Fedigrow

This is a major issue.

New users run the gamut of tech neophyte to very old hands. Both have reasons for not wanting to do this, even more, not knowing this can be done. As part of the "old hand" crowd, frankly I don't have the time to go look for this stuff - it really needs to be upfront when you join.

I think, overall, what you're talking about is the Discovery process for a new user. And with new users being new to lemmy, they don't understand how it all works. I've yet to sign up to a new instance and have anything clarified, up front - how lemmy works, and not just "federated like email", but how your stuff isn't replicated (I get this, but most people don't automatically get the implications of "federated, like email"). Also, what communities they federate, what they block, etc, again, in detail. This isn't done because documentation is hard, no one likes to do it - I'm as guilty of this as anyone.

Getting new servers to do this would be challenging, but just like the sidebar for a community, it's really crucial.

I think you're on to a good idea.