this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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Fediverse

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A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to !moderators@lemmy.world!

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 64 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Discord for large communities is dumb as shit. There's literally too many people that real communication becomes impossible unless you move to DMs or an empty room.

[–] Lightfire228@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I spend a lot of time in the r/furry discord server

It's a wonderful place to just chat. Imo, discord is fine as a chatroom

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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 10 months ago (5 children)

As for funding, the servers are supported on a donation basis, with no big corporations behind them. This leads to a problem concerning user data and privacy, as there isn't a single accountable entity behind the network.

Bit of a weird take now, isn't it?

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think both things are valid points, but it's worded in a weird way

A more explicit pro/con would have been better

No big corporation that controls everything

  • Pro:
  • Con:
[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 10 months ago

This is a good point. Had it been presented like this, it would have hit different.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 17 points 10 months ago (5 children)

It's actually not wrong if you look at it in another way.

  • Big tech will abuse your data, but it will do within legal constraints, and there is actuall (though weak) accountability of these companies due to the legal system.
  • On federated services like Lemmy, instances are hosted by anonymous individuals. Most social media laws don't apply to them, and their legal accountability is basically zero.
  • Lemmy, for example, does not comply with GDPR. There is no legal notice, no privacy contact person, no banner asking whether you are ok with the fact that your data is sent to unknown servers in random nations, no nothing. Private messages aren't even encrypted, so any admin can read them without issues.
  • There is no way to actually delete your data, as the GDPR requires. Deleted posts are only marked as deleted and you can see their plain text content by just pressing the "reply" button in any of the apps. There isn't any kind of guarantee, that your post will be deleted on other instances. If federation has problems, the post will remain on other instances and is now permanently undeletable by the user.
  • There are no moderation standards. Some instances will delete nazi content, some basically require nazi content. And some instance admin might even edit your posts to say something completely different. It's all possible and in the hands of random people on the internet.
  • Hobbyist-run services are much worse when it comes to availability and reliability. If something happens while the admin is on holiday, nothing will get fixed. If the admin runs out of money, doesn't care anymore or even dies, the instance with all it's content and users is just gone.

So there are very real risks attached to a hobbyist-run service with no legal accountability and no transparency at all.

We all know the downsides of Big Tech though, so it's everyone's personal choice to figure out which disadvantages hurt them personally more.

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Very much this. Plus, how easy will instance admin Joe Schmoe fold under external pressure to give access to certain groups, government bodies etc? And how well have Joe Schmoe implemented good security practices on the server and related things? Etc.

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[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 10 months ago (10 children)

It's kind of fair, to be honest, and the "no big corporation" seems more like a pro than a con

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Eh, it is a con when there are problems, service problems, bugs, etc...

My instance have had a few of them and for a while our 1 admin was unavailable.

It is difficult or impossible to get it resolve because there is no contact point, nobody hired to fix issues that need immediate triage, etc... which can result in longer outages or bugs on specific instances.

I'm not complaining. This is a fantastic service that is being offered completely free from actual altruistic incentives, unlike corporations. There are a few downsides though.

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Definitely, that's why I always prefer instances with at least two admins, and a Matrix room for status updates

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[–] dandroid@dandroid.app 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I think it is a valid point, though. How do GDPRs even work on Lemmy? Do you need to submit one to every instance that your instance is federated with? What about transitively federated instances? Sometimes when you delete something, the delete action doesn't get federated. That's kind of terrifying. If you post something personally identifying without realizing it, then try to delete it, you might not be able to.

Imo, it's something to keep on mind when posting on Lemmy, but not a reason to not use it.

Someone recently reminded me of the privacy issues here on Lemmy. Not so much concerned about my admin, but the inability to delete content was a big concern for me when I was first deciding on a new platform after leaving reddit at the end of June 2023. Sometimes I forget.

It is a good point, and I somewhat regret making that comment. It just was worded oddly in the article.

I used to spend a lot more time on raddle, but my addiction to fresh content is real, and there's just a lot more here than there. Perhaps I should "be the change" and all that noise.

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

there isn’t a single accountable entity behind the network

Yeah, Instead of a single entity i know will never be held accountable for selling my data and storing my information in an unencrypted txt file, there are unknown entities! Like the ~~Simpsons~~ (d'oh) quote says, "It could even be a boat!"

The illogic reminds me a bit of Google's new targeted ad privacy settings where your "privacy" is google's pinky swear that they alone are profiting from you.

When you see takes this weird do you wonder as i do whether it is intentionally worded to push some kind of narrative (though i don't really know what that would even be in this case), or is it written by someone so deeply in the tech bubble world that they are wildly out of touch? I don't know.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Re "It could even a boat", that's Family Guy https://youtu.be/GKZJdaiJF84

But your point still stands.

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[–] IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee 35 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I gotta look into this Lemmy thing. Sounds right up my alley.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 5 points 10 months ago

Nah, foget about Lemmy. The name isn’t edgy enough. Just think about Discord, Squabble, Insultr, TauntTornado, FuryFurnace or FistFight.

[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Cavemanfreak@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Lemmy, the singer of Motörhead that died 2015?

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[–] rimu@piefed.social 28 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In that list, only Lemmy has voting or comments in a tree, both key features that make reddit into reddit. If I was going to put together a list of reddit alternatives, those last 3 wouldn't be on it.

[–] rimu@piefed.social 12 points 10 months ago

Oh, except hacker news. But it's just one topic, people can't make their own communities/groups/subreddits another key reddit feature.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Lemmy is great if you love Linux and Star Trek. If you're really into cybersecurity and privacy Lemmy has it all.

[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I'm into Linux, but also into Factorio and motorcycles.

Lemmy genuinely is a replacement for r/Linux because the activity here is just as high as there.

But there is very few content about Factorio and motorcycles here. They are communities, but they don't really replace the reddit ones, especially r/factorio.

Edit: Almost forgot about incremental games. Basically no content exists on those here.

[–] alice_mac@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Hopefully they will one day!

[–] Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

As a not really techy person but one who has been cruising online for a long long time I feel Lemmy is a lot like old old Reddit. Reddit was full of techies when I joined. It grew over the years into a bigger thing but it started with a bunch of nerds talking about shit I didn't understand.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 3 points 10 months ago

Yes, I feel the same way. Reminds my of reddit circa '07 back when r/Conservative was an anti-Bush subreddit.

[–] CultHero@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I had been on reddit since 2008, I was looking for an alternative to the message boards I belonged to after the popularity of Facebook killed them off. I really enjoyed it, not the same level of community that you find in a message board but still good for conversation.

Then trump happened and it turned to shit. It's so fucking toxic and I ended up getting banned for defending myself. Apparently fascism is good and standing up for yourself goes against community standards.

I'm a disabled 49 year old just looking for conversation. Facebook is also a toxic wasteland now. To say I miss myspace is an understatement but there's hardly anyone there anymore.

I'm happy whenever I find a place that's put the social back into social media because antisocial media is just trash.

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 10 months ago

Welcome! Feel free to join !casualconversation@lemmy.world, usually it's quite laid back

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 17 points 10 months ago (16 children)

Key strengths of Lemmy

  1. Federation
  2. Tankies
  3. Star Trek memes
  4. Star Trek memes community civil war
[–] GilgameshCatBeard@lemmy.ca 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Tankies are a strength?

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 6 points 10 months ago

Why are tankies a key strength? Or do you mean purely for entertainment value?

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] moon@lemmy.cafe 11 points 10 months ago

Lemmy has a large World of Tanks game community

[–] pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe 6 points 10 months ago

Don't ask. 🤦

[–] ShittyKopper@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 10 months ago
  1. Linux tech support
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[–] crazyminner@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago

There are dozens of us, dozens!

[–] TheVillageGuy@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 10 months ago

Mbin https://github.com/MbinOrg/mbin

Pro for me: the ui is a bit more intuitive

[–] ApeNo1@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

Mentioned the Apollo / Reddit saga but did not list Voyager as a client for Lemmy which at least for me has been the closest client in terms of Apollo experience. I know this is Android Police but it did talk about Android and IOS clients in the article.

[–] Resol@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

No wonder why I'm called "Resol van Lemmy" now.

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