Comment on flohmarkt a federated alternative to ebay and facebook marketplace
curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 3 weeks agoserver specific
Maybe there is some miscommunication here.
Does the user determine their geographic region of themselves as a user, or is that determined by the server?
(Again, Craigslist works by the *user* picking a location, there is absolutely not a physical server at those locations)
poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
You can chose your geographic location by chosing the instance that covers the geographic location you are interested in, just like you chose the location of the server in Craigslist.
Obviously the server is on the internet an can be physically hosted whereever 🙄
curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 3 weeks ago
No, I can’t.
Because as you just said, the server is limiting the region. Making it server and not user.
There is no server for my region (or continent), so its not something I can use without standing up my own server.
I would not consider that a good design. Its extremely limiting to adoption and expansion.
poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
There is no server yet. Just like Craiglist doesn’t have a server for any place outside of the US afaik. Flohmarkt is very new and apparently more popular in Europe otherwise it is the same.
I think you are confusing Flohmarkt with an online retailer market like Amazon or Alibaba.
Classified listings have always worked by being location specific, and that is their main appeal and why they are popular. Flohmarkt is copying that exact tried and true design and just expands it a bit with region based federation.
curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 3 weeks ago
There shouldn’t need to be is my point. Its an arbitrary limitation.
Thats a business decision, purely. They charge for certain types of postings.
Its really not though - there is no technical reason to lock a user to a region or business reason like with Craigslist. It was a design decision.
One that limits use and adoption.
I’m glad its working out well in Europe! I, as an american, can’t use it without standing up a server and then being host to all of the United States (or North America? No idea).
Not “don’t want to” but “can’t”.
All of my earlier examples are direct comparisons. I’m not confusing it with anything.
I just think it wasn’t a well thought out design.
Not based on where the server is set to. Based on where the user or item is.
I would say they are copying hyper-localized newspaper classifieds, including the hyper-localized aspect, which caused newspaper classifieds to stop being used by the overwhelming majority of people when alternatives like Craigslist, eBay, and even Facebook market came about.
Tried, yes. True… Well, I’d have to disagree.
Auli@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yes but I can hi to Facebook market place Kijiji whatever and say search here at this distance. I’m not limited to searching Sweden because I joined a Swedish server.