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Fediverse won't replace Reddit as long as Lemmy is the main platform being promoted (kbin.social)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Think about things from the point of view of someone who has never used Reddit or the fediverse, but you've heard about them both from recent news articles and want to see what they are about.

Reddit:- You Google Reddit and your first result is Reddit.com. You click the link and are presented with the front page. You from scroll from a few hours and end up signing up and staying.

Lemmy:- You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister... Your second result might be join-lemmy.org, which you're smart enough to realise it's probably more likely what the news is about.

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code...

There is very little chance you're going to investigate further.

If we want the fediverse to replace Reddit then either
A) Lemmy needs to improve its initial impression and Search engine optimization
B) We should be promoting a different platform with a better initial first impression.

I'd recommend kbin personally as it gives the same sort of experience as Reddit from the initial interaction.

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[–] p03locke 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

This is a rather back-handed post, and it talks about fairly easily solvable problems.

You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister…

That's because 1. Google's search engine sucks now and caters to the dumbest audience, and 2. Lemmy Kilmister has lived longer and has been the public view longer than Lemmy the platform. That will change quick enough.

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code…

Yes, it requires reading. Holy fucking shit! I'll admit that the page could at least use a picture of a Lemmy front page, but that's not hard to fix.

I’d recommend kbin personally as it gives the same sort of experience as Reddit from the initial interaction.

Yes, nice of you to recommend the platform you are using and post on. The first link on Google shows "No information is available for this page." That's the biggest red flag ever for links you don't want to click on.

It also has the same dumb UI problems as every other Federated platform. It's like nobody has gone to Responsive Design UI School.

Give me my damn page real estate! I don't want to be locked to this dumb 1200px fixed width bullshit. Everybody with a computer in 2023 has widescreen monitors, so give me my widescreen output. And stop making the post height so big. I want to see a sea of links. Stop catering to mobile phones every waking moment of your lives!
When it comes to comment threads, suddenly, the page indentation is so small that it's really hard to tell which is a reply of what.
Even with the real estate they do have, the front page for any of the platforms are so threadbare that it doesn't look like a feature-rich platform. Which it isn't. I've got so many buttons on Reddit. A bunch of buttons on the top. A bunch of buttons on the right side. So many links and buttons right there on the front page. It doesn't matter if there's alternate links that take me to pages that dedicated pages for that feature. It's still there on the front page to make it easier to do.

Don't introduce obvious bugs like the inability to subscribe to communities. You're in the big leagues now and need to revamp your testing practices.