this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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Lemmy Support

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Support / questions about Lemmy.

Matrix Space: #lemmy-space

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Some questions about using Lemmy. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by a_new_sad_me@lemmy.world to c/lemmy_support@lemmy.ml
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Hi, new user coming from Reddit, as many. Trying to orient with Lemmy, I realize that I still don't understand the idea of instances well enough. Or maybe the fediverse. So there are plenty of instances, and each is supposed to be dedicated to a topic, but this is a very fluid definition. Anyhow, how do I search for instances? I mean, if I'm in Lemmy.world, I can click "instances" and I get the list of instances that are relevant. Sure, I can use google for that, but my logic tells me that there should be a more organic way.

And this leads to another question, how can I browses communities on other instances with my already existing account? What about platforms such as mastodon where I'm supposed to be able to browse and submit and such?

And finally, is there a search per community possibility?

Sorry, I'm still confused about these.

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[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So, the way it works: Instance is a server your account is created and hosted on. Within the instance you registered with, people create communities - just like subreddits. You can search for communities within your instance but also from other instances. When searching for a community of interest, make sure to check option All. This will result in showing you communities from across various instances. You can participate, comment and post in the communities from other instances just as if they were created in the instance you are registered in.

One exclusion is when the instance you are registered with decided to defederate with some instance. For example Instance B is promoting illegal content so your instance decide not to federate with it. Then you won't be able to access the content on Instance B.

Makes sense?

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the instance you are registered with decided to defederate with some instance

This might explain why I can't find communities which allegedly exist, or why I can't choose my home instance in the android app to log in.

It might. I'm not getting any error which clearly states the malfunction is due to defederation.

How does one achieve clarity? Is there a map, which shows which instance is (de)federated to which other instances?

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure you can!

If you scroll all the way down in a desktop browser, click into Instances. On the right it will tell you what instances are defederated.

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Nice, thank you! There is only one defederated, the infamous lemmygrad.

Though I don't think this explains the issues I have. Maybe it's the overall load due to the reddit migration.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

So what's exactly a problem? I might be able to help - I struggled with some stuff here as well.

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks, that's very kind!

Someone shared this link: https://kbin.social/m/fediverse/t/4331/The-growing-list-of-subreddits-going-to-be-dark-but

If I understand this correctly, that's a list of communities I should be able to subscribe to. I can visit https://lemmy.ml/c/atheism and https://lemmy.ml/c/gamedev, but they open as a new (?) lemmy to which I am not logged in. When I try to find them via 'Communities', I get "No results", so I cannot subscribe.

So it feels like some parts of the network are inaccessible (or even invisible, the internal serach does not show these two examples) and I don't know why.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right! I know exactly what it is!

So here is what happens when you open " https://lemmy.ml/c/gamedev " - it opens the gamedev community that is hosted on the lemmy.ml instance but also it's opening it as if you are accessing it from lemmy.ml instance.

If you format the link like this: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/gamedev@lemmy.ml

you will be taken to this community, from this instance but you will be accessing it through your instance. There is a better way, supposedly, which will mean you can access lemmy through your instance and search for !gamedev@lemmy.ml and it should show you this community and you will be able to access through your instance, but it doesn't work for me like it doesn't work for you. I reckon it's some kind of bug.

After you successfully subscribed to this community, its easy accessing it from now on, as it will show in the right hand side (subscribed tab)

Hope it helps (please correct me anybody if I'm wrong)

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you format the link like this: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/gamedev@lemmy.ml

I changed the link according to my home instance: https://lemmy.click/c/gamedev@lemmy.ml

Result: 404: couldnt_find_community

Same for https://lemmy.click/c/atheism@lemmy.ml

But https://lemmy.click/c/lemmy@lemmy.ml does work. I'm not subscribed/pending to any of these three.

This is consistent with the internal search (Communities). I can find and visit lemmy@lemmy.ml, but not the other two hosted at the same instance.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see what you mean - I have similar results. So I can access through my instance, the gamedev & lemmy community (on the lemmy.ml instance) but not the atheism. If I try through your instance (lemmy.click) it doesn't work for gamedev & atheism, but it still works with lemmy community.

Maybe it's just some kind of bug? This is all still pretty new, so it might that some connections are not made yet.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It seems that lemmy.ml is under most pressure right now because all the people abandoning the reddit-ship. It might be because of that.

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Right, it seems you are not the only one: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/56815

Probably just a kink that will be ironed out soon enough!

[–] CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Found the solution!

So here is how it works: if there was no subscription made from anyone from your instance to this particular community, it might not show up straight up in your search bar. What you have to do is the following: Copy the remote link which looks like this: !likeadragon@lemmy.world Includes an exclamation mark, name of the community then @ followed by the instance name

Then you go to search bar and make sure that you have "all" in every possible dropdown. I had Community in the type dropdown and look at the difference before and after changing it to all:

I hope they fix this bug

[–] kresten@feddit.dk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To answer your question regarding what an instance is.

Think of e-mail. Imagine you use Gmail.com, your email would probably be a_new_sad_me@gmail.com. You can send emails to everyone, even someone@outlook.com. You send and read emails you receive on gmail.com. You can't log onto outlook.com with your gmail login, but you can still email outlook.com.

I'm not sure I understood your post properly, so I just tried explaining instances. Let me know, if you'd like me to expand my analogy.

[–] a_new_sad_me@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure I understand that email analogy, especially where it ends. My Gmail account does not allow me to access others users mail box. So what is the mailbox in that analogy?

And for that matter, what is outlook here? Another instance or another platform? To communicate with a mastodon post I need to get the link from there somehow?

(I admit, I'm confused as hell)

[–] kresten@feddit.dk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your mailbox is lemmy.world You log into lemmy.world You send emails from lemmy.world You read the emails you receive on lemmy.world

The only website you ever use is lemmy.world (gmail in the analogy)

Outlook.com, gmail.com, protonmail.com so on, they're all examples of singular 'instances' of e-mail. Lemmy.ml and lemmy.world are examples of lemmy 'instances'. You choose one instance, and that's the one you use for all your communication. There are apps available, but they still communicate through your instance, similar to e-mail apps built-in in phones.

Not sure how else to phrase it. I'm sure someone else can do it better than me though.

To communicate with a mastodon post I need to get the link from there somehow?

I still haven't figured this out.

[–] a_new_sad_me@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Hmmm... I understand the analogy, but I'm still not sure I accept it. I mean, with emails I need to actively search for specific people elsewhere. The basic idea is not to discover new users and such. I don't think it is only semantics and the reason is exactly the reason I've placed my original post. My intention with it wasn't clear enough, probably.

To crystallize my question: what's the point of making theme-based instances if I cannot browse specifically these instances for their local community. E.g., my account is registered on lemmy.world, and I see an instance dedicated to sad things. If I want to browse specifically that instance, see what sad communities I can find there. How can I do that? And if I can, how does that works with the statement I saw on the beginner's guide that it doesn't mater which instance I register on?