I made a post on the Reddit r/ObsidianMD and had mixed responses:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/14aswv6/sick_of_reddit_drama_and_corporate_control_join
How could we go on about resolving these issues such that the migration is easier?
What do you think?
There are 4 responses, hardly enough to gauge the general response yet I’d say. If we want people to migrate, or make it easier, we should include explanations of how Lemmy/federation works, or at least include links to explanations. Maybe a couple of notes published with Obsidian Publish on the topic would be fitting? 😄 (doesn’t have to be Obsidian Publish of course, any open garden would do)
We need a main repository for all instances and a huge banner explaining the instance you choose doesn’t really matter except for the community tab and whether or not an instance is defederated from another.
Then just have a recommended with like 10 instances comparing all the differences.
When I first heard about federation I was very confused too because most of the explanations go way too into detail for the layperson. If they want to appeal to the masses they gotta fix that.
On Mastodon I think it auto picks Mastodon.social. On the apps at least I think it would be good if they had a little (very simple with pictures) 3-4 panel tutorial explaining federation and instances and after just have a list that has some recommendations while also allowing you to filter based on interests and the like.
Imo besides the confusion when signing up I think the next worst part is instances defederating/blocking. It’s a bit hard to explain and it would be very annoying to someone to join something like beehaw and realize they can’t interact with hundreds of other instances.
It really doesn’t help that as far as I know when your instance blocks another you can still view the other instance from yours but you’ll only see posts from before your instance was blocked or posts from only people also on your instance, making it seem like a weird ghost town.
Overall I think fediverse in general needs to really streamline and dumb down the process if they want it to catch on.
I think the best way to convince people to move is to use this sub for its intended purpose of discussing Obsidian MD and how to use it. Right now the top posts on this sub are about reddit and open source philosophy, so it’s not immediately clear to people migrating that this is a great community for discussing Obsidian’s utility.
Good. Would have given a few pointers about the federation. eg. Just pick any instance.
I think that giving too many choices to users who are already confused by the concept of federation and instances will enhance their paralysis of making choice due to cognitive overload (See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overchoice ).
I’ve found out kbin.social the easiest to get used to (end-user wise).
Well, you got me with your post. Although I haven’t actually closed my Reddit account.
Haha, nice!
Don’t worry. People were using Reddit and Digg at the same time for years until the migration was actually done. That’ll also happen with Reddit and Fediverse this time
