Compared to established, age-old platform? Yes, we’re less developed. But do you know what’s even worse? Corporate greed! Rest assured, we’ll improve and mature over time.
The problem with federated services and I include Lemmy in this, is that first impression REALLY sucks. When you go to join it says “join a server” but it doesn’t explain in straightforward terms what that even means. Maybe some people know what federated means but most don’t care. Why are there multiple servers? What does it mean if I pick this server over that one? Why are they ordered like this? It’s the same issue with Mastodon. “Join your server” but wtf does it mean???
People are used to single services, not federated ones and it is confusing. Attempting to explain it (or not) will confuse people even more. It’s so confusing that some people turn tail and run, hurting uptake.
Change the initial sign up flow on join-lemmy.org. Don’t say “join a server”, say “join Lemmy”. Don’t show a randomized, indecipherable list of servers, just pick one for them from the a curated core set. If someone wants to learn about federation or wants to choose a server, then provide an option to do it, but don’t just throw that in their faces. In other words, make it as simple as possible to sign up.
After people get over this hump and sign in, things become a bit less confusing but there are issues there. The ordering and even naming convention of communities is chaotic. It would be useful to think how to clean that up too.
That’s a good point. To add to this, default to showing all communities and all federated posts instead of local communities and posts.
I feel like Lemmy needs to make the signup process easier. I shouldn’t need to hunt down an open community to register under. At least give people an option to default to a community like @lemm.ee (which sounds like it never closes registration) otherwise the site could lose people due to mere confusion. Example: I tried registering under the Linux portion of lemmy.ml, but was told I couldn’t because registration was closed. Had I not gone to Lemm.ee and tried, I would’ve simply moved on with the thought of “too confusing”.
I’m open to the idea that I’m way off base with how Lemmy works, though I think that kind of frames the issue I’m getting at - familiarity & ease of understanding.
Everything is rough around the edges at first. To me, Lemmy feels the most like Reddit in terms of the Web UI, but it’s not without it’s differences. Hopefully, time will grow these services into something better than Reddit was. It has the potential.
Regarding user interface, I dont know how polished people really need, and polished how? Simple is good. Lemmy browser app is already way better than reddit ads and popups crap.
Removed by mod
This article reads like a true reddit dick rider. If you were on reddit pre 2015 you would know lemmy feels like old reddit. I actually kind of love it
Pre 2015 Reddit had quite a bit more activity even back then. But I like the small community feel rn. It’s just that most communities are lacking and content discovery is hard in this federated universe
Part of me is wondering if the whole reddit-style format will die with Reddit the way blogs kind of aren’t a thing anymore.
Stephen Colbert flashed the reddit alien on the Colbert report in 2009 I think. Reddit was very usable with a lot of traffic even back then. Lemmy isn’t going to get a shout out on a major mainstream show anytime soon is my guess. It’s not a fair comparison, it’ll take a long time for Lemmy to get to 2015 Reddit levels as far as polish and traffic goes.
I’m fine with that. I would take a 2011 reddit polish and traffic.
