I think there needs to be a quick question form upon sign-up, going over the biggest differences between instances. Such as: “do you want downvotes activated? Do you want to see NSFW? Do you want little, some, or heavy automated blocking of potentially objectionable material?” etc, then have the sign-up page provide you with up to three instance options based on your selected preferences.

Dude. I'm saying this completely unironically: A personality quiz recommending you your instance "house" upon sign-up would be fun AF lol

I knew it would lmao

Necromancy is more an art than a science

Not normal teens either. The tiktok/ipad kid gens who developmentally missed the bus for normal critical thinking skills.

Get ready for sleuths of comment spam with only "Bro thinks" "crash out" and "Not that deep" lmfao

Tbf, the Twitter exodus was kind of a different enshittification. There's less of a need for filter on that because the issue was "Stay if you're a nazi" not "Stay if you want to keep tolerating more and more frustrating UI issues and barriers"

So whereas anyone who was looking to leave Twitter we could give the benefit of the doubt because of that implicit filter, it's not the same for Reddit and I expect swathes of "devil's advocate" conservative trolls to suddenly pop out of the woodwork looking for new homes [sources of validation].

Swiss IPs tend to get through no problem. Whenever I have that issue I just swap to the Switzerland server.

That is interesting. I haven't been following closely but wasn't the whole api fiasco supposed to solve the bot problem? At least they're lucid enough to not use the Child Safety^^^TM excuse

One option is to do this for them, and just send the link to the instance most suited to your current audience when recommending using Lemmy, rather than trying to explain what instances are, because they don't need to know that to use it.

User experience.

It is frustratingly bad for people just wanting to sign up. The idea of creating a single account, tied to a single instance that may or may not be federated is a confusing concept when most places online now are centralized. Then you have to choose which instance you sign up to, then depending on the instance you may need to go through an application or some other hoops to finally have a working account.

Then you may later find out your instance is not the community you thought it was, may be un-federated from other communities you had wanted to engage with, or the instance just shuts down one day, you loose your account and have to start all over again. That frustration and confusion is enough to turn away most casual and less techy users.

Also, there are lots of apps to pick from, but never a de facto one. While not necessarily a bad thing (in fact it can be generally good!) it does not help with the issues laid out above.

We could certainly keep trying to improve accessibility from a technical standpoint, like trying to make it easier for new accounts to hit the ground running. Basically, focusing on good defaults. I've heard people emphasize things like suggestions and starter packs based on simple interest questions for instance. UX is often heavily influenced by what apps you're using for access however.

To be honest though, when I hear this kind of question, I always end up thinking "quality over quantity". I feel like we need to remind ourselves that bigger doesn't always mean better, particularly online. Particularly when the question is about attracting Redditors. Reddit is a cesspool, and cesspools often attract and breed noxious organisms.

The point is, it might be best to keep focus on raising awareness and promoting what the Fediverse is to those who might be receptive rather than trying to contort ourselves to suit the wants of those to whom the Fediverse's appeal is lost. Do our best to be more accessible from a technical standpoint. Then just put out the welcome, open the door, let those masses yearning to break free come, let the rest be.

An exception to this argument is the objective of furthering the cause of federation itself more broadly, but this is a different concern and a completely different discussion.

The upvote/downvote system destroys communities over time. It's only a matter of time, not if it will happen.

I don't really see how to 'fix' the first part because its fundamental to what the threadiverse is

Yeah honestly I'm pretty okay with things as they are. Lemmy.world is a bit too brain rotted/Redditor energy as is. Everyone in this thread is all 'lets make things easier for the lowest common denominator' but if someone can't take 15 minutes to try to understand what they're actually signing up for then why do we even want them here?

Ew no thanks. Leave the hufflepuff shit on tiktok please.

True now, but doesn't have to be. Could have a site that aggregates and simplifies these steps to one place, allows you to pick and choose your instance with explanations right there to help you make informed decision on your account, and let's you know upfront on which instances have other restrictions. Filters for those lists, and other quality of life features that people have come to expect in a modern user experience.

I know some have tried sites like this before, and I'm sure there are some kind people out there that may even have the handy excel sheet to share as well, but few to no solutions out there do it all, and certainly not all of it well.

All this is to say, there's things the fediverse could have better, but it's really reliant on volunteers to make it what it is and those are in short supply.

I chose the second most popular instance at the time I joined and haven't thought about it since then except when I have to log into it

Just explain it like you would explain email to a boomer in 1998. It is just another protocol.

which ones are the problem ? the ones not hating capitalism, or the ones doing the s screeching ?

The people and their behavior are the problem

Well, yes. "No people" is a "problem", as is "people"

Personally, I'm not looking for people who agree with me all the time, so luckily for me, everywhere I go, i can find people who disagree with me

To be honest though, when I hear this kind of question, I always end up thinking "quality over quantity".

It's funny you say that. When I first read the post I interpreted more as "We're about to get a bunch of unruly Redditors. How are we going to deal with the increased workload on moderators."

For most things that "block" vpns, I've found you can just try different countries until one goes through. Works for reddit and lemmy.world, at least.

FANTASTIC! 3rd party app support itself seems to be a huge priority for the majority of people, so you are doing a great service helping catch up to these recently-added and very nice new features added to PieFed. Thank you for supporting the Threadiverse!