Pixelfed is bringing hundreds of thousands of users to the fediverse who don't know about federation.

{Insert Pasta Pun}

@dansup this seems bad

Andrew Melder

@dansup I know there's probably many who will disagree but I also think this is the right call.

Unlike Mastodon, which I feel left it way too late to move this way and now has the perception of complexity; I hope this leads to wider adoption of Pixelfed.

How the "pick your server" problem continues to be the Fediverse's biggest barrier to entry

With the recent uptick in interest for Instagram alternative Pixelfed after Meta blocked links to its competitor (which, of course, gave it more attention); there’s been a re-occurrence of the same feedback experienced by Mastodon when interested users are looking to sign up: why do I need to pick a server and which one do I choose? Overzealous members of the Fediverse tend to dismiss these concerns as a user problem.

(andrewmelder.com)

Tim Chambers

@dansup - I have zero problem with this and think onboarding needs to be as easy here as it is on centralized platforms.

For the future: you might consider still only showing users ONE server to join, but in then randomly rotate in which one it shows -- from a pool of say 4 or 5 servers you do deals with & know are well run, scalable & solid social homes. That way you get the best of both worlds --> a seemless onboarding, PLUS a spreading out of users across multiple servers.

william.maggos

@andrewmelder @dansup

I've wondered if we could solve both complexity and centralization by having local but otherwise identical servers that a picker defaulted users to.

Julian Fietkau

@tchambers @dansup One issue with that approach is sooner or later (when they want to log in on another device, when they get a new phone, etc.) people will need to know what server they're on. Flagship instances circumvent this by saying "if you don't know, you're almost certainly on this one." It can't be randomly assigned and then never brought up again. If people get assigned to random servers, we need to find reliable ways to make them feel connected to their server and remember it later.

Tim Chambers

@julian @dansup I'd say a good UX, can make it clear which server you are on in the sign up process without being confusing. This would apply too if you had one of four being chosen for users by default.

Julian Fietkau

@tchambers @dansup Yeah, but I'm thinking only in the signup process might not be enough. How about any number of these:

- A little animation when you open the app "Welcome back on pixelfed.example"
- Visually emphasizing the server in your logged-in user handle (somehow)
- Prominently showing server-specific discovery mechanisms (local feed?)
- Default-following an account that regularly posts about the server and its culture

From the top of my head. Point is, you'd probably need *something*.

Antoine

@tchambers @dansup @julian

> "servers you do deals with"
"deals', really ? Isn't it against all federation principles ?

> "know are well run, scalable & solid"
According to who ? An external trust authority ? or pixelfed app principal's dev ?

> "spreading out of users across multiple servers"
If load-balancing is the issue then don't bother showing that as an option to the user. Just server-side balance users as needed, and never reveal them on which instance they are

1/4

Tim Chambers

@villapirorum @dansup @julian You wouldn't want to incude servers without their approval, right?

Antoine

@tchambers @dansup @julian

Sure

Clot

@dansup I think a better solution could be making a list of servers which have approximately same rules and choose random one of them and do load balancing.
Ofcourse you would need to consult with the server admins if they are willing to do it..

snahn ip

@dansup this is not the way sir

snahn ip

Superego needs to humble itself.

Sascha Foerster :bonndigital:

@ij @dansup I understand your position well. There is a lot to criticise in Pixelfed and the decisions of Daniel. On the other hand, it feels for me, we don’t have many chances left. I prefer to support the suboptimal but open approach close to values of the Fediverse instead of letting this chance pass by and have democracy in fire in the next decade. I never understand how everyone can be so demanding to someone who gave so much in advance, be it imperfect or problematic. It’s still a big gift

ij

@Sascha Hmmm, I don't think so that I'm too demanding. I've been in talk with @dansup about e.g. LDAP integration for like 2 years or more. I even provided a dedicated LDAP server to him so he could thoughoutly test the LDAP integration. I even offered some money as a bug bounty for a proper LDAP integration.

Regarding the stuck account registration with undelivered mails that needs to be resent, I'm not the only one that was asking for a fix - which Dan said that he was working on.

But instead of working on bug fixing, my impression is that he wants to implement new features and new apps. I understand that new stuff is more fun to work on compared to bug fixing, but bugs needs to be fixed as well.

WRT onboarding: some days ago he removed pixelfed.social from the server list. Now he aims towards the opposite.

And I fear that he is in danger of burning out: too much stuff to work on and too few contributors.

The Nexus of Privacy

@ij I agree, I don’t think you’re being too demanding! And great point about the parallels to Eugen’s making mastodon.social the default.

Michael Downey 🚩

This post is deleted!