Which is why, if you actually want to discuss something, it’s better to tag a group. For example, if you want to be part of an actual PC gaming community on the Fediverse, it’s better to tag @pcgaming@lemmy.ca than #pcgaming.

This needs to be common knowledge because people new to the Fediverse do not know about groups. Hell, I’d say people who have had Mastodon accounts for years still don’t know. And that’s a shame.

@fediverse@lemmy.world

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[–] shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol 6 points 4 days ago (2 children)

If you have zero interest in the fundamental architecture of the fediverse, why are you in this community? You're probably interacting with "cross pollination" way more than you realize.

[–] Steve 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I follow topics and have discussions on Lemmy, keep up with individuals and announcements on Mastodon, and look at cool photos on Pixelfed.
None of my accounts are following anything on other systems.

The reason I'm in this community is for discussions like this. We disagree on the nature of using he fundamental architecture of the Fediverse.
I think using Mastodon to engage in Lemmy discussions is extremely awkward without the threading to keep it all organized. Equally, Lemmy is designed specifically around following communities. Following individuals on Mastodon breaks the pattern of the feed. And good luck following either Mastodon accounts or Lemmy groups in Pixelfed.

However, having multiple decentralized servers within each system, is plenty of reason for the Fediverse to be better than a centralized platform. They don't Need to interoperate with each other.

[–] kudra@aus.social 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@Steve @shnizmuffin I follow one Lemmy community through my Mastodon account because it is mainly a casual chatty daily thread group. It +is+ weird, and not ideal as it doesn't show images for some reason, but I still kindof like that way of reading. I've got a separate Lemmy account for a bunch of Lemmy communities, and that works better generally. But I do like that they interoperate to some degree.

I also follow a bunch of hashtags and like them too. I find it all brilliant tbh, and love that it exists and isn't controlled by fucking billionaires.

[–] Steve 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That sounds good.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't be able to interoperate at all. Just that this kind of thing isn't, and never will be ideal. I'm pushing back on the idea, that one account for all the Fediverse is the best and greatest, that everyone should be striving for that goal.

It's a principal of reality. Trying to make something that can do everything, will mean it's not great at anything. Specialization is what allows society to grow to what it is. The Fediverse is no different.

[–] kudra@aus.social 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@Steve agree about specialisation. Differentiation and evolution is natural and important. But even more important for the #Fediverse to remain /able/ to differentiate and grow instead of falling to the wayside like so many social networks, is *interoperability*.

I've been saying it since the #LiveJournal days: many tried to create something to replace it, the code was open source, and there are many sites that forked, but they were never interoperable. What makes the Fediverse special is not that there are many different ways people are specialising (currently to ape the forms of social media that became dominant ie Twitter, IG, Reddit) but that they all *talk to each other* using the *same protocol*, even if in ways that aren't ideal.

Remember #XMPP? #Google killed it, and I guarantee there will be challenges in future, just like #Threads, that will try to do the same thing to the Fediverse (pretend to interoperate for a bit, then take interoperability away once they are dominant)... the only thing the Fediverse needs to get right is to keep the #interoperability and enough people to have fucking woken up to not get sucked into a Big Player taking the bulk of users out of that, that is much more important than anything. So far Fedi seemed to be resisting Threads admirably, especially since Lil' Broccoli bent the knee to the Orange Orangutan.

So yes, each corner of the Fediverse has different form factors and focus, and that's great. But being able to do what I do, even if it's not ideal, is absolutely crucial.

I'm looking forward to Fedi coming up with an IM that will get us right back to the days of XMPP, too (I believe @dansup is going to build one but that doesn't preclude someone else doing it too).

[–] kudra@aus.social 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

@Steve also, I just reread your earlier comment. Sure, it's important that these different areas of Fedi have decentralised servers, but that they can cross the barrier between different apps is going to continue to be very important. Especially for real world friendships. If you can get over the barrier of getting people to try Fedi at all (we all know a TON of people that didn't use any social media before Facebook, and now they won't use ANYTHING except FB messenger or sms to talk to people) then you can demonstrate that "look! It's like I'm posting on Twitter and you're reading it on Facebook!". I think that's going to be quite important for adoption, once normies hear enough about it to give it a try. We don't have a ton of active celebrities here but there are a few, and quite the concentration of SF writers, and they are always the ones to see the future 😊

[–] atomicpoet@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

For real. He replied to my Akkoma post, which tagged this Lemmy group. 😆

[–] Steve 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Which I would never respond to on Mastodon, as it's terrible for discussions.

[–] atomicpoet@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Mastodon is terrible for topical discussions because people don’t use groups. But they can if they knew how to use them.

You may say the system was not designed for cross-pollination, but the fundamental system is not Mastodon, and it’s not Lemmy: it’s ActivityPub.

Now do all these apps implement ActivityPub imperfectly? Yes. But eventually, some app will get it right—ideally one that will let you choose your preferred UI/UX on the fly.

[–] Steve 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

That would be cool. Might be useful. Not sure it's really possible.

[–] atomicpoet@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not only is it possible, there’s lots of Fediverse software that’s just designed to be a “dumb server” akin to Nginx. For example, appy:

https://appy.cat/

Now the reason this stuff hasn’t caught fire yet is because we’re just now moving away from “Fediverse = Mastodon”. So the idea of federation itself isn’t just a paradigm shift, it’s a complete system shock that disrupts our mental models for how social media is supposed to work.

[–] Steve 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's entirely dependent on the interface switching, or some kind of universal interface. That's the part I have serous doubts about. Keep in mind you have to make a single interface that work better than all the others on their respective native systems. I'm not sure that's possible.

[–] atomicpoet@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

You don’t need to make a single interface, just a “meta-interface” that allows you to switch UIs on the fly.

That’s entirely doable within a client.