tehmics

In other places on around the web, (chiefly /r/RedditAlternatives) whenever Lemmy is brought up, invariably I see the exact same complaints from brand new accounts.

Lemmy is too complicated, it wont gain traction, can't figure out how to use it, can't log in, etc.

Now, I'm definitely more tech savvy than the average redditor, but I just don't see the complaints. You can go to any Lemmy site, instantly start doomscrolling with a familiar UI, and sign up on all the instances I've tried has been frankly more simple than making a new reddit account. The only real complaint I have is the generally smaller volume of users and posts.

My only thought here is the words like federation and instances getting people hung up. Maybe join-lemmy.org being a highly ranked site is doing more harm than good by creating an additional barrier to the instances and content.

Ideally, the first link someone sees when googling Lemmy would be a global feed on a fairly generic instance, with a basic tagline akin to 'front page of the internet.' End users don't need to care about the technical details, at least not until they're interested in the platform.

So is this "Lemmy is too confusing" sentiment even real? And if not, what motive would there be to astroturf this?

If it is a real issue affecting would-be users, how can we address it?

I'm trying to find a site I once came across while poking around federated services It was similar to twitch or kick, but it was all federated and/or self hosted streams. Most streams were in the single digits to teens of viewers, and it was mostly low engagement type of content. Things like retro games played without a face or mic, or even just streaming a main menu screen for hours. Music channels with request bots. News feeds, Things like that.

Has anyone else come across a site like this, sort of a twitch-style directory for open/federated streaming content? And in that same vein, does anyone have good ways to search across the open/federated net?

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this post, I wasn't sure where else would be appropriate.