Sometimes it feels like the about pages/sidebars across the fediverse are underappreciated to the point of being underused, so I thought it might be nice to see what some most appreciate in those abouts/sidebars that are used.

For me personally? If it's something kind of niche or obscure, or even something basic but kinda ambiguous, I dig a concise little description like "[blank] is a [genre/type] [band/game/tv show/etc.], [additional relevant info]".

Although if it catches my interest enough I will just post and ask because how else might I figure out the secret arcana of the Deep Hobbies?

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I've been experimenting with this for the communities I help with!

See sidebars for some examples:

!canada@lemmy.ca - using dropdowns to organize unwieldy lists
!medicine@mander.xyz - a long rules section was required
!newToLemmy@lemmy.ca, !communityPromo@lemmy.ca, !sockPuppetSociety@lemmy.ca for some shorter sidebars

I agree with the concise description, and I try to have that as the first thing in the sidebar. After that, I'm playing with the following, depending on how relevant each is:

A badge showing the total subscriber count, like this (click the badge for more info):
- I swap out the community name and play with the colors for each one
Community rules, as concisely as possible
Other helpful tips, little starter tips, etc.

I try to keep the sidebars clean and collapse as much info as I can. Here's a guide to the markdown you can use.

If there's something in one of the community sidebars that you want to replicate, let me know and I'll share the direct source :)

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago

Say there was a community for Pandas being silly: !sillyPandas@lemmy.example.com

A community for images and clips of pandas being silly

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), sometimes called a panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the red panda, a neighboring musteloid. [source]

Rules

Content must involve a panda. Red pandas are ok!
The panda must be doing something silly. Silliness is subjective, but aim for silliness
Follow lemmy.example.com instance rules

[–] raoulraoul@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Thanks!