Comment on Spreading of the 100 biggest Lemmy communities
ricdeh@lemmy.world 5 weeks agoBut if we want people on Lemmy who don’t know what Linux is, then we need to avoid that massive barrier of asking users to pick an instance. And the second massive barrier of registration applications.
How so? Those things do not have anything to do with each other. The concept of Lemmy instances can literally be explained in less than a minute.
Dave@lemmy.nz 5 weeks ago
When a user (say, my mother) gets to a page that says pick a server, she would immediately close the page and go do something else. How do you even begin to choose a server? What if you get it wrong? What should you consider when picking a server?
Its a simple concept that can be explained in a minute. But if you don’t have someone sitting next to you that understands it and can explain it, that user is gone.
Registration applications are an unrelated barrier but a barrier none the less. You don’t have to apply to Facebook and wait to be approved. People expect to just be able to sign up and immediately go.
For anyone familiar with the fediverse both of these things seem like non-issues. But for your average Facebook user. Hell, even your average reddit user, they will take one look at either a page telling them to pick a server or a page telling them they have to apply and wait, and unless they are familiar with the Fediverse already then they will back away slowly (or quickly).
When my instance turned on registration applications, there was a 10x drop in the number of registrations, and I’ve heard similar numbers from others.
Blaze@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
I usually just mentioned lemm.ee nowadays.
It’s solidly managed, and the second largest instance, so All feed is going to be as populated as the LW one. Also, neutral name (sorry sh.itjust.works)
Dave@lemmy.nz 5 weeks ago
Yes they are a good candidate I think. Curious about their sign ups though. Lemmy.world asks people to write “I agree to the TOS” in the answer box. If you do, a bot automatically approves you, if you don’t, a bot automatically declines you. There’s no waiting time.
Lemm.ee states
In the “Answer” box below, please state that you agree to follow the lemm.ee instance rules (found in the sidebar of our front page), which has no specific phrase you need to answer, so I’m guessing they manually approve them?I honestly think registration applications are a huge barrier to anyone not already on the fediverse.
Blaze@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
I’m not completely sure. @sunaurus@lemm.ee ?