Public opinion seems to be souring on all the big corporate social media sites, and I truly think if we’re able to get the word out about federated social media platforms, people will jump ship.
Also, it’s hard to dislike a platform that isn’t showing ads, selling user data, or generally making decisions for the enrichment of shareholders.
It’s so weird, I don’t even notice the lack of ads most of the time (pihole, never leave home, so it’s roughly the same experience I’m used to)
But when I go out? Oh man fediverse is the only site I’ll use because I know it’s safe from ads. The other privacy/user-focus stuff is just a bonus.
(I don’t have any friends around here, so just sort of go out to be out, and usually for food)
Inevitably there will be a fediverse instance with ads, but whether or not people want to use it will be up to the individual.
As long as the ads don’t federate in an un-blockable way, they can do as they like. I wouldn’t make an account there, I’d rather donate actual money than have a degraded experience (which for sure works out better for everyone), but I get the drive to monetize.
And they should absolutely -not- be allowed to federate ads, for any reason, since it goes against the vibe. But inevitably there will be “sponsored posts” (probably already are), and I think those instances/users will see themselves fade to oblivion, as long as new users are brought to understand that they could just chip in $2 and never see an ad.
I use Boost and it has ads. But they’re ignorable as a banner here and there, not constantly. I can live with that.
What you can do is install wireguard server at home and then set your phone to use that wireguard connection always. That’s what I do and then my pihole at home filters all my mobile traffic as well.
I usually have a private vpn. It’s just isn’t always up. And I can’t be bothered to have it maintained most times because I’m not in control.
I’m considering setting it up through my router which has a built in option, so I don’t have to rely on my third party, but honestly I almost never leave pihole protected networks. So not a priority.
I honestly don’t think we’re there yet.
Remember, something like more than half of all people still don’t use an ad-blocker - some people want ads, or at least want that they provide money to keep the service going, and similarly with selling user data (to the extent that people bother to think about it at all).
Never underestimate the level of entitlement thinking on behalf of new users - like, “Which instance do I join? Wait, I have to choose!? Nvm, I’m out already.” (and for Mastodon, this has much greater implications than for Lemmy)
Also, one single reply to a comment in chapotraphouse on hexbear.net, followed by a second reply somewhere on Lemmy.ml, almost made me turn away from social media entirely, thinking that this place was fast becoming not really all that different than Reddit after all - I mean, these are leftists, aka liberals, these are/must be my people, right, R-R-RIGHT!?
The Fediverse is not for the uninitiated, and requires significant setup work to even be pleasant much less enjoyable, depending on where you go and the users’ innate level of insensitivity.
Though you and many others are working tirelessly to make it better by offering great content - thanks!:-)
As someone who is much more centrist/liberal, I had to block a whole bunch of leftist communities recently just so that I could keep enjoying the Fediverse. I would have greatly prefered not to, but so much of leftist content on here is far too cynical to any other position.
Even if they were correct, the maner of their interactions makes them wrong, especially the hostility.
Also, being a liberal in America is somewhat similar to being a conservative in Europe, I am told - i.e., “leftist” is a term relative to one’s local surrounding environment. Maybe one day I will become more leftist, although ironically all the leftist comments here are making me start to lean the opposite direction (it would be different if someone explained the positions, rather than simply dunked on everyone who does not share them - groupthink is not a valid way to arrive at Truth, especially when applied in the format of bullying behaviors to outsiders rather than merely acceptance of the in-crowd).
”Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. " - Karl Popper
The only reason u see them constantly dunking on everyone is because all the truthfull factual backed up with evidence replies they get get censored if it has a single thing to do the hexbear or .ml. Idk how they do it but a replete to .ml on a .world community can be censored by .ml but replete to that censored comment still work fine. .ml selectively federates the modlog as well to hide admin abuse. They will ban u from every .ml community for 1 comment disagreeing politically especially if u have evidance proving them wrong.
We have tried countering them by rational argument and public opinion but that is failing. We canot tolerate the intolerance of tankies ob lemmy.
I have stopped recommending Lemmy to people, bc I would be embarrassed for a new user to come here, get bullied as I have been (far more than happened on Reddit), and blame me like “you recommended me to talk to that crowd!?”). Kbin.social was different bc those communities were blocked from the start - at an instance level even - though that server has been down for days, and now I see it’s back up and full of advertisement posts as usual, bc many mods abandoned their communities due to all the technical problems with the service.
But there is hope for change in the future, in terms of perhaps making getting dunked on an opt-in rather than as it currently is an opt-out feature delivered to members of the Fediverse with little to no warning. e.g. here is a discussion I had with an instance admin. Progress, since so many of us joined the Fediverse since the Rexodus, has been (understandably) slow, but can happen, if we work at it!
For the lowest common denominator social media user, the bar is even lower. As long as everyone else they follow and care about is on the platform, they will happily move. They won’t even care that they will be free from ads and tracking because they never cared in the first place.
Doin’ muh best to shitpost.
You’re all welcome, citizens!
Heroic Trumpet Music
Farting sounds
Okay, now I am imagining that you are imprisoning sovcits in your basement and farming them for insanepeoplewhatever content.
Gonna be honest, a lot of times I feel like I don’t belong here, I’m still figuring things out. I’m not a “techy” type person (that seems to be some kind of prerequisite) and I barely know how to explain the fediverse to the layman, but I left reddit when they fucked over Joey (my preferred reddit app) and read enough to give reddit the middle finger and never look back. It’s been nice, really. I spend more time outside of the internet now. But I believe in the fediverse, I think it’s the right thing to do. I still check up on lemmy daily, but I get much more value and human connection and only spend the time that is appropriate on lemmy instead of endlessly scrolling. Most days I end up in some Wikipedia rabbit hole. Just like the good ol’ days. Learning new things, meeting new people. That’s what I love about the internet.
It’s what we all loved about the internet I think, before the web become… “that” (looking at the pile of shit the web has become).
But actually it’s not the web, not really. It’s the big tech platforms that most people seem to think is the internet now. It’s sad to watch how people log on to “Facebook” and not the general web anymore. And then Google in front of everything, like a big cancer growth.
Lemmy is not the new internet either I believe. But it’s here to show people that something else can exist. As soon as we let advertising in here though, it’s over.
The beautiful thing about decentralisation is that if an instance tries to as ads, then you can go to a different instance and see the same content.
If an instance creates as posts, your instance admin can block the whole instance.
Interestingly, the big instances seem to easily get enough donations to cover costs. I think that’s the great thing about this model, people are willing to donate when they know it’s not some big corporate making profit for shareholders.
I think the answer is not to gatekeep against advertising actively, but to have a platform that is resilient to that kind of thing. Like, if there were advertising on an instance people would fucking BOUNCE I think. And if it got somehow baked into the platform itself there would be a new fork with the advertising excised before the sun went down.
I’m not sure about that. What if advertising were used to cover server costs, just like donations right now? Then the community may be fine with it.
But I think it’s very dangerous to go down that route. Because it’s going to become about higher profits, not just covering costs, in the long run.
adding to the old internet thing, using mojeek reminds me of the old search results! searched for something mildly obscure, actually got good results and also a porn site lmfao.
there’s a safe mode if it’s of use: nested in the settings gear menu but also on /preferences (to turn it on for all searches)
Honestly this is great, non-techy people making the transition is a good sign and something the system needs to gain mainstream appeal.
Also, people who aren’t techy are less likely to accept hacky workaround BS and complain until it’s fixed on a system-wide level, and that’s needed to mature the platform to something anyone can use. It’s getting there but it’s still got a lot of rough edges.
I enjoyed reading this. I came over from reddit when they started banning people for protesting. That showed me that reddit was not what I thought it is.
I‘m a techy person. I run servers for friends and customers, partly with fediverse services on them. Lemmy being one of them. I donate both time and money to lemmy and other services I enjoy and use.
The fediverse is a great thing imo. I hope it succeeds.
It’s easy to feel that way even if you are a techy. It seems like being minimally neurodivergent is the abnormal here.
That being said, I’ve been introduced to many different ways of thinking that I wouldn’t have gained otherwise. Think of it like you’re different, but that’s ok because everyone here is different - and that makes them (and you) all the more beautiful for it (especially in the context of idea exchange). In fact, being the different one here will give you the perspective that many of the people who use Lemmy experience simply by existing which, in and of itself, is a valuable thing.
A way I have found to explain federated social media to people, that seems to work is this: Imagine reddit, but instead of one company, with one administration, owning the whole site, it is a bunch of different reddits, that are independently run, that choose which other reddits they wish to associate themselves with. When you log into one instance, you automatically can see, and interact with, all the other ones that one chooses to associate with. You can have accounts on as many instances as you would like, even having accounts on instances that do no associate with each other.
Hey, I also was a Joey user. I am pretty tech savvy (I’m a software dev and a former sys admin). I’m not a Linux daily user though, so I still understand that out of place feeling. Like I have used Linux for things, but after working on my computer all day for work, I don’t exactly want to deal with roadblocks or tinkering on my computer in the evening.
I have also noticed that I spend less time scrolling on here than I did on Reddit, which is a good thing for me. It’s a place where I can satisfy that itch without getting lost in scrolling of posts or comment sections for hours.
left when i saw too many reposts and way too many story-comments i was sure i’d seen before
which led me to realise reddit has been completely astroturfed
Admins. Thank you. Users. Thank you.
Mods?
Too busy abusing their mod powers to enforce their political views in most communities.
That sounds like me in World News exactly. Excellent assessment.
(I’m even more draconian in Lemmy Shitpost.)
And in 10Forward you’re absolutely brutal, keeping the comm in constant fear. You rule with an iron tentacle.
im taking a shit
