this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Very difficult to discuss with the fiance without know the terminology yet lol

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[–] Venus 83 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're communities. And the different servers/sites are instances.

[–] SammichParade@vlemmy.net 41 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Petition to name them SubLemmys

[–] communist@beehaw.org 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I like communities, honestly, it sounds much less... y'know, reddity?

And also, it's much more intuitive.

[–] bnaur@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally that term makes me a bit uneasy. To me it sounds too grandiose and organized just for something that might just be some random people shitposting or chatting about their interests. And actually having tight knit communities can easily lead to all kinds of negative effects, group think, hierarchies and drama.

Of course some subreddits, forums, lemmy communities etc can be actual communities but just as a personal preference I don't like the idea of calling them that default.

[–] BigUwU@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t like the term community because it’s difficult to understand the hierarchy. Is an instance a part of a community? Or vice versa?

What do you think of subinstance?

[–] bnaur@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To me subinstance sounds more like a technical term, but I guess people would just call them subs anyway. I think that's a problem in general with deriving anything from "instance".

I guess community does a good job at being a more human centric term. You have the technical side of things, servers and software (instances) and on those you have the actual user facing parts (communities) so in that way it's kinda fitting.

Further overthinking about the terminology I just realised that Lemmy calls joining communities "subscribing" and Reddit calls it "joining", while I would naturally think it would be more fitting the other way around. Naming things is hard.

[–] Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think "sub" is what people are going to call them reguardless. It is just internet language at this point, a subdivision of a community (by community I mean lemmy as a whole) is called a sub. Weather it's a subreddit or sublemmy. I'm not saying bring reddit with us, I am just saying the internet can take the term "sub" with it and use it elsewhere.

[–] Heimchen@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Instances also need better names.

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not "servers"? That's all they are. They serve content.

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

Because technically, one server can host multiple instances. Instances are containerized— literally an instance of lemmy.

[–] communist@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there any practical reason to actually do that, though?

[–] communist@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What would you call gmail vs hotmail?

[–] dnzm@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] amiuhle@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

But that's a provider/customer relationship, on the fediverse it isn't.

[–] unfazedbeaver@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Agree on a technical level, but in terms of the average netizen being able to visualize the relationship, "providers" makes it much easier

[–] amiuhle@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

I don't think we should try to visualize something that's not there just because it's (supposedly) easier for the average netizen.

[–] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

For now. Commercial servers are possible, especially if communities become multi-instance in the future.

Every mature decentralized service calls them providers. Phone providers, ISPs, email providers, etc. I guess usenet just calls them "news servers", though.

[–] Ferk@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's provider/consumer (not customer, something being a "provider" doesn't necessarily mean they are selling stuff).

We are consumers, we consume the content that the instances provide, as content providers.

[–] negativenull@negativenull.com 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Sublemminals? (or Sublemmynals)

[–] Dougie@lemmy.dougiverse.io 1 points 1 year ago
[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

new to lemmy....

if there different "linux" communities on different instances? does this mean i have to subscribe to all of them? is there a way to see all content from communities called "linux" from different instances?

or does each "linux" community simply fight for critical mass to become the "main" linux community on lemmy?

thanks

[–] Venus 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There could be different linux communities on different instances, and to see them all you'd have to subscribe to them and sort by subscribed view. But yeah, in practice most of the time there will emerge one "main" linux community and, if it gets big enough, likely offshoot communities for different philosophies or more specificity.

[–] JohannesOliver@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A “merge identical” option in the individual users’ ui would be kind of neat, to have one page.

[–] Venus 1 points 1 year ago

That does sound like a good idea, kind of like Reddit's old multireddit function.

[–] Mane25@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I don't dislike the idea that there could be multiple similar communities (for example Linux communities) on different instances. That way if you have beef with one you could sign up to another; in a non-ideal world that strikes me as healthier than having one to rule them all and lots of people bitter about it. I think it's best to leave it to sort itself out organically.