I’ll go first…

My favorite Fediverse platforms as of 2024

  1. Mastodon - my main social feed platform that first introduced me to the Fediverse in general.

  2. Lemmy - my second main social feed platform that originally substituted Reddit from years ago.

  3. Matrix protocol - communication platform I use to connect with users on the Lemmy instance I’m on

  4. Peertube - would love to get an account going and use it more often but still don’t know how but there’s FediVideo.

  5. Bookwyrm - Goodreads alternative that I signed up for that could use more work for a genuine reading tracker.

BONUS: my least favorite Fediverse platform lately

WordPress - because I used to run art blogs on there before I heard word about drama about the CEO of the corporation so I basically had to put out my last existing art blog…RIP.

  • Blaze (he/him)@feddit.orgEnglish
    56·
    16 days ago

    Lemmy, shortly followed by Piefed.

    Will probably switch once Piefed gets mobile apps support and comments view

        • SorteKanin@feddit.dkEnglish
          13·
          16 days ago

          On the other hand, it has some weirdly opinionated features:

          • Hiding downvoted comments (mob rule)
          • Marking people with many downvotes as “low reputation”. I get it, getting many downvotes is a bad sign but I don’t think the software should try to make a ruling here, I think human moderators should look at the whole picture. It doesn’t make you a bad person that people disagree with you.
          • Communities organized into “topics” - I’m not certain if these groupings are decided by the dev or the admin? Either way I find it a bit problematic.
          • Marking certain communities as “low effort” and not counting “reputation” for those. I don’t feel like the software should be making this kind of value judgement.
          • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
            72·
            16 days ago

            If it helps:

            1. this is controlled by a user setting. I left the one that automatically “collapses” comments below a threshold at the default, but I disabled the one that “hides” comments by setting the threshold to -10000. So, far from taking away user power, it strictly enhances choices by providing new options, only at the user’s behest.

            2. it does have such a “reputation” feature, as too does life. Someone who constantly trolls others gets rather “known” for such. But crucially, it’s a label - it doesn’t hide anything, only enhances what is already there. And yeah it’s a bit of an experiment, perhaps it won’t work. Or perhaps it will be improved further? Based on the above and the responsiveness of the devs, I would expect complete control if features were ever added to actually do anything wrt this score.

            Btw apps already have something similar, as too does PieFed, when adding a label for new accounts - bc people have asked for it, and it can be helpful to know when talking with someone that they are a new account (perhaps they are an alt, but it’s something, and again it’s just a label).

            Yeah, I constantly get downvoted - and some of my posts are among the most heavily downvoted content existing in certain communities (but I also note that such things as Innuendo Studios The Alt Right Playbook got heavily downvoted by the same community as well so… I feel vindicated:-). So I mean it when I say that believe me I KNOW what you mean when expressing those concerns. Perhaps the experiment won’t work out, or perhaps it merely needs tuning - e.g. so that any one post or comment doesn’t weigh so heavily but rather only their aggregate (median rather than mean perhaps? or maybe only the binary choice of positive or negative total score, and even then perhaps not centered at zero but something more highly negative like -10?).

            Also PieFed.social has defederated from hexbear.net and lemmygrad.ml, so those sources of downvoting are entirely removed. It also preferentially weights scores more highly feedback from those with high reputation already - which state I achieved in roughly a week and with only two posts, one a cross-post of the other even. So it’s not like seniors are locking out the noobs.

            Anyway yes there’s enormous potential for misuse there, but it’s also something that people have been clamoring for - so it’s something that they are being responsive enough to try it out?

            1. I’m not sure about the categories - but again the devs are very responsive so surely easy to change things? Also I’ve definitely joined communities that aren’t in those, and while there are large federation issues with any non-Lemmy.World instance right now (I see the same from many instances including my 2 alt accounts elsewhere - so it has little to nothing to do with PieFed; especially after the enormous surge in content surrounding the USA election), I believe that they show up in the main feed.

            2. I have never heard that before but I would support it - more “experimental” communities should be allowed, to try things out, a “safe space” if you will:-).

            All of these are valid concerns - and seem like they are being worked on.

            • SorteKanin@feddit.dkEnglish
              7·
              16 days ago

              It doesn’t really help for me, but the beauty of the fediverse is that it doesn’t have to. You can like PieFed, I can prefer Lemmy and we can both still talk :)

              • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
                4·
                15 days ago

                Absolutely 💯!

                And truth be told, we don’t know what the future holds as well. As moderation tools improve on Lemmy.World, as communities evolve, and new concepts rise to the foreground e.g. PieFed, and also Sublinks, both on top of Mbin too.

                A year ago I thought one way about e.g. communities located on Lemmy.ml, then time passed and I changed my mind. Then technology changed and I switched instances to follow.

                What I am saying is: it is so fantastic to have choices! ☺️ THAT is the real win in this situation, IMHO, whether I end up liking PieFed’s approach or not. 🏆

                • SorteKanin@feddit.dkEnglish
                  2·
                  15 days ago

                  Yea it’s cool. Although, regarding sublinks, it really looks like the project has stalled.

            • dborba@lemmy.worldEnglish
              5·
              15 days ago

              Honestly assigning a label to users that everyone can see based on other users’ opinions seems like a bad idea anyway you put it. Independent of it’s intention, it can stifle constructive arguments, encourage mass alt accounts, cause classism and mobbing. There is a Black Mirror episode with this exact premise where it impacts your real life reputation, people’s perceptions of you & what you’re allowed to do.

              • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
                1·
                15 days ago

                I will concede that it could be problematic, but as for “bad”, I think that depends heavily on the implementation?

                A positive example: “new” accounts could be labeled, to help identify someone who e.g. could use some pointers as for how to do formatting, like how to embed rather than simply link to an image. I have zero issues with this kind of factually-based, simple labels, and from looking at the user requests in various places (Ask Lemmy, Shower Thoughts, etc.), people very much want this.

                Now, complex labels on the other hand, or those that are not straightforward but rather deceivingly simplistic such as “this person is GOOD, this other person is BAD” are a whole other matter altogether. I’m with you there.

                So what about the in-between: is it worth it to use spam filters at all, even though it might throw out something good along the way? The answer to that seems to me to be how well it is tuned, and also ofc up to the user to decide if worth it to them or not. On that note, the account admin https://piefed.social/u/rimu has an “attitude” score that I’ve seen hovering around the 75-82% range, so I doubt we would see a filter such as “must never downvote or receive downvotes”, or 90%, or even 50%. On the other hand, if let’s say ~>90% of someone’s every single post and comment were downvoted heavily, on an account older than let’s say a month, that seems like a different story? That speaks to a repeated pattern of someone not taking a hint as to how their content affects others around them. A horrible implementation could be too simple minded and count e.g. every post or comment as “bad” even if it received 1000+ upvotes but got one downvote, but a smart implementation could do MUCH better than such?

                Ofc people could misuse those in any case - but how is that different from anything else? e.g. I could see a “he/him”, and decide that I don’t want to talk with “a man” or “a person who uses pronouns”. And frankly, someone uses such quick judgement calls is perhaps best to avoid talking with their hated audience anyway, if they are e.g. misogynistic or whatever.

                Gaming the system is a better counterargument - but that too is like spam filtering: not a reason to not do it at all (and thereby allow all spam through?), but rather realizing that no system is perfect. Which is why I like how these are LABELS, not filters. (There are filters too, but those are per-comment/post, not per-user.)

                So, as long as it is optional, and not heavy-handed, I am excited to see how this may develop. Definitely there are concerns, as there would be for any software project or social media endeavor. Remember that there are significant concerns with Lemmy as well:-) - e.g. a good fraction of people on Reddit refuse to check us out due to the known political leanings of the devs. However, it’s a strong counterargument that the model is federated, so someone doesn’t have to join lemmy.ml, yet can still make use of the software from them. Btw the same applies to PieFed as well - it is open source and anyone can spin up their own instance.

                So: we’ll see how it develops. I think that an extremely limited amount of labelling could be helpful, if applied with care and consideration.

        • tron@midwest.socialEnglish
          5·
          16 days ago

          I looked thru this blog hopeful that there would be protection against mod abuse. Instead you can get banned for downvoting? I don’t want to be looking over my back because some dipshit mod had a bad take. This is generating way too much analytical data on users. Communities don’t need empowered super mods treating users like numbers on a spreadsheet. Lemmy for sure has problems (ml) but this isn’t the answer.

          • imaqtpie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            4·
            16 days ago

            It doesn’t need to be the answer. It just needs to be an answer for certain use cases. Both platforms can easily coexist. That’s the beauty of federation.

            • flamingos-cant@feddit.ukEnglish
              2·
              16 days ago

              Mods can also see votes in communities they moderate, lemmy-ui just doesn’t show the option (and no other client, to my knowledge, has the feature).

          • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
            10·
            16 days ago

            PieFed communicates with Lemmy. Same content, different platform. That’s one awesome thing about federation.

            There is also mbin (fork of kbin), and Sublinks, which is API compatible with Lemmy so should be able to use Lemmy apps with it (from memory, this is what Beehaw are hoping to move to).

  • PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    29·
    16 days ago

    Unfortunately, Lemmy is the only one with content that appeals to me so far (at least to my knowledge, given the near-unsearchable nature of the fediverseso far). The platforms just aren’t large enough.

    • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
      13·
      16 days ago

      Iirc Mastodon is about to add a global search function. I’ve never used it, nor even Twitter (back before it was cancelled into X), just passing on what I heard.

      And PieFed and Mbin are also sort of “Lemmy” (though neither in that graphic that I saw:-).

      • Aksamit@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        15 days ago

        I joined SLRPNK.net shortly before kbin kicked the bucket and I quite like the user interface and customisation options here, even if I don’t comment much these days.

        Also as the pessimistic misanthrope doomer I am, I was originally getting a bit of a kick out of how painfully naive and optimistic the hippies here were/are. I just try to ignore it now though tbh as it’s depressing.

  • seaQueue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    16 days ago

    Lemmy, I like the simple post structure with all related commentary under the original submission.

    Mastodon is fine for people who like it but it’s hard to follow the thread of replies as every reply is its own individual post.

    I guess the twatter format makes sense for dashing off quick messages but I find it hard to follow and it’s difficult to find communities and topics of interest without also including a shit-ton of noise along with the signal.

  • secret300@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    14·
    15 days ago

    For me it’s definitely Lemmy. I don’t like the microblogging format and never have. I’ve always used forums and then reddit.

    The fediverse just works so well with Lemmy I think. It’s so fun seeing new communities from instances I’ve never heard of. I think this format is perfect for the fediverse

  • QuarterSwede@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    16 days ago

    Mastodon. Easily better than Twitter in every way, even when it wasn’t full of garbage. Can’t say the same for Lemmy, it’s not bad, and in some ways better but in some ways worse.

  • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
    13·
    16 days ago
    1. Lemmy
    2. Mastodon
    3. Pixelfed
    4. Various Misskey forks that are all about the same
    5. Peertube

    Lemmy has eaten up just about all the time I used to spend on Mastodon. Pixelfed would be in the running for #1 if it hadn’t become so vaporware-y in the last few months.

      • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        16 days ago

        I use peertube.tv.

        Stux (from mstdn.social) is the admin and he’s generally pretty great a running stuff. I haven’t used it a ton lately but no complaints!

        Edit: Daaaamn. Just realized that registrations are disabled. Bummer. Sorry.

        • grimer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          16 days ago

          No problem at all, I’ve made it this long without it I can wait longer. Thank you for the suggestion!!!

  • eldrichhydralisk@piefed.socialEnglish
    11·
    16 days ago

    Mastodon has successfully replaced Twitter for me, so it’s by far my favorite. It does still need better tools for dealing with large-scale posts and users, but overall it feels like it’s actually doing the job I want done.

    I want to like Piefed/Lemmy more than I actually do. The Fediverse answer to Reddit just doesn’t feel ready for prime time yet. It’s hard to find/connect with communities and the user base doesn’t have that “can address basically any question” magic.

    • BossDj@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      16 days ago

      I’ve tried mastodon and followed a couple people. But I never did Twitter either. Could you recommend how I could best use mastodon? Who to follow, or for to sort/search out whatever what’s popular? I couldn’t figure it out

      • eldrichhydralisk@piefed.socialEnglish
        4·
        16 days ago

        Following hashtags is really powerful and useful on Mastodon. You can click any hashtag on a post to see other posts that use it, and if you like it there’s a button you can click to start following that hashtag. You can also search for hashtags in the Explore section. Since there’s no algorithm, hashtags are the primary way to get things that interest you into your feed.

        @FediTips@social.growyourown.services posts tips on how to use Mastodon, so it’s really helpful to follow as a newbie.

        @FediFollows@social.growyourown.services posts lists of interesting accounts on Mastodon, usually by topic. It’s a good way to grow your follow list!

    • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
      4·
      16 days ago

      Right now the tools wouldn’t support mainstream users anyway. They will only come after those are ready, and even then it will be a struggle.

      But for now, e.g. a good fraction of the time on PieFed.social a notification won’t take me to where it is intending to send me, bc of some prior comment being collapsed, hidden, buried in a thread, etc. - and this is the kind of stuff that will quickly send mainstream people packing.

  • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
    10·
    16 days ago

    Nextcloud is federated? First time I hear about that.

    For me it’s Lemmy, without a doubt. Never used Twitter, tried mastodon to see what it’s all about, didn’t like it.

    Matrix seems decent, but nobody I know uses it, and finding useful groups is painful, especially on other instances (servers, whatever they call them).

    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nlEnglish
      7·
      16 days ago

      Also, I am confused at why nextcloud is at the intersection of networking, music, and multimedia.

      Yes it technically has a video viewer and music player, but I would be very surprised if any person in the world right now is genuinely using it to post that content to the fediverse social-network style.

  • Cossty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    16 days ago

    I really wanted to like bookwyrm and use it but it’s just so bare bones. Instead, I switched from goodreads to StoryGraph like two years ago. I really like some of its features like content warnings, moods, very detailed stats of my reading habits, etc.

    • mosscap@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      15 days ago

      I use Bookwyrm specifically because its barebones. It’s my favorite platform

  • lizard-socks@pandacap.azurewebsites.net
    8·
    15 days ago

    I feel like there’s still a pretty big gap in the drawing / art space. I want something that works like the furry art sites all work, which means (a) art posts and text posts separated into distinct feeds, and (b) thumbnails in a grid instead of a vertical timeline. I built a web app to do this but unfortunately it’s single-user (and basically locked to the Azure cloud). In the meantime, Pixelfed works pretty well for following Mastodon artists.

    • C126@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      14 days ago

      The problem with any media heavy content is storage. Fediverse is diy, mom’s basement servers. Who’s going to pay for all the storage?

      • Jupiter Rowland@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        12 days ago

        Ackchually, most of the Fediverse runs on professionally-operated Hetzner rack iron at huge data centres in Germany.

        Even if this comes from 22% of the Fediverse being mastodon.social.

    • Kyle Judd@lemmy.autism.placeOPEnglish
      1·
      14 days ago

      I was a Mastodon artist before, but then I almost left the Fediverse and came back restarting my entire social status also.

      I have characters, but no inspriation.

      Plus, I killed off my WordPress websites because the CEO was setting a bad example.