Welcome all new users and Reddit refugees! [PARTNERED POST]

AvaddonLFC ☄️ 🤘@lemmy.world to Reddit@lemmy.world – 303 points –

Hello there, and welcome to the Fediverse! Let's get you started.

This post was created together with many users, intended to help you have an easy start! It has a simple language, and it includes many useful links.

For your first day here

Hello, newbie user! Lemmy is just like Reddit, but better. Ha-ha. Seriously. But let's not overwhelm you for now.

This very neat starting guide was written by our beloved admin, @ruud. To avoid confusion, start reading it from the Quick start guide section.

If you're new to Lemmy, this post will also help you perfectly.

kbin users can check out this amazing starting guide instead. This is also a nice guide.

Finding Communities on Lemmy/kBin

If you finished reading your starting guide, it's time to go find your new favorite communities! Check out these dedicated services: number 1, 2, 3, and 4, and 5! Go have some fun! :D

For your second day here

Hello again! You're less of a newbie now, and you found some amazing communities! We can start talking about the Fediverse. I hope you didn't forget to read the rules for lemmy.world!

kBin.social's rules are in this link.

The Fediverse

You must've realised that we addressed Lemmy and kBin users differently. And what is this Fediverse people keep talking about, anyways?

Lemmy and kBin are two different platforms, and they can perfectly interact with each other! This means that they are a part of the federation. And they are only two members of the vast Fediverse.

What is the Fediverse? video by Framasoft to get a good understanding with visuals!

As a great lemming once said: Fediverse is basically like a group chat, but for websites. This means that federated websites all agree to share their content with each other, constantly, at the same time.

Follow this link to view a list of all Lemmy instances.

Follow this link to open the Fediverse Observer. It is set to show kBin, but you can navigate your way through the site to show any Fediverse platform you'd like.

For your third day here

That's it! What else do you want? Go have some fun and keep learning along the way! ;)

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It might be worth noting that the platform is stable, but still growing. Expect little quirks; we're dealing with a big influx of new users.

For example, I joined during the first big wave of signups and the servers were having trouble keeping up with the sudden spike in activity (10 to 1000x+ new posts/users/instances). I would sometimes see federated content, sometimes not. After 12 hours and a massive effort by the devs, everything became MUCH more stable.

There will be bugs, but they are actively being squashed at breakneck speed.

For example, one that I encounter regularly is leaving a thread open in a background tab too long (on Firefox) eventually stops syncing with the server. When I eventually get to that tab, the data is old and attempting to interact (click arrows, reply, subscribe, etc.) send me to an error page. The fix? Refresh the page if was open more that 30 minutes ago. It's a minor bug that will eventually be fixed, so give it time.

I also wanted to throw some advice out there, in case it's useful...

If they're ever confused, there are plenty of support communities/magazines. First, check if others have posted about the same problem. If they haven't, feel free to ask. The NoStupidQuestions community hosts a ton of simple Fediverse-related questions posted by users, and it has some of the highest engagement on the platform. I know the reluctance of posting may have been ground into you by Reddit, but (a) this isn't Reddit, and (b) we're all new here.

There is a slight learning curve, so canoodle around a bit to get a feel for this new Reddit-esque multiverse. Read a few FAQs, skim the support communities, follow a few rabbit holes.

Here's what I suspect is a semi-normal new user experience (because it was mine :) ):

  • To start, you'll want to register an account, so you do. You'll click a few stories, try to comment, and find you're not logged in and can't log in. You'll notice you're not on the original server. Do you have to register a million accounts? That makes no sense! The answer is no.

  • Next, you'll want to understand why. That post you clicked took you to another instance (think of them as servers). So, how do you post a comment on another instance? Ah, from your home instance. So, did it matter where I registered? Yes and no, but mostly no.

    • Keep going down the account rabbit hole and you'll read about the pros and cons of running your own instance, how federation/defederation works, and other instance-related topics,
    • Or, hop back out and proceed to comment on the post you read. Wait. My comment has no votes. The path forks again.
      • Is there something like Reddit's karma system? Down the voting/rep rabbit hole!
      • Is it considered bad form to vote for my own comment/post? (There's no consensus right now, so don't worry.) Down the Lemmy/Kbin etiquette rabbit hole!

You'll eventually go back to hit on those forks in the path you didn't take. Follow whichever path suits you best and expand from there.

Deleted my 7+ year account, fuck reddit! I have no idea what is going on here yet but people look super friendly.

By the way my first post yaaay!

I am using the Nuke Reddit extension in Edge to delete all comments and posts from the last 11 years before I delete my account.

Tried deleting them but some seems to reappear the next time I logged in. Decided to just leave as I was mostly a lurker.

I just decided to turn every one of my posts on reddit into a lengthy dissertation regarding the rumor about actor Richard Gere shoving a gerbil up his own ass. Figure I’m doing my part to help train future A.I models.

I've been here a few days now and realize @ruud is an incredible powerhouse. Give this man a crown.

I am very happy to have found my way here.

Good post. Any idea how Lemmy or the fediverse will prevent the systematic astroturfing that social media marketing, political activists, commercial shills, and others will engage in? They are just going to follow the users from Reddit to here and keep up their antics.

When a lot of Reddit users stopped for the blackout, it became really eye opening how most of Reddit is just a wasteland of fake accounts posting, mass up/downvoting, and posting anything to keep you engaged on the site.

I was hoping to see something in Lemmy that would prevent this, but I just don’t. So I expect the enshitification to happen here too unless something is done to prevent it.

Votes are public here, as are moderator actions, so we can actually see everything going on, including empty accounts only used to bot upvote stuff. In addition, not every platform works the same way. Some have upvotes and downvotes, some only have upvotes, some are wonky like kbin where upvotes don't count toward reputation but boosts do, etc. An upvote isn't just an upvote like it is on reddit. They also can't "enshittify" something that users can self-host their own instances of to interact.

Edit: Also, we're in the early stages right now, reddit has a decade lead.

I think the incentives are a bit different here. If we can keep the threadiverse nonprofit, and contribute to the maintenance costs of the servers, it might stay a much friendlier place than Reddit.

The shills don’t care about the platform, only that their actions are seen by human eyeballs. They will gladly burn accounts on every post because they use bots to create them by the hundreds of thousands.

It’s what ultimately killed Reddit for me. I am hoping a Lemmy won’t go down the same path.

only been here like 20 minutes and already seen the exact same kind of toxicity as on Reddit.

i'm a little concerned.

What's wrong? Please feel free to use the reporting function and let us know whenever you need. You don't have to deal with bad actors and get upset :) just let us know, report them or even DM us if you want to.

We're doing our best to provide a safe and friendly space, and we'd love to work with you in making it a culture here.

i mean, the internet is the internet. people are toxic on youtube, twitter, mastodon , reddit, discord, random forums.... i just had to vent a little.

edit: you may perhaps want to look at how i am being called a fascist for pointing out transphobic beliefs within the last hour, on this community.

Also new users please be aware that there's this bug that causes commenting to sometimes fail completely and get stuck on loading.

I really like it here. It's kinda sad that basically every company that owns a major social media platform is turning it into garbage, let's just hope the same doesn't happen to the fediverse.

Just migrated from Reddit and figuring out how to navigate my way around. Is there a way to search within communities and post comments? I’ve been using Voyager and also downloaded Memmy and can’t seem to figure that one out

Does anyone know why I’m unable to submit a new post to this sub? I’ve tried both from the wefwef safari and chrome web apps and it keeps timing out.

Yeah these things aren’t yet perfect. There’s still some kinks to workout. And I don’t think (or at least I hope not) that people are getting paid to do this work.

Been here a few weeks now. Wish I knew about this then, lol

Signed up just now. I've already had an account over on Mastodon for over a year, but thought I should make a new account for forum-based instances like Kbin and Lemmy.

Can a mod plz review why my most recent comment on this community was removed? I thought it was a respectful and cogent comment. I want to abide by the community guidelines and avoid future comment removals. Thanks and sorry for whatever triggered the most recent removal!

Hello there. Your comment was removed due to inflammatory expressions towards "the left", which would make some people upset for no need. Let's keep in mind that everyone can thrive together, as long as we're all respectful of one another.

Thnx for the reply. I will watch my wording moving forward. I am a bit surprised as I am a leftie myself and didn't consider referring to my fellow lefties as "the Left" was inflammatory. But no worries, thnx again!

Only time will learn but gents and galls and everyone in between let us keep this from becoming as toxic as Reddit :D

Just deleted my original 10+ year old account on Reddit. Fuck them to hell.