I’m new to Lemmy and it wasn’t as easy to sign up and use as Reddit or other social networks.

First I had to choose a server. To do that I had learn the consequences of choosing a server. Once I decided .ml had a sign up process where I had to be approved.

Once I was in and wanted to choose a community, I think it’s called, I found there were multiple communities with the same name. Once again I had to make a choose without knowing the difference.

It all reminded me of the Paradox of Choice TED talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice .

Finally I had to choose an app, as there is official one. Now I’m in Mlem, but I don’t know if it’s better or worse than the others.

Choice is great but for easier on boarding a first stop for server and app would be great. Like browser, you’re given one when you start and if you want better, you can go looking.

There is an issue open on Lemmy's github about merging communities of the same name together in the ui by an "all" button, but sadly it's been inactive for a year: #1113

On the other hand, there is something to be said for having a small test before joining. I remember Usenet before and after it became easier to use.

Anyone want to clue him in on who runs .ml? I feel like it's going to break his heart. But also, I kinda feel like he should know...

This can be said for the internet in general. Just look at the brainwashed masses. Without easy access to the internet via smartphones, Trump, Weidel, Wilders, Meloni etc. would never stand a fucking chance.

Lost futures we finally created.

As someone new here, what do you think would have really helped you without changing the fundamental principles of the fediverse? Like a website with clear information, or something else?

I registered using Mlem and it was way better than trying to do it via the Web. An onboarding like that would be much better than the current process.

Please tell us! I personally have no idea

What's Mlem? Can't find it on the Play Store. I'm using Sync which is pretty good...

If you choose the app first, and you choose Voyager, everything else - browsing, creating an account - is intuitive and just works.

The lead developers of Lemmy. They also develop the mobile Lemmy app Jerboa (personally, not my first choice).

There’s some accusations of bias / pro CCP moderation on .ml

There’s some stuff about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36255366

But I haven’t directly experienced any of this myself so I can’t speak to the truth of it. Idk.

probably because it's an iOS app

I think we need simple, non technical content that gets people who haven’t used the fediverse stoked to find out more and try to get involved. That’s what I’m trying to do with articles like this - add momentum and tap into a big potential audience who are primed for this. But I also do want to put together a Getting Started landing page that helps people kick off.

I really do think we need to get people pumped enough to want to be educated about it all.

That’s more a feature for a client app.

The ml stands for Marxism-Leninism. They are tankies.

This article was great! Thank you so much for writing it.

I love Lemmy and Voyager and the Fediverse. That said, if it were to become mainstream I forsee some problems. The fact that the login relies on only passwords is pretty terrible. Also, this makes the service vulnerable to bots, sock puppet accounts, brigading, etc.