cross-posted from: https://lemmy.perthchat.org/post/302114
let’s address the possibility that like mastodon/matrix 99% of ppl will flock to the biggest handful of servers
What is the real value of decentralization given that? Outside of like political unrest.
And what role do small servers really do in that landscape? Obv “novelty” servers like midov cater to the like lolicon enthusiasts and I’m sure there are a few other servers dedicated to illegal things. Regional severs are quite compatible with various nationalists/patriots
There were some suggestions to change the order of instances on join-lemmy.org so that smaller instances are shown near the top. So that could help to spread out users better.
Might be helpful to new users to curate a short list of “good” instances (semi-popular, good history of availability, open enrollment) and show them in a periodically-shuffled order as “recommended” or “popular” instances.
That, along with some github issue ideas I’ve seen relating to helping users get subscribed to places here, would probably help simplify the experience.
There are already recommended instances at the top, we just need to update them. I will make a post about that tomorrow.
Aha, sorry for spinning your wheels there! Sure enough.
This is exactly the thought I had. Add some randomness into what shown it will definitely help I’d think.
Perhaps a couple of random instances can be picked out every day/week to be featured?
That could work but it would have to be coordinated with the admins of those instances.