Fediverse

33113 readers

399 users here now

A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to [email protected]!

Rules

Posts must be on topic.
Be respectful of others.
Cite the sources used for graphs and other statistics.
Follow the general Lemmy.world rules.

Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration)

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

198

Onboarding experience needs to be simpler for mass adoption (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If the fediverse is to be adopted by the masses, the onboarding experience needs to change. A new user can't be presented with a choice of instances as part of signing up or at least the process of making the choice needs to dumbed down a lot. I don't know how or if this can be solved, I just know as someone involved in app development and UX that the current experience won't work.

My mother would not know how to handle this paragraph: "Lemmy.world is one node in a network of hundreds of Lemmy instances. Before you sign up here, take a moment to explore all the instances at https://lemmyverse.net. You may find an instance with a regional or topical emphasis that speaks to you! Don’t worry about being left out; Lemmy instances are interconnected so users from each instance can participate with communities on other instances."

For mass adoption it needs to be so simple that even non-techie older people can get through it without feeling like they might be doing something wrong.

(page 2) 35 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Your mother would ask you what the hell an "instance" was and then think that picking one meant she couldn't look at posts from any others.

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

I think the replies in this thread are doing a good job making OP's point honestly 😓

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

I'm not sure I'd like that. I kind of like there being a technological filter. It prevents the Fediverse from turning into Facebook or X. The public Internet has been around and part of society for 40 years now. If you still don't get it in 2025, that ain't everyone else's fault. People using the Internet in the 90s had to deal with way more than just figuring out what an "instance" is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Unrelated but there's a word we Mexicans use that you should look up. It's "mamador". No particular reason.

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

This could be solved with a:

Can't make up your mind?

Click here to choose a random general topic instance. Don't worry, if you want to switch later you can.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Who gets to decide which instances match that description? Everyone will come up with a slightly different list.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

eh.

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

Decentralization is an essential element of the Fediverse.

I don't get how you would get around choosing a server. Maybe make the recommendation algorithm easier? Like, ask clearer questions, ask fewer questions?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I think there could at least be some kind of button or check box that says, "I don't need to know how the Fediverse works, just sign me up!" and it would randomly choose one of the big instances.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

A part of the problem is that there are multiple similar general topic instances/sites to choose from. If there were more dissimilar, specific topic instances/sites it might help reduce the choice paralysis a little.

It might even better help highlight the perks of federation, as it would be easier to be like, "See, even though you're on cuteanimals.posts, you can still check out and comment on stuff besides cute animals if you want."

load more comments