Hello everyone! Long time redditor, first time poster to Lemmy.world. As I’m learning more about the Fediverse, I’m seeing there are several instances that seem to serve the same purpose. For example, Lemmy and Beehaw seem to be similar, yet they are still separate.

Are there any big differences or factors I should be looking for when browsing different instances? So far, it looks like the number of communities and rules are the biggest differences between instances.

Bonus question: are there any good sources for learning more about the Fediverse? I’ve found these links so far:

https://opensource.com/article/23/3/tour-the-fediverse - Gives a decent explanation of the Fediverse. https://fediverse.party/ - Provides a link to different Fediverse instances, not specific to Reddit replacements.

  • Chozo
    11•1 year ago

    From a technical standpoint, there’s little difference between instances. They’re all running the same software at their core, and connected to the same network of websites.

    Some instances, such as Beehaw, seem to strive more for building an actual community around their instances, while other instances aren’t as interested in that and are focused more on just being another available alternative entry point to the Fediverse. I’ve not looked around Beehaw too much, but from what I understand, they seem to want to create a highly-positive environment for their users (hence why they’ve had to temporarily defederate from some instances, until there are better moderation tools available for them to keep trouble-making outsiders away from their community).

    Some instances may focus more around a particular political leaning, some may be specific to a hobby like video games, etc. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing stopping you from registering to as many or as few instances as you want. For the most part, they’re all connected to the same overall network, so you’ll typically be seeing the same content no matter which instance you browse from.

    Keep in mind that your username is going to be based on the instance you sign up with. For example, I’m Chozo@kbin.social, and while Kbin and most instances will just show that as “Chozo”, my account is still permanently tied to kbin.social, even if I’m posting on threads from lemmy.world like this one.

    I think your best bet is just going to pick whichever feels best for you in the moment. I think for most users, it doesn’t really matter. If you’re looking for a specific community, then check 'em all out and see which one fits your needs best. If you don’t care and you just want something that works, then any of the larger instances are probably going to be sufficient for you.

    • bron
      4•1 year ago

      Also on kbin.social here, but sometimes I feel like an outside observer when I see threads that are from lemmy. But that may just be a side effect of all the platforms being connected through the same software which is the Fediverse or ActivityPub.

      • tal
        3•1 year ago

        I’ve seen some people use the term “Threadiverse” to refer to the combination of community-oriented ActivityPub software (currently lemmy and kbin).

      • Xathonn
        1•1 year ago

        Yeah a bit of that feeling on Kbin, just refer to federated stuff as Lemmy. I’m fine with it though. Saw someone compare Lemmy to being the USA while Kbin is Canada

        • sab
          2•1 year ago

          Don’t tell that to the Lemmy developers! ;)

    • Bearded_BaguetteOP
      3•1 year ago

      Thanks for the information! I think it makes sense to just pick an instance (lemmy.world in my case) and stick with it for a while. I’ll keep checking out other communities to get used to the platform. Thank you!