Is this an intended change or is it in place due to the influx of new users?

  • infamousbelgianEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    For me, this shows the power but also the downside of the fediverse setup. When I joined Lemmy, I picked lemmy.ml kinda random. I started building up my user (joining communities etc). My instance owner decides this, virtually limiting my account on an important thing. I understand why, that is not the case. But the thing is, I can’t easily move.

    If I would be able to another instance, that would solve it. However, that is not possible.

    I understand why it is this way. And this specific case is just a small inconvenience that I can work around.

    However, the power of the instance admin is something that scares me a bit. What if the instance someone joined decides to disable/… more important things? You just loose your entire user?

    • EmrysOfTheValley@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      You can view, join, and participate communities on other instances with no problems (mostly if lemmy.ml is federated with them). Or is your issue more making community related not cross participation?

      • infamousbelgianEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Hi, my “problem” currently isn’t a real problem :p

        Let me explain:

        So, the current problem is not being able to create a community. The solution is easy. Create and alt account on another platform, create the community, make my prime account the mod and voila, problem solved.

        However, my “problem” is theoretical. I joined Lemmy.ml “per accident”. I did not pick it for a specific reason, I just stumbled on it (being a Reddit refugee) and selected this instance. (I know now that this instance will always “do good” because it is run by the creators of Lemmy (I did not know this when joining) - so my issues will probably always be theoretical FOR ME, but hear me out. ). If someone would join another instance, and that instance would suddenly stop providing essential services of Lemmy (let’s say, commenting, participating, cross posting or any other feature) OR if the instance would stop alltogether, you kinda loose everything. Yes, you can create an alt, but your post/comment history belongs to the other, severely limited in features, account - or the account is lost forever. I think, from a theoretical standpoint, I would feel better if I was able to “move” my main account to another instance. Not sure how this would technically work (federating accounts might be a huge GDPR / privacy nightmare), but it would give me some peace of mind knowing that I can’t be… euh… fucked over by an instance admin.

        I know you can run your own instance to circumvent these issues. I am considering it since my account is stil fairly new, but it seems like a tedious thing, both in technical knowledge as in financial terms. And with the federation/discovery thingy that is around on a not-well-used instance, this is even more difficult.

        My 2 cents. Not sure if I’m missing something and/or if someone agrees/disagrees with me?

        • ThiefEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          I actually think its a major problem. I joined lemmy.ml because I could create a community. Now suddenly that has been pulled from under my feet. Essentially unless I run my own instance, I am at the whim of whatever someone want to change at any time.