I've got to say - I can't see how this is really going to take off.... It's so confusing.
Let me try to explain a bit...
- Tried making accounts, got one on lemmy.ml and lemmy.world.
- Saw some interesting feeds, but can't load lemmy.ml (502 error - maybe overloaded). However, the 'Fediverse' is linked up - so surely I should be able to find this user and connect to his post without too much hassle?
- Try to visit - he's on vlemmy.net - I can't interact without logging in. My account doesn't work - is it a different account for every instance?
- Compared to ten minutes on Reddit, after 2 days I still haven't found content and/or interaction that I want. I kind of understand how cool federated stuff is, but I cannot get to the product.
- r/firefox r/linux r/angryupvote r/jokes - you know.... stuff!
I follow a link for the user and end up seeing that I am not logged in, but a note says:
'If you use a Fediverse account that is able to follow users, you can follow this user.'
I don't understand this - How? Where? There's no context menu...
I AM LOGGED IN here and now... What gives?
If it's this hard for me, I'm sure that this rules out 99% of internet users from switching over... as I'm sure that more than 75% of Reddit users are dumber than I am.
Oh, and finally now I see another notice:
If you deselect Undetermined, you will not see most content.
WTF does that mean? Where did I select, or have an option to select 'Undetermined'?
A lot of people in this thread are missing the point. Yes, there are explanations to how to use the fediverse but what this individual is lamenting is that it's so confusing that it took them two days to get to the point of posting for help, whereas on Reddit it would have taken them 10 minutes. The steep learning curve is going to stifle the growth of lemmy.
An argument can be made that those who are unwilling to learn the way that the fediverse works are important because it's simply a process of "weeding out" individuals to keep the communities great. I would argue that this argument fails to understand the point of the fediverse altogether, that if you don't like one community there are plenty of others that can be moderated to your particular standards. Also, if individuals are unable to learn Lemmy quickly enough to begin using it, they'll simply go to one of the corporate-owned social media sites. There needs to be a way for Lemmy to help new users integrate easier, rather than them having to create posts like this asking the community how to simply subscribe to a page they want to browse. Lemmy is amazing and I've really enjoyed it and am excited for its prospects, but it's got a long way to go in terms of user-friendliness before it can truly become what we all want it and know it can be- a viable alternative to corporate-owned social media.
For me it was the sign up process and the questions (I am much more lurker inclined) and the "We're overloaded, please look elsewhere." type messages and I admit, my first post was in the low stakes cats community to minimize discomfort.
I suppose I was trying to show support that yes, there are others of us here that are still learning (I deleted my post accidentally and was delighted to find out that clicking the trash can again brought it back!) as well as to pick up knowledge as a new user also.