Ask Lemmy

I don't introduce people to the fediverse

I normally just say, "I read [x] on Lemmy."

If they ask and are genuinely curious what that is, I tell them it's like a reddit offshoot, but the users control the network and servers with a high level of transparency in administration/moderation and run off software that can have tens of thousands of crowdsourced eyes helping to find and fix any bug or security issue.

The whole thing with federating is irrelevant to most users.

I tell them it's a social media built in a way that makes it impossible for any company to take over it in order to make profit. And then I show them to some instance I've hand-picked for them, without really telling them there are other instances as well. It's not something they should worry about at that point. I can explain it later on, anyway.

“The memes and news site I use.”

That’s it. No infodumping, no explaining the technicalities, just tell them “just pick one, it’s basically like a username” and worry about it only if they want to learn about the underside of it.

We don’t “explain” email to people - they just pick a site, sign up, and move on.

Working in tech I learned to only explain the workings of something if they ask since most users are perfectly fine on a surface level and can intuit more than we credit them for once they know the basic gist.

It’s (insert platform here) for furries, communists and nerds. If I want to explain the basic concept, I talk in terms of phone carriers

I don't. It's bad enough that people spend too much time on social media. Why the fuck would i introduce another one?

I'm practically only here because rif died. Its not because it's enjoyable. I open the app to maybe see one good post among the thousands and thousands of "same"-posts.

"the place I found after reddit because reddit is fucking garbage"

I don't. Even I don't like it here. I'm just a man of principle so I'm not going back to Reddit so this'll have to do.

I don't really bother until they're looking for an alternative.

When I've put people on Linux, to make an analogy, it's basically been because they entrust me with their choice of new computer, not because I won an argument about the relative merits of different software licences.

Most people IRL aren't even on Reddit, so Lemmy wouldn't make any sense for them. People might be on Twitter, but for whatever reason it hasn't come up, so no Mastodon either. Mostly I hear about Tiktok and Instagram for the young, and Facebook for the old. Pixelfed is Instagram-ish IIRC, but I'm not sure how active it is.

Edit: And if people want whichever platform they have the most friends on, well, they're obviously in the last 50% of the population you can recruit.

I don't, because they'll ruin it.

I just describe it as an online forum I like to argue in. 🤷

I don’t introduce them to Fediverse and don’t talk about it None of the people I know in real life are tech-savvy except one guy.

I don't. I say oh yeah I read that on Lemmy. They don't ask, I don't offer.

If for some reason they say what is Lemmy? I say just a community version of Reddit not run by companies.

They never ask further, so I don't need to start explaining parallels to email.

I gives concrete advantages like the choice of client to browse those platform, features not getting removed for profits etc. I think the decentralization as a selling point is a failed strategy

I don't bother explaining it unless asked. I just share content with them. They can figure it out if they're interested.

If I am asked, then it's "a decentralized platform similar to...." whatever. Most folks are "don't know, don't care" when it comes to anything technical.

Unsuccessfully so far, that’s for sure

Honestly? I don't. The people I know who would join it already know about it and the people who don't know about it would never join it.

A free and open source social media platform supported only by the users and not by spying on its users.

I send my friends links to posts, memes etc on Lemmy

I start sending fediverse links containing memes etc. and eventually they sign up on one of the sites.

Memes

I link them to a post i think they'll like. Then if they ask i say "its like email the servers send around the posts and comments around to each other, but some are blocked from each other to keep out known bad actors (kind of like known spam email servers)"

when you talk about the Fediverse to friends, family, or colleagues

Sorry, why would I do that? There might be 1-3 people who'd be "suitable" for something like Reddit before it became crap, and 0 for the Fediverse.

Simple.

Just like you introduce Linux!

"Lemmy is like Reddit the same way Linux is like windows. Its not really as good, but turbonerds will give you a thousand reasons why its better and you wont really understand."

"Its not filled with wankers and bots yet though so its got that going for it."

My main talking points focus on the lack of personalized feed, no advertising, no one corporation with political motivation is in control of it, clear moderation log, etc.

I think the key is that you have to show them why the platform they’re already using isn’t in their best interest. Why use Lemmy when they already have Reddit? Why use Piefed when they already have Instagram? Most people don’t realize the surveillance social media puts them under or how its personalized feeds manipulate their state of mind.

Until you explain that, it’s hard to give any reason to try anything other than what they’re already used to.

I just tell people I saw it on reddit because my friends and family won’t use or understand reddit never mind lemmy.

I only do so if they talk about reddit, then I explain that it's like reddit, but some subs are hosted on a server in Germany, and others on a server in Canada; regardless of where it is, any user form any of the servers can see posts hosted on any server.

I don't really get into the non-federated details (like unfederating from hexbear, etc.) unless they ask.

Open source Reddit alternative

Here's a better link from mastodon. It gives you a preview and has no ads.

"I'm trying to cut down on social media."

Great, mastodon isn't optimised for engagement, it's just stuff you follow in chronological order.

Just wait until they get banned from reddit, get them to sign up and show them the Boost client (that used to work on reddit) and away they'll go. That's how i did it :-)

The amount of gatekeeping I'm seeing here is insane

Depends:
single platform: there i talk mostly about features like no tracking and no ads but also add that there are less people but its still lively

Fediverse: "imagine you comment under a youtube video with your twitter account", then i add that i actuallynever did the equivalent but that its possible, then i rant about bsky not being decentralised (because DIDs) and its red flags, then go back explaining fedi and reference it to email

When people start talking about why they deleted instagram etc because of all the ads and time wasting, I tell them I'm using / posting on Pixelfed etc because it's community owned, no ads, no brainwashing. That gets them interested but not enough to go and figure out what an instance is.

I say it doesn't sell all your data to random companies all over the place.