A lot of it has to do with the type of folks who were in the initial Lemmy wave; generally a crowd that is more familiar with linux distros than the tuck rule. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a comment on the interests of the type of folks who were more apt to leave Reddit for another platform. Mainstream sports attract a mainstream audience, whom (on the whole) are more likely to stick to a mainstream website. Lemmy will grow but it took years before some of those communities grew to the size they are on Reddit, and it happened then without a comparable mainstream competitor.
Initially I did not read the top part of your post and instantly went to the first bold text which was “Why no explain what federation is?” thinking it was a sarcastic title.
With so much information online people develop shortcuts to read as little as possible. Skipping to the bold headlines is step one for me.
But there are also mistakes. Your comment implies the other instances are no supported by apps. Furthermore the entire notion that an instance is centered on a continent or country is reductive.
There should imo always only be a single instance recommended. Not two or three, to start off throw them in somewhere relatively stable and federated with the rest so they can make up their own minds.
A lot of it has to do with the type of folks who were in the initial Lemmy wave; generally a crowd that is more familiar with linux distros than the tuck rule. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a comment on the interests of the type of folks who were more apt to leave Reddit for another platform. Mainstream sports attract a mainstream audience, whom (on the whole) are more likely to stick to a mainstream website. Lemmy will grow but it took years before some of those communities grew to the size they are on Reddit, and it happened then without a comparable mainstream competitor.
Not only the initial wave. The hurdle to sign up and understand what an instance is is so big that 90% of Lemmy users will be programmers.
The sign up page should obfuscate all the noise about “instances” away.
https://lemmy.world/post/25308391 ?
Where is the “I accept license agreement” button because nobody is reading all of that.
Nobody is reading a 5 lines comment?
Initially I did not read the top part of your post and instantly went to the first bold text which was “Why no explain what federation is?” thinking it was a sarcastic title.
With so much information online people develop shortcuts to read as little as possible. Skipping to the bold headlines is step one for me.
But there are also mistakes. Your comment implies the other instances are no supported by apps. Furthermore the entire notion that an instance is centered on a continent or country is reductive.
There should imo always only be a single instance recommended. Not two or three, to start off throw them in somewhere relatively stable and federated with the rest so they can make up their own minds.