Recently there seems to be some of misunderstanding what the lemmy.ml instance is about, especially from newer users.
Lemmy.ml has always been a niche site, and it will most likely stay this way. We don’t have any intentions to turn it into a mainstream instance, or set a goal of getting as many users as possible. Our goal is simple: make an instance that people like to use. I would say that we have been successful in this, but obviously it is impossible to satisfy everyone.
The reason for this is that @dessalines and I are paid to develop Lemmy, while donations from lemmy.ml users only make up a negligible part of our income. Besides, having more users would force us to spend more time moderating, and less time for development. Lemmy works quite differently from big tech sites like Reddit in this regard: while they get more money with each extra user through advertising, for us it is the opposite. So we would much rather have a smaller, non-toxic, and friendly userbase, than a large one.
Part of the problem might be that lemmy.ml is described as “flagship instance”, which can certainly be interpreted to mean “mainstream” or “general purpose”. I struggle to come up with a better, more accurate description. If you can think of one, please comment here.
If you dont like the way lemmy.ml works, thats okay. Federation exists exactly to solve that problem, let different groups have their own instances, with their own rules and political views. You can see the list of existing instances, and instructions for setting up a new one on join-lemmy.org.
In particular, I would like to see someone (or a group of people) create a mainstream, or liberal instance. That should help to avoid further drama, and avoid attempts to turn lemmy.ml into something that it is not. @dessalines and I would certainly be willing to help with any technical problems that such an instance runs into, and include it on join-lemmy.org (just like any other instance that meets the code of conduct).
This might not really be an issue… the crawler can start with any list of specific starting instances, and we could also add blocking to that.
@pingveno@lemmy.ml which specific criteria of the CoC wouldn’t work for you? Pretty much the only one I’m staunch about is anti-bigotry, which it sounds like you have no problem with considering your stance against gab and parler. In that case we’d have no issue federating with your instance and having the crawler pick it up for join-lemmy.org .
The question is, how exactly do you define anti-bigotry? Do bigoted comments have to be removed, and the authors banned? Or is it enough if other users challenge these bigoted views? I tend towards the latter, because it allows for discussion and deradicalization.
Btw it might be better to make a new thread in /c/lemmy regarding joinlemmy inclusion rules, then more people might participate.
This reflects my line of concerns perfectly. At the same time, I am aware of how any platform geared towards absolute free speech will almost certainly turn into a cesspool. Maybe going ahead with federation would be beneficial, with the understanding that federation could be severed if there is too much divergence in content.