Lemmy

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Are communities server-specific? i.e, is the "Gaming" community on lemmy.ml different from the one on, say, beehaw.org? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by sup@lemmy.ml to c/lemmy@lemmy.ml

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I have a question about communities. Are communities server-specific, for example, is the "Gaming" community on lemmy.ml different from the one on, say, beehaw.org and will I need to join both?

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[–] floppyslapper@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What’s the point of federation then?

There's not just one server or one entity that controls everything. If one server shuts down it doesn't shut down the entire service. And even though having multiple communities on multiple servers named the same might not be ideal, it's also a feature. If you really don't like the mods of one community on one server, you can join a similar community on a different server. You can think of the servers like cities. Every city has a game store, and this way you can access all the game stores at once. You might have a favorite community on a favorite server and that might be where you create your new posts, but you can still read and participate in the discussions going on in similar communities on all the different servers.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People should really see naming conflicts, not as a negative, but a positive.

If you have two cities that run their own lemmy servers, say Wales and Wellington, they can each have their own !news community, like:

wales.lemmy.com/c/news
wellington.lemmy.com/c/news

[–] floppyslapper@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

This is a good way of framing the concept.

[–] Neuromancer@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can think of the servers like cities. Every city has a game store, and this way you can access all the game stores at once. You might have a favorite community on a favorite server and that might be where you create your new posts, but you can still read and participate in the discussions going on in similar communities on all the different servers.

Great analogy. One of the great things about the internet of old though, was that you automatically got exposed to all of the ideas out there, not just the ones in your city. :)

[–] floppyslapper@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

That's possible with Lemmy too. Just make sure you select the "All" filter when browsing instead of just the "Local" filter and it should show you all the federated posts.

[–] gnoop@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I think the point is more that the federation is visible and confusing to your average end user.