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I think some of the problem too is not realizing that... it's kind of broken in a lot of ways and a lot of the times it's not super apparent why.
There's a lot of things that work in one instance and just don't in another, and I think the user frequently thinks it's because they're doing something wrong when in reality, whatever you're trying to do just isn't working right now.
I think part of the issue is trying to add subs from other instances.
“Magazine” is the biggest offender here. That’s a very unintuitive term.
Lmao what? For people born after 2010 maybe? Magazines have been a thing for decades and anyone over 20 is going to associate "magazine" with "series of articles about a topic"
It took me a couple days of reading and browsing around and creating accounts to figure out the fediverse and Lemmy and kbin. Until it actually clicked in my head that I was in one instance, seeing content posted in a community of another instance, commented on by users of even other instances, and how it worked between all that. I wanted to actually understand the mechanism, to better navigate it. Now, it all seems simple to me, but it was all very new for about a week. Also, the connection and federation errors that were happening a lot added to the confusion to a lot of people, I feel.
I am now very excited about the potential of all this. Decentralized networks rock.
Now, I think a random user could just show up and make an account and start enjoying it quickly, just would take some time to find the communities they want content from.
I can't put aside my sneaking suspicion that can't figure out any of these tools: kbin, lemmy, mastodon, etc.... Is more or less code for, "I have reach and influence on platform x, and I need can't figure out how to be that person here."
Can they setup an account? Can they read? Can they write? These seem to all be achievable. Can they influence? Well... should that be the goal?
I feel like certain users are echoing others in terms of the “oh it’s too hard/complicated” - I don’t know, imo not really just sign up, subscribe to your mags of interest which will pull across the fediverse and engage (up/down/comment) as much as you like lol… really not that hard but I guess change is hard for people (but then it’s not really much a seismic change? I don’t know - I guess I like trying new things).
It took me a little while to figure out reddit. After migrating from reddit I actually found it easier to pickup this time around. I am sure some people might have some trouble but as long as we make this place welcoming and helpful for new users asking questions people will want to migrate.
Consider that slight entry barrier to be a feature. Do you really want the Fediverse experience to be a 100% copy of Reddit?
is Lemmy buggy as heck? Absolutely.
dunno, but this is the main reason I juggle between Lemmy and Kbin. Lemmy is more intuitive/similar to reddit, but it's buggy and has an ugly UI. Kbin has a better UI and less buggy, but has some questionable design
In terms of people who didn't fully understand the fediverse, there are two kinds of people:
those who want to fully get their head around it first so they can make optimal decisions
those who are happy to just jump in and learn by doing
the people who are like "but what linux distro will be perfect for all my needs???"
I mean, there's a reason that Linux is used by less than 3% of the market, and the same will likely be true here. The fediverse is not the answer for over 97% of people, and that's a problem.
Being pretty new to Lenny, I didn’t find joining hard. Granted I work in IT and technology is my passion and hobby. The biggest thing for me was choosing an instance I wanted to be in long term, that didn’t seem like it was gonna isolate itself from everyone else through defederation (Eg. Beehaw). I like Lenny, especially the people so far, and using the Mlem app it’s a pretty smooth experience, I think federation overall is a new scary concept for regular people.