My introduction to these platforms was through the android app. However I was lurking the last couple days and today the app broke so I decided to go to an instance directly.
I came to realize something was different when I stumbled upon a thread from <instance>/195 talking about how they changed their name because 196 on <instance> became more popular.
So my first question which I basically just want affirmation for is that every instance can have it’s own communities that share the same name. But are other instances of the same community shared in a feed or do I have to search out each one individually?
Secondly usernames. Since I signed up with the same nick on multiple platforms I assume it’s like an email system with Kritical@<instance>
However, do I have to register to every instance I wish to comment on or as long as they are sharing resources I should be able to post?
Literally my first post so I’m sure I could figure this out on my own but figure asking these questions may help others transitioning with the same questions.
Big fan of the platform. Fuck reddit and fuck /u/spez. This is what I’m looking for in a link aggregator.
Okay, here goes. I was confused at first, so maybe my explanation will be more relatable than some of the others.
Let’s pretend there are three different websites: reddit.com, feddit.com, and seddit.com. Each one has its own subreddits:
These three websites can browse ALL of the other sites’ subreddits. On reddit.com you can browse and comment reddit.com/r/funny, feddit.com/r/funny, and seddit.com/r/funny, even though these three subreddits are entirely different from each other and not linked in any way. These subreddits are known as communities. Now it doesn’t matter whether you sign up on reddit, feddit, or seddit, since they can all browse ALL of the communities.
Now to expand on that just a tad: reddit, feddit, and seddit will still have their own rules, permissions, and such since they’re independent of each other. These distinguishing factors are (as far as I know) the only reason to choose one over another. Maybe server speed and some other factors.
The usernames reflect where you signed up. If I signed up on feddit, my username would be guitarded@feddit.com
Hope that helps. I’ve found that once you understand lemmy, the explanations are more complicated than the actual setup itself.
So think of each instance as a mini reddit. lemmy.com/c/funny is not the same comunity as lemmy.org/c/funny but you can subscribe to both or one or neither.
Likewise your username is unique only on the instance you joined so there might be another Kritical on a different instance.
So my first question which I basically just want affirmation for is that every instance can have it’s own communities that share the same name. But are other instances of the same community shared in a feed or do I have to search out each one individually?
You have to search them out individually FOR NOW, issue tracker to resolve that here: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui/issues/1113
Secondly usernames. Since I signed up with the same nick on multiple platforms I assume it’s like an email system with Kritical@<instance>
Yes, exactly, and if you’re on the same instance as somebody else you won’t see their instance in their username.
However, do I have to register to every instance I wish to comment on or as long as they are sharing resources I should be able to post?
They’re sharing resources, that’s what federation is, the ability for all of the instances to communicate as though it’s a seamless experience.