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diff --git a/personal/phlog/23-07-11-fediverse.txt b/personal/phlog/23-07-11-fediverse.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ef30e1b..0000000 --- a/personal/phlog/23-07-11-fediverse.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,94 +0,0 @@ -Enter The Fediverse -=================== -11 July 2023 | https://www.mounderfod.online/2023/07/11/enter-the-fediverse.html - -If you havent heard, Reddit is in a bit of a pickle. In short, they have changed their API pricing -in such a way as to effectively make it impossible for 3rd party apps to continue, presumably in -order to improve that sweet ad revenue (a move probably inspired by Twitter's). In any case, the lack -of Reddit for a few days (and my general dissatisfaction with the platform at that time) led me to -explore alternatives, which led me to Lemmy, a finding which would cause me to dive much deeper into a much -wider thing - the Fediverse. This article will explore this process and how Ive found it so far. - -Lemmy ------ -As I said, the first thing that I'd found for this was Lemmy. Lemmy is, according to its own website: - -"a selfhosted social link aggregation and discussion platform. It is completely free and open, and not -controlled by any company. This means that there is no advertising, tracking, or secret algorithms. Content is -organized into communities, so it is easy to subscribe to topics that you are interested in, and ignore others. -Voting is used to bring the most interesting items to the top." - -Sounds cool, and most importantly, very similar to Reddit UX-wise, so I went and made an account. - -I should probably explain something out of the gate - there isnt one Lemmy website. Thats the whole point of -the Fediverse. Instead, there are many instances of Lemmy, all of which are federated, that is to say, they are -all interconnected. From my instance, I can make a post on another instance, which a user from yet another -instance can comment on. This way, there is no central authority for the whole site. Its like crypto, but -without the enormous range of scams and profiteering. - -Anyway, the instance that I decided to start with was lemmy.blahaj.zone. I was told that the instance you start -with doesnt really matter, so I chose this one on somewhat silly grounds - I own a Blahaj myself. - -It worked pretty well to begin with, as from my perspective it seemed to be working just like Reddit; I could -make posts, join communities, and so on. However, I quickly noticed that choosing an instance wasnt going to be -as simple for me as I had anticipated, due to my own pickiness and the particulars of federation. - -How federation works (a crude explanation) ------------------------------------------- -Obviously, it would be wildly inefficient if every server shared everything that happened on it with every -server. As a result, federation on ActivityPub (the protocol that Lemmy, Mastodon, and more - including the -dreaded Meta Threads - use as their base) works like this: - -1. a user on server A requests a post/user/community on server B by using the search function -2. server B provides what they requested and creates a federated link between it and server A -3. any future activity on the post/user/community is sent to server A for anyone to see - -This is probably an oversimplification, and it doesnt work 100% of the time (particularly when federating -between servers running different software), but from my observations this is basically how it works. - -This is also where my issue with the instance Id chosen came up. There was nothing inherently wrong with the -instance or its admins, and in fact it was a lovely instance, but several of the communities that I was -interested in (such as the Modded Minecraft or RetroWeb ones) had not yet federated properly. This is no fault -of the instances, and once I had searched for them myself, any new activity would be visible to me. But I am an -impatient moron, and I wanted to see what the existing activity was, and besides I began to notice that not all -comments on posts were being federated to me (such that going to the home instance of the post showed more -comments than I could see or respond to on my own instance), and this bothered me for some reason, so I decided -that I would begin to look for another instance. - -Side note: This issue is probably fixed now as the instance has grown some since the time of this experience. - -Conveniently, it became apparent to me on that same day that the SDF network, a lovely network of Internet -services, including a public Unix shell, had recently set up a Lemmy server. I had been a member of SDF for a -couple of weeks, and had been using their IRC and bulletin board during that time, so I figured I would set up -an account there - and besides, I checked in advance, and the federation seemed to be more to my liking - so -now Ive been using lemmy.sdf.org as my home instance and its been great - my username is -@mounderfod@lemmy.sdf.org if youre curious. - -Mastodon --------- -Of course, if youre familiar with the Fediverse (or have read the article up to this point), -you know that Lemmy is not the only Fediverse service that exists. Next for me was a replacement for Twitter, -which Id ditched on the day it was bought by Elon Musk (a fact which turned out to be excellent foresight on my -part, but realistically I was going to delete my account anyway, so it wasnt exactly a stroke of genius). - -This one was a little easier, since I discovered that SDF also had a Mastodon instance. I have to say that in -recent times Ive found myself using Mastodon a lot more than Lemmy; theres more users so theres more content -for me to access, and the lack of algorithm is really refreshing because it allows me to build my feed with -only the content (and people) that I want to see. - -If youd like to follow me on Mastodon my account is @mounderfod@mastodon.sdf.org. - -Other services and conclusion ------------------------------ -By this point I was fully immersed in the Fediverse, and quickly set up Pixelfed to replace Instagram and -Funkwhale to store my personal music collection. I also intend to set up my website with IndieWeb, which is -basically federation for blogs. - -At the start of this article, I explained that this all started because of Reddits API changes. But the truth -is, I was starting to become disillusioned with the mainstream social media networks long before this, with the -constant algorithms, ragebait and promotion of far-right content putting a drain on my own energy. I was -perhaps longing for freedom to control what I put my attention on. If this sounds like you, then I would -strongly recommend that you at least try the Fediverse networks - in any case, its much easier to delete your -account with them than with e.g. Facebook if you dont like it! - -I hope this article was of at least some interest to you, and thank you for making it this far :D |