Fedigrow

Right now on Lemmy we have a bunch of dad-based communities with varying levels of discussion. From the ones I can find, we have:

!dadworld@lemmy.world - last few posts were about a month ago. Mod was last active 10 months ago.

!daddit@kbin.social - last couple posts were about 2 months ago. The post before that was about 5 months ago. Not sure about mod activity.

!dads@feddit.uk - last post was yesterday, with some other posts in past few weeks. Mod was last active 6 months ago.

!dadsonly@lemmy.world - last post was a few weeks ago, with a couple months in between posts after that. Mod was last active 10 months ago.

!dadsplain@lemmy.ca - last couple posts were a week ago. With about a month or so between posts after that. Both mods were last active a year ago.

!dadvice@lemmy.world - last post was 3 months ago. Mod was last active 2 months ago.

!fatherverse@midwest.social - last post was about a month ago, and the one before that was about 4 months ago. Mod was last active today.

To help facilitate discussion, what do you all think about consolidating the dad-based discussion to one of those groups (preferably a somewhat moderated one, which just seems to be fatherverse…) for now?

Modlog visible here: https://lemmy.world/modlog/2

Or on !fediverse@lemmy.world

I have no stake in this argument (centralization on both lemmy.ml and lemmy.world is detrimental in my opinion), but I found it kind of ironic.

Not sure if this is the best place to post it, but didn't know of any "neutral" fediverse communities, so I guess this one works.

Edit: the thread itself: https://lemmy.world/post/16211417

Some examples of removals/bans: https://reddthat.com/post/20718767/11186767

Same logic as for the !dataisbeautiful is another thread, let's discuss a few options in the comments below

I live in California and am sick of good legislation being sidelined by lobbyists. So, let's identify ideas for how voters (in any state) can improve their situation via direct democracy

I previously posted this topic on the main Star Wars community, but it was removed for being too meta. Which is fair enough but it does leave is in a Catch 22 situation as you can't exactly get a SW instance started if you can't discuss starting one. Fortunately, @blaze@lemm.ee was kind enough to suggest this instance would be a good venue for such discussions, so here we are.

So here's the original post with additional thoughts arising from the discussion or subsequent pondering:

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In a Fediverse, far far away...

I have been involved in a few discussions about how to help the Fediverse grow and diversify and one thing I feel is key is to have more specific instances rather than large general purposes ones. It helps people when they are signing up and can help give communities a home. I know because I signed up with feddit.uk, helped grow the place and am now part of the Admin team.

Or, to cut a long story short, should there be a Star Wars Lemmy instance? Today seems the perfect time to open the discussion.

After all, there are other focused instances like:

• startrek.website
• sffa.community
• literature.cafe
• ttrpg.network
• adultswim.fan
• dormi.zone
• futurology.today
• lemmy.radio
• hobbit.world

Could move across existing communities:

[edit: see more comprehensive list below]

And there are a lot of potential others:

• A community per film and show
• SW Books - with potential to spin-off popular and long-running series
• SW Comics
• SW Board Games
• SW Video Games
• SW Cosplay
• SW Helmets
• SW Lightsabers
• SW Galaxy of Heroes
• The Empire Did Nothing Wrong

Possible names? A lot of obvious ones will have been scooped up or you risk copyright infringement, but how about:

• Fediverse's Edge

[edit: I found a discussion on the old place, about starting a Star Wars Mastodon instance and you could share resources and expertise by Hosting them on the same server. Which led me to suggest Fediverse's Edge as the umbrella domain with the Mastodon instance at Tootooine and thr Lemmy one at something like Lemmandalore). If you were doing this then you could also include an instance of BookWyrm, Galactic Library?, that would bring the Star Wars novels and comics front and centre. It could be a good example for others thinking of setting up instances for transmedia franchises like this - a Marvel part of the Fediverse, for example. It would really help people sign up to a chunk of the Fediverse as it is either all in one place or you could direct people elsewhere, to, say, a Pixelfed instance dedicated to toy photography.

Other name suggestions:

• tattooine.social
• dagobah.space
• hoth.books
• coruscant.forum
• bespin.io
• thesenate.domain
• thesenate.im
• unknownregion ]

May the FOSS be with you.

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Those who contributed to that previous thread are: @Blaze@reddthat.com @OpenStars@discuss.online @inlandempire@jlai.lu @Statick@programming.dev @wjrii@lemmy.world @slazer2au@lemmy.world

And some who have been engaged in Star Wars instance discussion since (why I am bumping this post up my to-do list: @sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al @ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world ]

I also had a second post removed that listed all the Star Wars communities and it was relevant for this discussion to show the breadth of existing Star Wars discussion on here:

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As a lot haven't federated over to my instance I went digging, so you may as well have the list:

Star Wars:

• !star_wars@lemmy.world - you are here
• !starwars@lemmy.world [edit: this has since been locked]
• !starwars@lemmy.ml
• !starwars@lemmygrad.ml
• !Starwars@kbin.social
• !starwars@lemmy.dbzer0.com
• !starwars@latte.isnot.coffee

Misc:

• !starwarstelevision@lemmy.world
• !starwarsfigures@lemmy.world
• !starwarscollecting@lemmy.world
• !legostarwars@lemm.ee
• !starwarseu@lemmy.ml
• !thehighrepublic@sh.itjust.works
• !mawinstallation@lemmy.world
• !starwarscantina@chirp.social
• !starwarsmemes@lemmy.world
• !starwarsmemes@lemmy.ml
• !otmemes@lemmy.ml
• !prequelmemes@lemmy.ml
• !starwarsdadjokes@lemmy.world
• !starwarsspeculation@lemmy.world

TV and film:

• !starwarstelevision@lemmy.world
• !themandalorian@lemmy.world
• !themandaloriantv@lemmy.world
• !starwarswhatif@lemmy.world

Games:

• !swgalaxyofheroes@lemmy.world
• !swgoh@lemmy.world
• !swlegion@lemmy.world
• !swrpg@lemmy.world
• !swtor@lemmy.world
• !starwarsarmada@lemmy.world
• !sw_unlimited@lemmy.ml
• !starwarsempireatwar@lemmy.world

[edit: I've since started !starwarshunters@lemmy.zip ]

NSFW:

• !starwarsnsfw@lemmynsfw.com - in case you are unsure, it's definitely NSFW

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Those who contributed to this thread: @Blaze@reddthat.com

Edit: Update: community is created, !dataisbeautiful@mander.xyz !

Edit: Update: posted to !mander@mander.xyz for their feedback: https://reddthat.com/post/20241853

Hello everyone,

The most current active community is !dataisbeautiful@lemmy.ml.

Due to all the discussions that are now happening on !fediverse@lemmy.world about moving away from lemmy.ml due to their abuse moderation practices (https://feddit.nl/post/16246531), should we consider creating an alternative.

!dataisbeautiful@lemmy.world exists but seems unmanaged and I would rather avoid another LW community.

Maybe we could contact mander.xyz at !mander@mander.xyz to see what they think?

!mapporn@lemmy.world has been locked down in favor of !map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz

!starwars@lemmy.world was locked down today in favor of !star_wars@lemmy.world

Are there other communities we should try to consolidate?

We had a few AMA in the past, the most recent one being by a director/actor on !movies@lemm.ee : https://lemm.ee/post/31335226?scrollToComments=true

Those seems like a good opportunity to promote the platform.

Who do you think would be a good candidate that we could reach out to?

Link to the graphs: https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats

One of the advantages of a decentralized platform like Lemmy is the ability to create parallel communities on the same topic. "You don't like how a community is being moderated? Go to another instance and start a new community!" (with or without blackjack and hookers)

However, I think this is also a double-edged sword. The creation of multiple communities on the same (or similar) topics can also fragment the userbase, leading to very sparsely populated communities.

Example: I am open to being wrong, but I don't currently see a need for five distinct Harry Potter sublemmies with (nearly) identical names:

• !harrypotter@lemmy.world
• !harrypotter@literature.cafe
• !harrypotter@lemm.ee
• !harrypotter@feddit.nl
• !harry_potter@diagonlemmy.social

There are also some other miscellaneous HP related communities:

• !hpfanfiction@lemmy.world
• !harry_potter_fanfic@diagonlemmy.social
• !harry_potter_memes@diagonlemmy.social
• !leaky_cauldron@diagonlemmy.social
• !dramione@lemmy.world (ew, but you do you, I suppose)
• !hp_magicawakened@lemm.ee
• !harry_potter_languages@lemmy.world
• !hufflepuff@lemmy.world
• !slytherin@lemmy.world
• !slytherin@sopuli.xyz
• !slytherin@lemmy.ml

I suspect that many of these were created during the 2023 Rexxit, when instances were less stable, and there was a temporary period of massive growth.

Now that Lemmy is more stable, would the moderators of the above communities consider some form of cooperative consolidation? If not, what distinct purpose do the separate communities serve?

A couple arguments in favour of consolidation: (credits to @Ashyr@sh.itjust.works and @otter@lemmy.ca)

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/11171955

I think until there’s some tool or system that helps collate all the information out here, fragmentation is detrimental to growth.

I’m not going to copy and paste the same comment with every mirrored post.

So sometimes commenting feels like a waste of time.

Centralizing helps ensure that there’s vibrant, consistent discussion which is what Lemmy should be about.

https://sh.itjust.works/post/18388026

I like this because people showing up to those communities might think that topic doesn’t have activity on Lemmy, when it actually does.

I sometimes think that unmoderated communities should be closed, and just be left and locked with a pointer to the active one. In case an issue arises with the active one, they can still be unlocked and used as back up.

The next question is, of course "Which instance should we consolidate to?"

• !harrypotter@lemmy.world is currently the largest sub, but also the largest instance, and moving off of the largest instance would be good for the Fediverse as a whole.
• !harrypotter@literature.cafe seems appropriate, given that Harry Potter is, well, a book. Large sub on a small instance.
• !harrypotter@lemm.ee is a small sub on a large instance.
• !harrypotter@feddit.nl is very small, but European. (Might feddit.uk be an option?)
• !harry_potter@diagonlemmy.social is also an option, but risky given the fragility of the instance. Could blue_berry provide some assurances that the instance will be stable for the foreseeable future, and perhaps improve the bus factor of the instance?

My hunch is that a stable, medium-sized instance would be best. What are your thoughts? Is consolidation worth a try?

If nothing else, the experiment could serve as a test for whether or not consolidation is effective in boosting engagement and discussion.

A few ideas from the top of my head

• Flairs that can be allowed to filter content in a community
• Major online communites (can be subreddits, or other communities) moving to Lemmy
• Reddit removing old.reddit
• Reddit banning people using VPNs (already happening, see !reddit@lemmy.world )
• Lemmy becoming the reference source of knowledge for a certain domain

Second point is probably crucial, but I don't see any major subreddit wanting to move here. StarTrek is the exception more that the rule.

Perhaps after some amount of time having announced themselves over in !newcommunities@lemmy.world and !communitypromo@lemmy.ca, or...I don't know if there are communities for instances (the fediverse communities, presumably?), but likewise for them?

The combination of a promotional space and discussion for helping grow communities/instances could help ensure there's always some activity keeping this community visible to those seeking help.

I’ve searched for older Lemmy posts on Google just to see if they are getting indexed and I don’t think most are? Can anyone else confirm. I think if Lemmy showed up in more google searches like Reddit it would bring new users

I noticed the new betas have the ability to upload video clips. I think this has been a huge missing feature that Reddit and other social media platforms have

I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it feels a bit lonely. I try to post on a few generic communities

• !interestingasfuck@lemm.ee
• !casualconversation@lemmy.world
• !movies@lemm.ee
• !lego@lemmy.world
• !map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz
• !comicbooks@lemmy.world
• !avatar@lemmy.world

Sometimes I can be the only poster for a few weeks. Makes me requestion the relevance of posting at all. I started posting to !pics@lemmy.world recently just because at least my posts are widely seen, and other people post there as well.

Small post to ping a few people who might have interesting insight on the questions discussed in this community.

Probably a very polarizing question.

On the one hand, having most of the users and communities on LW causes technical issues (see this post), and also gives the LW staff too much power over Lemmy as a whole.

On the other hand, with 18k MAU on LW out of 47k (https://fedidb.org/software/lemmy/), every community listed there has a much higher chance of visibility compared to an alternative hosted on another instance

History of LW controversial decisions

• when they promoted Discord as an official communication channel (https://lemmy.world/post/3478399 - since then they created a Matrix chat)
• when they blocked the piracy communities (https://lemmy.world/post/13320356 )
• when they announced they might move from Lemmy to Sublinks (some comments from LW admins were quite controversial: https://lemmy.world/post/13899357 )
• when they forced the media bias fact checker bot and discarded user feedback (https://lemmy.world/post/18775630 - to be fair, they since then removed it from !news@lemmy.world , it's still in !politics@lemmy.world )
• when they realized centralization of communities on LW was impacting the ability of other instances to stay up to date (https://lemmy.world/post/13967373 )
• when they updated their rules following a power trip overtake of a community (https://feddit.org/post/2308651 )

When you look at https://beehaw.org/communities, you can see that there are only a few communities, but they are diverse enough to cover most of the topics you would have to discuss on the Internet.

I sometimes think that could be a model we could try to replicate across several instances:

• technology: !technology@lemmy.world
• gaming: !games@sh.itjust.works
• chat: !casualconversation@lemm.ee
• etc.

It would allow to aggregate people around a few core communities and avoid dispersion and fragmentation. Of course, it would need some agreements in the community, and some people would probably want to keep their community as "the main one" opposed to the other, but that could still be valuable.

What do you think?

I'm mostly thinking about LW communities where nobody posts but which have active counterparts on other instances