I was invited to comment here by u/BlazeAlt on Reddit last week regarding ways to lower the barriers to joining the Fediverse for average users — so here I go.

I’m sure a lot of this has been discussed ad nauseam, but I do have some specific starting suggestions at the end.

With corporate, single-instance social media, there’s one place you go sign up, and you’re in. You can find things that interest you with a simple search, and you can find people you know either by their names (Facebook) or by a very simple handle ([at]nickname). And if you’re trying to build up an online identity — say, for your new podcast — if you’re handle is unique enough you can end each episode with “and you can find us at MyNewPodcast on all the socials!”

Federated social media requires you to choose an instance before you can even sign up. But…

[average user voice]

  • What the hell’s an “instance”?
  • How do I choose one?
  • Why do I have to choose one?
  • What do their names mean?
  • What does the instance I choose say about me? -Does choosing one over another have any effect on the experience I will have?
  • How does someone on another instance find me?
  • How do I find someone on another instance?
  • How do I find topics on another instance? -Does my choice of instance affect my access to those topics?
  • Are the rules different on each instance?
  • Who sets the rules?
  • Where do I find them?
  • What if I want to change instances?
  • Will anyone be able to find me?
  • How will they know I’m still me?

[/end average user voice]

Federated social media also requires weirdly complicated handles. [average user voice]

  • Why are there two @ signs?
  • What does it mean if there’s a “!” instead of a “@” at the beginning?
  • What the hell are all these weird domain names?
  • Why can’t I be just [at]TheSameHandleIUsedOnTwitter?
  • If I’m trying to create an online identity, what’s to stop someone from using [at]MyHandle[at]SomeOtherInstance.url and posing as me?
  • What’s the Lemmy equivalent of a blue check?
  • If there isn’t one, how can anyone be sure someone on Lemmy saying they’re me really is me? -I mean, other than starting my own instance with recognizable name — but then I have to learn how to host my own instance.

[/end average user voice]

To be clear: I’m not literally asking these questions. I’m just illustrating some of the hurdles to adoption I described above, and some of the ways in which federated social media is exponentially more complicated than corporate social media.

As for solutions, I don’t have an all-encompassing proposal at the moment. But a good place to start would be to agree upon a single default instance for new users to sign up, so that instead of being faced with “first choose an instance,” it would be…

Welcome to Lemmy.URL, where you can join Lemmy communities for any topic, all over the world! What do you want your username to be?

  • [____________]

OK, do you want your username to use a common lemmy “instance,” like…

  • [ ] ____________ [at] lemmy.URL
  • [ ] ____________ [at] lemm.ee
  • [ ] ____________ [at] etc.

OR would you like more custom username connected to a particular Lemmy community, like…

  • [ ] ____________ [at] sci-fi-fans.url
  • [ ] ____________[at] knittingnuts.url
  • [find Lemmy instances where your username is available]
  • [I know which Lemmy instance I want to join first]

Choosing a community-based username doesn’t affect how you use Lemmy — no matter what community you chose, you’ll have access to all the same content, communities, users, and feeds.

The [find Lemmy instances] button would lead to a page where you check off various areas of interest to then get a curated subset of relevant instances with a reasonable amount of information about them to help new users select one.

The [I know which instance] button would have you fill in the name of the instance, check if your username is available, then take you to that sign-up page.

So…something akin to join-lemmy.org, but with a flow closers to what I’ve described above, with very few, easy, “common” default choices, and a little more help through the process of choosing a specialized instance (if you want one).

This onboarding suggestion doesn’t solve most of the problems/questions in my bullet lists (ideas still forming), but it would help prevent what happened to me the first few times I looked into Lemmy, which was that as soon as I saw I had to choose an instance before I did anything else — with pretty much zero information on what that meant or how it would affect my use of Lemmy — I said, “I don’t have the time for this.”

BTW, as I write this, my first Lemmy post, I will also add that the comment fields need to be WYSIWYG for if Lemmy ever hopes to be populated by refugees from Reddit, etc. Creating the quote section above was a huge pain in the ass, that required multiple rounds of [Preview] [Edit] [Preview] [Edit] [Preview] [Edit] [Preview] [Edit].

Food for thought. Cheers.

  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    10 days ago

    An automated default instance selection is a must.

    I would even go as far as removing the additional selection screens. Just have a small “choose custom instance” button with a “feel free to ignore this” clarification text.

    • Blaze (he/him) @lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      10 days ago

      An automated default instance selection is a must.

      Who manages this, and who defines the criteria?

      I’m personally recommending Lemm.ee by default nowadays, with posts like this

      What is Lemmy in one sentence?

      Lemmy is an alternative to Reddit, you can visit https://phtn.app/ to have a look at the content, and install an app using https://vger.app/settings/install.

      https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1j0xkqa/lemmy_as_an_alternative_to_reddit_using/

      Seems to address most of OP points without needing to rework join-lemmy.org

      • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        That’s a good intro text. Mine is similar.

        Who manages this, and who defines the criteria?

        You probably want a single URL like join-lemmy.org that manages the selector.

        Would likely need some algorithm based on geography and referral data, with some amount of randomisation.

        There is no simple solution, but removing instance selection (or any discussion around federation) is a must for on-boarding.

        Mind you, I do think there is value in talking about the benefits of federation - e.g. “A single entity cannot buy out Lemmy, it is designed to withstand such takeovers and remain independent”, but not about specific when people are just joining. The ones who are interested will figure it all out themselves.

        • Blaze (he/him) @lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          4·
          10 days ago

          You probably want a single URL like join-lemmy.org that manages the selector.

          Indeed, but my question was more: who decides to add or remove an instance from the selector. The current join-lemmy.org website still recommends lemmy.ml, as join-lemmy is managed by the lemmy.ml admins. The consensus nowadays seems to be that lemmy.ml isn’t probably the best recommendation for a new joiner (except if they agree with the .ml political stance, but that’s not every new joiner)

          https://pangora.social/join might be closer solution. Still, there is the risk of the person managing that website to arbitrarily remove an instance because they can.

          • 100WattWalrus@lemm.eeOPEnglish
            1·
            9 days ago

            There needs to be some kind of group effort — some kind of committee or something. Create couple general instances “co-owned” by 50 admins from 50 instances — something like that.

            How the handful of “introductory” instances are created, chosen, and maintained is definitely an issue that needs to be worked out. But they could be instances that are deliberately as general-interest as possible, but feature content (possible in different colors?) from other instances. New users get their bearings, get a taste for what’s out there, and slowly wander away from the “museum lobby” to start exploring different “galleries.”

            Ooo. I feel a metaphor coming on! going to do some brainstorming here:

            • Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, et al are like a huge Walmart — you can find a little of everything there, but the experience is uninspiring and uniform, and the people running it are all about the profit, not about quality or a good experience, or customer care, and a single point of entry and exit
            • The Fediverse is like a big farmer’s market — a lot of independent merchants coming together with their different booths, and food trucks, and stages, and all kinds of different merchandise and services. You can come into the farmer’s market from a bunch of different directions, and wander around or make a beeline for your favorite booths and hang out there all day.

            Of course, that’s somewhat undercuts my suggestion of having a general-interest instance, but maybe it’s a farmer’s market with a main entrance or something…

            /work in progress

          • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            Best option would be a contracted out 3rd party that gets baseline payment for managing the onboarding landing page and an additional bonus for 12 MAU growth.

            ML should of course be removed from the default instance pool. The Lemmy Devs should understand why this needs to be done if they are acting in good faith. Any Marxist-leninists and supporters of russian genocidal imperialism can find ML via other means.

              • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                10 days ago

                I get that, I am saying in an optimal world. Like if Europe happened to give a grant for independent European-hosted social networks.

        • 100WattWalrus@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          2·
          10 days ago

          Very much agree with this. Multiple onboarding instances that all work basically the same way, routing new users to them based on geography and language to start, and maybe when the sign-up in complete, the first post they see is an automated very basic primer that includes something about that Lemmy isn’t owned by anyone, let alone by a giant corporation that wants to collect and sell their identity.

            • 100WattWalrus@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              1·
              9 days ago

              That’s not bad. The graphics are immediately distracting, and if you don’t understand what they’re meant to symbolize, they’re just annoying. I still think a just a handful of general instances is a better idea because most people don’t think of social media a place they go for one or two interests, but a place they go for everything including those interests. Having said that, it’s a good flow…until you drill down far enough for it to become a cul-de-sac problem:

              • Entertainment — OK, sounds good
              • Movies & TV — so far so good
              • Star Trek (and nothing else) — well, no, so…now what? I guess this isn’t for me

              Yes, you can go back to the previous screen, but now you know there’s nothing here specific to your interests, so if you do stick around, you’re stuck just casting about for something to latch on to.

              This is why it would be better to just have a couple general instances, get people onboard, then have them start exploring.

      • 100WattWalrus@lemm.eeOPEnglish
        3·
        10 days ago

        Actually, that Reddit post was exactly the thing that got me thinking about this in the first place. That is not a post for average people. It starts out with an attempt at a simple explanation — “No need to understand federation, servers, or any technical jargon” — but very quickly devolves into exactly those things it said you didn’t need to understand. For example, it uses the word “server” 21 times without ever explaining what the word means. And, as I mentioned elsewhere, explainers shouldn’t be necessary. What’s needed is a cleaner, simpler UX. I’ve started by suggesting a clearer, simpler onboarding process. The rest I’m still noodling.

      • 100WattWalrus@lemm.eeOPEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        Who manages this, and who defines the criteria?

        That’s exactly the kind of thing the Lemmy community needs to figure out together. There doesn’t have to be just one, but there should only be a handful, and they should work basically the same way. Ideally some consortium or committee would come together to agree on a simplified protocol for onboarding. I realize that’s easier said than done in the early, Wild West days of Lemmy. But if the Fediverse is going to take off and undermine the billionaire-run social media networks, it needs to be easy enough for your grandma to understand it, and be able to sign up and get around without getting lost of confused.