Hey, I’m right there with you. I remember when the internet was unapproachable, and when it demanded that you put the time in to figure it out. Hell, I’m excited about Lemmy and the fediverse, because I really hope to see a return to form of the old school internet where it wasn’t just ruled by only a handful of companies, their shareholders, and their advertisers.

But, you have to keep in mind that it hasn’t been that way for a long, long time now. There are a lot of people now who are full-grown adults and have lived their entire lives never experiencing that kind of thing. They’ve only ever dealt with the most gentle user experience possible, because that’s what the internet grew into. I mean…of course it did! Why wouldn’t you want your service to be easy to use for anyone who might use it?

On the other hand, I still remember when the internet was exclusively a “nerd” thing, almost explicitly because it used to be so difficult to approach that you had to be a total no-lifer to figure out how to access it in the first place. I don’t want that either.

You simply have to understand that not everyone has the experience in dealing with difficult-to-approach technology that you might. The answer to that isn’t to chastise or turn away, but to have understanding, have patience, and to do what you can to help them acclimate.

Don’t be a jerk about it. Use that experience to be a guide and a helping hand