Found a good image explanation of this whole thing.

Edit: update image to use light theme.

Credit goes to @[email protected]

  • @el_dosoEnglish
    5•11 months ago

    Something I think is missing from the email analogy:

    We’re all getting a little more confused because every server basically looks the same, so it’s easy to think you could log into any of them with the same login. This is misleading, it’s because all the different instances are running the same core software even though they’re separate instances. It would be like if the Gmail interface was open source and people created servers on Gmail.com, Gmail.world, gbin.com and even if each of them looked the same, you could only log into the one where you created your account. And regardless you could email friends with accounts at any of them.

    Hope that helps.

    • @PavidusEnglish
      3•11 months ago

      I think the part that’s so confusing is that right there on there on Lemmy page, it states that you can create an account on one server, and it is good on any server. I’m happy to say that I downloaded the app, and my experience is much more user friendly now. From what I’m reading, this has to do with the link, and where you access it from. The app is doing the heavy lifting while accessing other servers, so I’m a happy camper. Thanks for the reply!