hey folks. here’s a new FAQ on the community, since the currently pinned thread is a bit haphazard and crammed now, and we’ve had more time to go over stuff.
What is Beehaw?
in summary, we’re a community that wants to cultivate a sense of real belonging to something, to foster meaningful conversations, and to ensure everyone feels valued and respected in a way that isn’t the case with other social media out there. we’ve thought and written a lot about this. if you’d like more than that summary, we strongly encourage you to read the following essays, which explain how this community is run, what we prioritize in running it, and why we’ve designed it this way generally:
you can also read more on our Docs website
This sounds very cool! How do I join?
you don’t need to write a whole essay, however: please answer the question fully, and try to engage with at least some of the content above/on the sidebar before you register.
this is not personal, but we’ve grown a lot and are primarily interested in users who really care for the philosophy of our community. if you don’t answer the question fully, you will likely get denied or caught in registration limbo when we have a backlog of users.
How long should I expect to wait to be approved?
now that we have email working: anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours. you should get notified if you’ve used an email to sign up either way. make sure to check your spam folder to be safe this may be an issue for some users. if you did not use an email to sign up, try logging in after about 24 hours, and then again after 48 hours.
if we receive an influx of users you may get caught in registration limbo by failing to answer the questions, and it may take longer to get back to you than the 48 hours listed here.
if you have issues with anything, please report them in the following thread!
I’m in! How can I keep Beehaw running, or otherwise contribute?
our instance is 100% user-funded. you can one-time donate or become a monthly donor here. you can donate anonymously both ways. as far as we’re aware cryptocurrency is accepted by OpenCollective, it’s just more laborious and you’ll probably have to contact them to clear it.
if you have volunteer labor or advice you’re willing to give us on how to keep the site running smoothly, we also generally appreciate that. our Matrix and Discord communities are the best way to offer that stuff to us.
How do I help keep the community running smoothly?
be considerate! think about the things you say and how you want to say them; be kind and charitable; don’t assume the worst of people; but above all: Be(e) nice!
it might seem trite, but genuinely we’ve found there is no better distillation of what we want to accomplish here than that ethos. if something makes you feel like that ethos is being violated, err on the side of caution and report it (on desktop it’s the flag button in the three dot menu on any post). it can’t hurt. so far though we’ve found most people kind of know what we mean, and we’re hopeful you’ll be able to pick up on that too.
as for non-moderation ways you can keep things running: contribute to discussions! share stuff you find interesting! contribute your expertise and help out folks when they ask for it! it’s okay—and very understandable—to lurk based on the toxicity commonplace on other social media, but we really do try to make this space as welcoming as possible to everyone here and we hope you’ll find it a safer place to come out of your online shell.
What else should I know?
we always take feedback. while we can’t promise any changes, you can provide thoughts and comments on just about anything on the site in Beehaw Support, or on Discord or Matrix (where we maintain real-time chat). we try to get a sense of what the community wants and needs all the time, so we’ll frequently be asking for input from you to help inform our decisions.
downvotes are disabled on this instance and will probably always be. we find them unproductive. communities cannot be made by users on here. we do take feedback on what gets made and when to make communities, as a part of the above point. you can always find a running list of communities we have at this link, or under the Communities button on desktop.
we are all volunteers, and this is not a job for us. we would like to not have it be one, so we can just be members of the community with all of you. please help keep it that way!
in the very, very long term, we aspire to become a co-op or similar, as a part of fulfilling our ethos.
as with the last thread, feel free to sound off on other questions you have. i, other mods, and community members will try to get to them as able.
I really like the policy of no downvotes. Honestly, even on Reddit I think downvoting had long ceased to serve any useful purpose, and turned into a harmful tool. Anything that truly is bad content can just be reported instead.
I’m coming around to like the policy, too. I was skeptical for a while before joining, but I think I figured out why I had that skepticism.
I think I’m used to larger communities/platforms not having a reliable moderation, and I’ve seen dislikes and downvotes as a directly user controlled means for a place to self-police its content. That’s not to say I’d think moderation would act in bad faith; I’ve had occasional points when I found myself in a moderator role, and I’ve always had the impression that we were trying our best. It’s more that I’d think larger platforms like YouTube and busy communities lend its moderation force to being spread too thin and having to make judgements quickly and with less nuance. Downvotes definitely can, and have, been used in bad faith by users, but I think I felt like their intended use case made their issues a necessary evil.
I think Beehaw is actively striving to be different in that way. I don’t think that means I should say this place is invulnerable to something like Mod Decay or Apathy—I’d think something as potentially impactful like this warrants a degree of vigilance. But the vibe I get so far is encouraging. I think that if Beehaw’s moderation stays the course, I’ll continue to see the downvotes absence not just as a non-issue here, but a benefit to how we do things.
I think no downvotes for something like Beehaw is great. But for anything that tries to push “open” above “moderated”, downvoting is critical. Otherwise you get bad-faith contributors that are propped up.
Where my reddit escapees at
yo yo! i’ve been waiting for a FOSS reddit since forever. i’m hoping this gets traction!
Everywhere. For better and worse. Whichever federated instance holds up during the subreddit blackout wins?
I’m here, hopped over a few days ago! It’s a good time, though I do still switch between here and reddit (there’s a few niche subreddits I can’t quite let go of haha)
Right here baybeeee
Reporting in!
It’s nicer here, in my opinion…
Yooooo
I am actually coming back to Lemmy after about 2 years
I’m here.
Major long term lurker from Reddit here, like 10+ years lurking. Lemmy / Beehaw actually gets me to post however and I love it! Not sure where the motivation has come from. A desire for a proper community perhaps? I’ve watched Reddit go through highs and lows over the years but weirdly I feel like I belong here. Hello and welcome to all other Lemmy / Beehaw users! :D
I think lots of us are feeling almost the same :) I hope we can sustain this feeling on time and create more close and human interactions on the internet.
I’m so glad to have found a reddit alternative that I actually want to use. I just joined yesterday, but I’m really liking it so far. And I love the general air of friendliness y’all seem to have cultivated here!
really liking it here too - and love the no downvotes button, that’s so kick ass.
Same here, I’m quite enjoying it so far!
Same, it’s a breath of invigorating fresh air!
“You don’t need to write a whole essay” Yea, sorry for that. I got carried away.
Honestly, I like the lengthy ones! It’s usually a sign the answer will be good because unfortunately, a lot of people just don’t care to write much and it makes it much harder to decide if that person is a good fit for Beehaw.
For example, writing “Leaving Reddit.” does not tell me anything and I feel kinda bad because I can’t accept that person into Beehaw.
literally me too w/ my 3 paragraphs
Yea. I felt that with guidelines like that we kinda have to (I just loved that whole thing)
Just being respectful at that pointtotally unrelated to ur comment but im on mobile (safari, using the website) and omg the little pop up for notifications!!! i love it!!! i already think this is so much more user friendly (to me at least) than reddit mobile app lmao. its like a breath of fresh air to he here. im so happy
Also on mobile but im using Jerboa for Lemmy app, I’m not getting notifications :( i need to check settings I guess But yea never used official reddit app, always a third party one.
Happy to be away from that with all the shitstorms going on now. It was already not great anymore with all the same jokey comments on every post.So, here you can have another notification :)
How many words?!?! Did you add citations? lol
I went on about the guidelines and the view on bots.
Had a couple of run on sentences, that i restructered to the size of a frontpage newspaper.At the end i even apologised in advance for the lenghty message.
At least i guess it made whoever had to read it sure i wasnt a bot as i was approved within 2 hours.
…probably thats how long it took to read it
Brand new user here. Big thanks to those that stood up this community. I was approved within minutes! I was shocked. I am excited to be a small part of this friendly project.
Really fast registration approval, it’s nice to see an admin who cares for their community. Still kinda lost with Lemmy but so far so good and I look forward to interacting with everyone.
Just wanted to take the opportunity to say that I actually kind of appreciate the sign-up process needing approval? I’m aware there’s no quick and easy way to prevent bots and bad actors from tarnishing otherwise comfy spaces, but even just having to apply kinda makes Beehaw feel a bit safer? c:
it’s a very good filter, yes–honestly now that the “denials didn’t previously get emails” issue is resolved rudimentarily on our end, we can probably handle up to a few hundred applications a day
I’m very grateful to be here. I love building community online. It’s a shame so many spaces become toxic places. This feels like friends hanging out in a “third place” - not home, not work, but communal. :)
The way I think about it, this community feels like meeting a group of friends for a little festival in a park. It feels very “local,” even though it’s online.
Can I swear, fuck piss poo shit
Sweet, I’m finally in!
Been trying to sign up for the last few days without luck. Then I saw the thread about the big regarding declined users and thought that was it. Turns out it was another bug! Found it on github, apparently if you try to sign up with a username that’s too long it just won’t let you but it won’t give you an error message either. You just get the spinning icon on the button.
So. Here I am with a shorter username!
Turns out I couldn’t set my desired display name either (NorthernLightMountain) since it seems to be configured to the same length limit.
But at least i snagged a short and simple user name instead!
Like so many others I found my way here after reddit started acting like Facebook and I really wanted to join this instance in particular. A corner of the net actively trying to keep the toxicity at bay? Sign me up!
Going to take a little bit if getting used to the whole federated bit but it looks promising.
Anyways, hi fellow bees!
I have to ask, is your username a reference to MorningLightMountain? If not it’s quite the coincidence :D
Haha! Yes! It is! :D
With a slight twist since I live far up north… thus NorthernLightMountain :)
Can’t go wrong with Peter F. Hamilton imho! Just wish he’d get to work producing some epic space opera again soon. It’s been a while since we got something really massive from him.
I take it you’re a fan as well? :)
Yeah for sure. Re-reading the Void trilogy at the moment. Always takes me forever to get through though as his books are quite lengthy :)
Nice!
I’ve been thinking about revisiting his Confederation books, it’s been like… 20+ years since I red them? Basically when they were published. From what I recall I don’t think I’d rate them as high as his later works these days though.
The tech and world building was nice I think… my biggest gripe was using real life characters for his plot, that kind messed with the immersion a bit for me. Not wanting to go into details due to spoilers for those who haven’t read them. :)
They were the first of PFH’s books I read. I like them but I think they can get a bit lost in places.
Yeah, they were early books of his after all so it’s fair to say he’s grown as a writer but still… they’ve got some great ideas in them. :)
+1
To anyone else bot being avle to click Sign Up after filling the form, this is the solution. I also trimmed my username and was able to apply.
Thank you to all of you who put the work in to make Beehaw what it is ❤️
The co-op / democratic governance idea sounds fascinating. I’m Finnish and we’re big on co-ops (or were, at any rate), and I’d definitely love to see that particular ethos spread to site governance.
Oh and random hosting tech question, do you have an autoscaling setup at the moment?
It is not autoscaling. We had to scramble a lot in the first 48 hours after API changes were finalized to ensure we had hardware to support all the users and fine tune some settings for lemmy. Luckily we have some wonderfully tech literate people with time on their hands who’ve chipped in to help.
I always had mixed feelings about downvoting. On YouTube, dislikes were very useful, on Reddit I feel downvotes are just used to bring down dissenting opinions, regardless of their merit, so in a community like this it makes sense to disable them.
I agree with you. It’s disheartening to ask a legitimate question and get negative votes and zero comments.
I honestly didn’t notice that downvotes were disabled on this. I love yall. Reddit gave me so much anxiety with downvotes, ugh.
Yeah I like not having downvotes! I’ve been downvoted before on some art, they could at least tell me what they didn’t like lol. Takes off a lot of pressure and chance.
I initially balked at the idea when I read about it here but then realized how toxic it can be. I thought about and realized that the short burst of enjoyment I got out of downvoting especially hateful, bigoted, stupid etc. comments was not really very healthy. The original concept of downvoting in Reddit was supposed to be about downvoting content that didn’t contribute to the conversation rather than content you didn’t like. But in practice, the people who post constant negativity and hate aren’t deterred by the downvoted anyway, often enjoy farming for the downvotes, and end up getting promoted anyway through the “controversial” sorting alrgorithm.
The vibe around here is great, thanks for the approval! Very happy to be here 🎉