff you put out is also awesome!

If I come up with anything, I'll make a post on the magazine about it. Maybe I could take smth small from idkbin like the official collection checkmark and make it its own thing for people to download.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wow, I might need to clear some space on my imaginary trophy shelf (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
Thanks, that's really nice. But honestly, all those cool changes lately are thanks to you guys. I just lent an ear ;-)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

listening to users is already above and beyond what most admins do, so we thank you and appreciate you <3

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Easily the mobile experience. Sure, I’d like Apollo back, but the mobile site is so much better than Reddit could’ve ever dreamed.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

true, i am really impressed with how well kbin works on mobile browsers. it's very easy to use and navigate, most other sites cannot say the same, which is weird, since people are on mobile devices more often than desktop so you'd think it would be perfected. kbins mobile browser experience feels like an app.

also rip apollo (◞‸◟）

[–] _haha_oh_wow_ 2 points 11 months ago

I always preferred RiF, but I think we can all agree that every third party app was better than the dogshit OfFiCiaL rEdDiT aPp!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Recently, I've really taken a liking to the 'Mark new comments' feature. I generally dislike getting too many notifications, and this allows me to keep an eye on interesting discussions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

oh where is this feature? i must have missed it

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Same content as Lemmy and better UI. Been here (and the startrek.website lemmy) since reddit imploded, and spend way more time in kbin than any other fediverse service.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

kbin ui is fantastic, agreed

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You mentioned a lot of things that I generally really enjoy about #kbin as well.

⭐ The admin @ernest is an incredibly hardworking, kind, supportive, and an all-around good person. This is my tip top most favorite thing because good leadership and communication is essential to a good and thriving community. Ernest is a star!

Same, he also gets bonus points for listening to, and implementing suggestions. Some of them have come quite quickly as well. These factors when combined have made me feel like I'm really a part of the community.

⭐ I enjoy making scripts/styles for kbin. kbin is the reason I began learning JS, HTML, and CSS. I am so happy I started learning, and it's all thanks to kbin.

Cheers to that, I actually use one of yours -- specifically the one that changes the layout of profile pages.

⭐ No malicious, tricky, over-calculated algorithm. It's very straight-forward and honest here. I love seeing a mix of upvoted/downvoted comments in comment sections too, rather than just top upvoted, because it makes me feel more apart of the conversation with everyone. Your contributions and thoughts won't get drowned out by upvoted witty remarks, that is truly unique to kbin (and maybe elsewhere on the fediverse?).

Agreed -- I think Mastodon also functions similarly. It makes #discoverability a bit challenging at times, but I'm open to experimenting with it.

⭐ kbin gives me the urge to contribute, interact, and create because our contributions have actual impact. Can't say the same for other sites. Everywhere else is lurk only.

Hard agree -- though it wears on me at times when I'm unable to get some engagement going after keeping at it for so long. I've changed my mindset about it a little while ago, so it's not too bad.

⭐ Tightknit but welcoming. kbin is small enough that I run into familiar people all the time, and I recognize usernames everywhere.

Agreed, and to add onto this -- profile pictures are pretty easily recognizable as well.

⭐ Authenticity. kbin is authentic and real. It's not pushing a product, not manipulating what you see, not building an ad profile. It is what a forum should be.

Yeah, adding on one of your points again -- it's very reminiscent of what #forums used to feel like. However, at the same time, it feels like something more due to the addition of #microblogging. #Microblogs may not be super popular on /kbin, but I think they're a stellar addition to the forum experience. I've had some nice back-and-forths with #Mastodon users from the comfort of /kbin's UI. I think there's more potential in what you can do with them, too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I love this answer!! and hey, I recognize you too :D. I am glad you like my profile style

Hard agree -- though it wears on me at times when I'm unable to get some engagement going after keeping at it for so long. I've changed my mindset about it a little while ago, so it's not too bad.

Yea, I got burnt out a few months ago and dipped for this exact reason. I was making scripts, styles, mags, and posting content several times a day every day trying to build kbin and encourage engagement, and on that front, it pretty much never got better. I would be and still am lucky to get a handful of upvotes. It feels a bit lonely, I do wish more lurkers would consider joining the convo. There's lots of talk about things being stale and dead, not many active niche communities, but 98% of people aren't contributing. It's okay to not be a content creator, but a single comment a week is better than no comments ever. I might be a taaaad salty, because of how much effort I put in, and that the lack of interactions and engagement is pretty much the ONLY thing keeping kbin from reaching it's full potential.

Speaking of microblogging, I still don't know what those are somehow lol. are they like mastodon tweets or toots or whatever? 😭

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yes, almost all of the microblog consists of toots, published on Mastodon. /kbin and Mastodon are different software, with different features, written in differrent programming languages (Mastodon - Ruby on Rails, /kbin - PHP). Yet users of both are able to seamlessy talk to each other!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I was making scripts, styles, mags, and posting content several times a day every day trying to build kbin and encourage engagement, and on that front, it pretty much never got better.

Your work is appreciated. :)

It feels a bit lonely, I do wish more lurkers would consider joining the convo. There's lots of talk about things being stale and dead, not many active niche communities, but 98% of people aren't contributing. It's okay to not be a content creator, but a single comment a week is better than no comments ever. I might be a taaaad salty, because of how much effort I put in, and that the lack of interactions and engagement is pretty much the ONLY thing keeping kbin from reaching it's full potential.

I could not agree more, LOL. Props for powering through that feeling, I'll go check out some of your magazines soon. Unfortunately, this is a problem that feeds itself, as people don't want to post because people aren't posting. Someone's gotta be first on the dance floor if we want to see /kbin thrive. I've been quite busy with IRL stuff, so I haven't been able to post as much lately. What you said about even a single comment every once in awhile really makes a difference.

Speaking of microblogging, I still don't know what those are somehow lol. are they like mastodon tweets or toots or whatever? 😭

Yeah, that's basically what they are. Being unfamilar with them is no problem. The great thing about #kbin is that options are available, but not forced on us. #Microblogs could become more useful/relevant with the introduction of the #allContent tab being created. Having an aggregated view is really helpful for easing into how it could be used. One way I've been messing with it is to have an overview of magazines so I can more easily be aware of any content that needs to be moderated. I think they could be useful for other stuff besides one off #tweets/#toots so you can group related posts to look back on -- themed posts over a span of time (like #inktober posts, #caturday etc). I also regularly use them in @learnjapanese for my #japanesepractice.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Collections are definitely my new favorite thing, and at the moment I believe they're kbin exclusive.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

this is the first i am hearing of it, gonna check it out now 👀

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

@gibandaley my new favourite thing too. Super convenient and provide way more content.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My favorite thing is that it's not lemmy but is compatible and we can share the communities/magazines between the two implementations of the threadyverse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

i haven't really been on lemmy much, handful of times max, i much prefer how kbin looks and feels. can i ask why you like that it's not lemmy?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

It's a better UI, and it had other federated content. I found I dont personally care for the twitter style of content, but its cool that it's there. Love to see other implementations in the future.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Just the fact that we have two different implementations of the same concept which can interoperate is very very good. Actually I started on /kbin also but wanted to host it myself. I'm not sure about now but back then there was no documentation on how to host your own /kbin instance so I had to go with Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Is there a list of magazines with great, custom CSS? I'm not sure if it's how I use KBin, but I haven’t noticed many customized magazines.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

most mags don't have it because most people don't know css. it requires css and html knowledge to use. i wouldn't call mine great at all, but i do use custom css. my fave is probably https://kbin.social/m/alternative

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

@minnieo wow that mag has gone way more goth than I remember it. Looking good!

You're right. Mine don't have any because a) I'm minimalist and usually have "show custom css" turned off and b) it's been literally a decade since I last wrote any css and I probably forgot more than I ever learned!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

thanks, yea whether it swings to emo hello kitty uwu girl to spiky goth girl depends on how my pinterest is feeling haha

i had also learned css before and forgot everything. it was surprisingly easy to get back into it. if youre ever even vaguely interested, consider relearning! it's tons of fun :3

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

you can check this theme https://kbin.social/m/logicpro

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think you guys have covered a lot of it. During the reddit exodus I tried all sorts of places. I was first attracted to Kbin because it had a good name and intuitive interface and features, but it gets better all the time.

@ernest @kbin.social is super cool, kind, and keeps us in the loop. The community here is really chill and nice.

One thing that I think is important and I'm beginning to appreciate, is the way Ernest is developing it, I get the sense that he understands the fediverse and its potential.

Like, kbin has a lot of features that the lemmys lack. I love the way we can follow people and interact on mastodon, we have hashtag support, and now collections! The search is really good. I can post content and "via" someone from mastodon and they come over and like it!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

good points! ernest really is making kbin the best it possible can be every day

[–] _haha_oh_wow_ 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just the interface overall and of course the fact that it's federated!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

agree there! cant believe i forgot to mention the ui lol

[–] whosdadog 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think it's neat I'm seeing this post on Lemmy and that I can comment on it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

hiya from kbin <3

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I can't agree more about the genuinity of conversations on this platform. I just love the fact that I can have a real conversation with someone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Things I like about kbin:

  1. ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ Looks nice

  2. (∩_∩)/ Works in my school’s internet (unlike reddit)

  3. (⌐■_■) ernest is cool

  4. Can’t think of anything else so here is some text art: ᓚᘏᗢ

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

that I can interract with it from lemmy 👉👉

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

hi from kbin <3