Don’t tell people “it’s easy”, and six more things KBin, Lemmy, and the fediverse can learn from Mastodon

https://privacy.thenexus.today/kbin-lemmy-fediverse-learnings-from-mastodon/

Reddit’s strategy of antagonizing app writters, moderators, and millions of redditors is good news for reddit alternatives like KBin and Lemmy. And not just them! The fediverse has always grown in waves and we’re at the start of one.

Previous waves have led to innovation but also major challenges and limited growth. It’s worth looking at what tactics worked well in the past, to use them again or adapt them and build on them. It’s also valuable to look at what went wrong or didn’t work out as well in the past, to see if there are ways to do better.

Here’s the current table of contents:

* I’m flashing!!!
* But first, some background

  1. Don’t tell people “it’s easy”
  2. Improve the “getting-started experience”
  3. Keep scalability and sustainability in mind
  4. Prioritize accessibility
  5. Get ready for trolls, hate speech, harassment, spam, porn, and disinformation
  6. Invest in moderation tools
  7. Values matter

* This is a great opportunity – and it won’t be the last great opportunity

https://privacy.thenexus.today/kbin-lemmy-fediverse-learnings-from-mastodon/

Thanks to everybody for the great feedback on the draft version of the post!

#kbin #lemmy #fediverse @fediversenews @fediverse@kbin.social @fediverse@lemmy.ml

  • !ozoned@lemmy.world@beehaw.org
    20·
    1 year ago

    Don’t tell people it’s “easy” anytime. Anything is easy when you know how to do it. Learning new things is difficult and telling someone it’s easy just makes people feel dumb and that they can’t do it. Encourage folks to learn.

    • SyJ@lemmy.ml
      4·
      1 year ago

      I was a little perplexed to begin with but quickly got the hang of it. My biggest gripe is its difficult to link to or find communities outside of your instance.

    • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      I’ve been trying not to say it’s easy, but I can’t help but want to counter the claims that it’s too hard/impossible for average users.

      That was me two days ago, and after a bit of confusion, it’s fine. Am I an expert in federation? No. Do I need to be to enjoy Lemmy? Also no.

    • kopper [they/them]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      3·
      1 year ago

      The two words I hate in anything remotely instructional are “Just do”. In 99% of cases, that “Just” there is doing so much it’s almost unreal, yet most writers don’t exactly see that viewpoint as they’re already familiar with whatever they’re writing about.

      • Jon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        3·
        1 year ago

        💯. With Mastodon, it turned out that “just pick an instance” was disastrously bad advice for many people – if you pick a badly-moderated instance, or one that’s widely blocked, you’re a lot less likely to have a good first experience. My guess is that’ll be equally true here once things get a bit farther down the line.