How did Lemmy.world become more popular than Lemmy.ml? - eviltoast

I don’t understand how Lemmy.world developers managed to surpass both Lemmy.ml and Beehaw.org instances in user activity.

  • liktwo@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I think you nailed it. It comes down to usability and user experience. Migrating from Reddit and not knowing shit about fuck, I obviously choose the largest sounding instance (.world). I still haven’t understood the whole thing yet, but the novelty is exciting and I’m willing to learn. Mass adoption needs a more streamlined experience though.

    • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      Honestly going for the ‘largest’ instance is kind of dumb naive. Smaller, faster instances provide a much better experience. Bigger is not better in the fediverse.

      The whole point is to decentralise power away from a single instance, CEO or monopoly. If you’re on a small instance you can still see all the content you want from all the other instances and you might even get a meaningful say in how your experience develops.

      We don’t want to build another Reddit we want to build an alternative that is better structured.

      • antonim@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Honestly going for the ‘largest’ instance is kind of dumb. Smaller, faster instances provide a much better experience. Bigger is not better in the fediverse.

        Ok, but how is a new user supposed to know that?

      • knaugh@frig.social
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        1 year ago

        Then there should be a single unified sign up page that sends you to a random instance or something. You still need an easy onboarding process for less technical people

        • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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          1 year ago

          I don’t know, I kind of like that it’s something new to get your head around. It’s a pretty fundamentally different type of internet than what we have now. It reminds me of what it was like back in dial up days.

      • parlaptie@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Is it really that dumb though? Small instances might provide a better experience until they close down.

        • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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          1 year ago

          But small instances are very low cost to run, so much so that a few donations from their users is usually enough to cover the costs and upkeep.