This site is currently struggling to handle the amount of new users. I have already upgraded the server, but it will go down regardless if half of Reddit tries to join.
However Lemmy is federated software, meaning you can interact seamlessly with communities on other instances like beehaw.org or lemmy.one. The documentation explains in more detail how this works. Use the instance list to find one where you can register. Then use the Community Browser to find interesting communities. Paste the community url into the search field to follow it.
You can help other Reddit refugees by inviting them to the same Lemmy instance where you joined. This way we can spread the load across many different servers. And users with similar interests will end up together on the same instances. Others on the same instance can also automatically see posts from all the communities that you follow.
Edit: If you moderate a large subreddit, do not link your users directly to lemmy.ml in your announcements. That way the server will only go down sooner.
I checked the documentation, but I have no idea how to move from one instance to another. Is it because beehaw.org is also struggling or am I just too dumb for this?
You make a new account on the other instance. There is no migration functionality (yet).
Then what is the point of federation? At that point it’s just a bunch of reddits running side by side.
Does that mean that is a viable possibility that is being explored for the future? I would be interested to see how that works out in if there would need to be an “acceptance” from the admission of another instance, for example. It would certainly help lighten the load of users.
Thanks for everything you’re doing.