Lemmy runs on a bunch of separate servers (instances) that share information with each other. 50501.chat is such an instance.
Any community - basically a subreddit - is hosted on one such instance
Your server, lemmy.zip, can pull information from that instance when you go to their community.
On your end, unless their instance is banned by your instance, all this means is that their community has a longer name. Instead of /r/50501 or /c/50501 or whatever, it’s [email protected] so that your instance can tell where to take you when you want to go there.
Excellent, thank you. The last time I used the Lemmy was when the Reddit API stuff was happening, so I didn’t know the specifics. I appreciate your patience in explaining this.
I knew I could link to other instances and see their posts, but I didn’t know that they needed a longer name.
As an aside, am I fine overall being part of a relatively small instance, or as an average user who wants a replacement for Reddit, am I better off having my account located on one of the larger instances?
Like if Lemmy.zip is too small and eventually shuts down, do I just lose my account?
there’s nothing at all wrong with a small instance, although afaik if your instance goes offline your account is lost. I haven’t been active much between the api thing and recently, so it’s possible they implemented the much asked-for account migration feature in the intervening years.
what is it that you want explained?
Excellent, thank you. The last time I used the Lemmy was when the Reddit API stuff was happening, so I didn’t know the specifics. I appreciate your patience in explaining this.
I knew I could link to other instances and see their posts, but I didn’t know that they needed a longer name.
As an aside, am I fine overall being part of a relatively small instance, or as an average user who wants a replacement for Reddit, am I better off having my account located on one of the larger instances?
Like if Lemmy.zip is too small and eventually shuts down, do I just lose my account?
Lemmy.zip is a great instance. I mean, look at this report: https://lemmy.zip/post/33065677
And they do this every month!
Awesome, thanks for the reassurance.
there’s nothing at all wrong with a small instance, although afaik if your instance goes offline your account is lost. I haven’t been active much between the api thing and recently, so it’s possible they implemented the much asked-for account migration feature in the intervening years.