First off, pro tip, if you commented again because your first was “stuck” with the spinny button, try refreshing and check if it took before you comment again. I have to do that most of the time and it takes and just doesn’t update correctly. @ruud@ruud@lemmy.world is working on it but last I heard he has no idea wtf is up with that lol.

As for the comment itself, the big one is Tildes, but I know of at least two others I don’t recall the names of. One I think is more new and reactionary but Tildes and (I believe) the third have been around for a while. People are flocking here because it’s trending in conversations around alternatives because it’s decentralized. The problem is those people don’t WANT a decentralized service because then it means, well, there’s no central organizational authority (almost like that’s what the word means or something.)

They’re bailing on Reddit because the leadership is spazzing out (so hard to not write spezzing out lol), they’re avoiding Tildes because they think it’s too much like Reddit and whoever built it is equally going to go sideways on everyone, they’re avoiding the others because they don’t have the population yet to be interesting, but then they’re coming here and getting mad that it ISN’T Reddit. They want a 100:100 ratio of control:UX (usability, centrality, aesthetic, etc etc,) to both not be beholden to a central authority while ALSO having everything handfed to them from a single access point, and that’s not how things work.

Centralized systems like Reddit or Google “just work” because all data exists exclusively on their servers under their control. You get a pretty, snappy experience because you get THEIR experience THEY crafted to access THEIR systems. You have VERY limited control, but it “just works” and the super non techy just get the magic scrolling sauce they crave without a clue of how any of it happens. It’s a 10:90 split of control:UX.

Here, There’s no central authority to burn the Earth, and if you don’t like how Instance A is run, you can fire up your own instance and do what the fuck ever you want to on it. You have ultimate control, but that means that all the content and data is scattered across the web, across servers, across the globe. Everyone is doing their own thing, the way they want, controlling access and content the way they want, and no two instances are the same. It’s great for that but you can’t have some big central compilation service without a big central authority hosting and controlling it all from up high. For example, if I run lemmy.yeet, and I don’t like what lemmy.beet is doing, I can stop federating with that instance entirely and our home users will have no access to the other’s instance. It’s a 90:10 split of control:UX.

I appreciate your analogy of traveling to a foreign place, ironically I just typed up a long page using the globe as a lemmy analogy (countries = instances, cities = communities, London exists in like 3 countries, doesn’t mean they’re connected) so it’s quite fitting haha.

As you can see, I’m open to discussing it and I try to help people understand because while I’m techy I get that most people just play on their magic rectangle and never think about it again. It just irks me watching people, in keeping with the analogy, going to India and demanding that they install toilets STAT OR ELSE.

Tildes is the main one I’m aware of but I’ve read of a few others that I don’t recall the names of.

That’s funny because one of the first things I read about Lemmy after learning of it was the “Don’t tell people it’s easy” article:

https://privacy.thenexus.today/kbin-lemmy-fediverse-learnings-from-mastodon/

I see alot of people using an email analogy that people don’t seem to follow, I saw another analogy so I’ll give it a go (and probably butcher it haha.)

You have the planet, right? “Lemmy” as a concept, the “Fediverse” is the planet. Then, you have countries. Large, all encompassing central entities, each with it’s own ruling government and systems. What you can get away with in Ireland, might not be legal in Turkey. Instances (or servers) like lemmy.world, lemmy.ml, etc are the “countries.” Each can have it’s own standards, practices, rules, etc. Then the communities are like cities in those countries, beholden to the larger entity but otherwise allowed to run themselves and do what they do.

For your last question, let’s look at those communities (cities, per our analogy.) Say I live in Franklin, Maine. Around town, if you’re talking about home you don’t say Franklin, Maine all the time do you? It’s just Franklin, because if you’re in Maine (or your home country if not US) it’s presumed you’re talking about the Franklin that you’re in (or the Franklin down the road if you live two cities over.)

There’s still a Franklin in Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, and like 40 other states. ^(Thanks wiki :P) So if I wanted to talk about or visit one of THOSE Franklins, I would specify Franklin, Idaho, or Franklin, Illinois. That’s the “Fediverse.”

(Pretend for a minute we are in a community /c/puppies for this bit so it’s less confusing) This group, for us, is just /c/puppies because it’s our local /c/puppies, just as I from your perspective am just @CannaVet because we are both in our home “country” of lemmy.world (the instance/server.) If you look at one of the replies to the comment you replied to, you will see someone as @JakeBacon@lemm.ee. He is visiting our “country” of lemmy.world, from his home “country” of lemm.ee. Over in the “country” of lemm.ee, they may also have a community (city) of /c/puppies which is notated as such to HIM because it’s local to his home country just as ours is to us - but for us to visit would be “traveling” so we would visit /c/puppies@lemm.ee because we’re leaving home and visiting another country. For him to come here he has to come to /c/puppies@lemmy.world because HE would be the “traveler.”

Same with users, I’m just @CannaVet and you’re just @Swoggles because we’re “at home” on lemmy.world, but if we click around and are perusing a community on lemmy.ml we would show as @CannaVet@lemmy.world and @Swoggles@lemmy.world because we’re “traveling.” There may be a @Cannavet@lemmy.ml, but on lemmy.ml they would just be @CannaVet and I would be @CannaVet@lemmy.world, because I’m visiting their “country.” If they come here I’m @CannaVet and they’re @CannaVet@lemmy.ml.

We’re different users, with different accounts, on different servers, completely unrelated. Communities work the same way - I may run /c/stuff@lemmy.world however I want, but somebody might be running /c/stuff@lemmy.ml completely differently with completely different rules and content entirely over on that instance.

As for exploring different instances, you can go most anywhere you want (mostly, my understanding is instances can block other instances from access, but I’m not super in the know about that.) Using the “all” button in search and browsing will open you up to other instance’s content vs the “local” button that keeps you in your “home country.”

I don’t understand entirely how to link out to other instances, but if you click a link and end up logged out on a different server, you can manually visit by adding the community to the end of your URL like so-

lemmy.world/c/technology@lemmy.ml

This will keep you on lemmy.world and ensure you’re “just visiting” where you’re trying to go. Once everyone has a better grasp this shouldn’t be a problem but I’ve run into this issue a few times.

Cliffs Notes-

Instances (lemmy.ml, lemmy.ml, lemm.ee, etc) are top level “countries” and run things as they see fit

Communities (/c/puppies, /c/lemmy.world, etc) are “cities” bound by instance administration and can exist on multiple instances completely independently of eachother, like how London, England exists independently of London, France.

If you run into trouble visiting communities on other instances, manually navigate with lemmy.world/c/commname@instance.url (or lemmy.ml/c/commname.url if you’re registered on lemmy.ml, etc etc.)

Sorry for the wall, hope it’s at all helpful lol.