The instance list has a couple of recommended sites at the top. They are defined in this file and seperated by language. For most languages there is only one recommendation or none at all, so you can simply add yours by making a pull request.
In case of English, the situation is a bit different. The current recommended instances (beehaw.org and sopuli.xyz) are already quite large and would be shown near the top of the list anyway. So it makes sense to recommend smaller instances instead.
To be recommended, an instance should meet these requirements:
- It should be a general purpose instance
- At least one member of the admin team needs to be in the Instance admin chat to coordinate with other admins
- The admin team needs to be prepared for a large influx of users, both in terms of hardware and moderation
We can use this thread to discuss which instances should be recommended. There is no maximum number of recommendations, but it should be an even number to work with the desktop layout.
On a side note, the instance list itself could use many improvements such as showing more details about instances or using different sorting methods. If you are a programmer or web designer, you can contribute to improve the website.
Edit: If you are a Lemmy admin and want your instance to be recommended, go ahead and open a pull request for this file. Developers can also contribute in the same repo to improve join-lemmy.org.
I was trying to edit my comment and accidentally deleted it! D'oh!
If your goal were wider adoption, having a big "sign up" button that links to a random "recommended" general instance could be best (with the url/name clearly on the button). Put a "sign up on a different instance" button next to it, and a list of instances below that.
Of course - that's IF it's your goal.
I think Mastodon does this, but just a static link to mastodon.social instead of randomly rotating it.
Edit: that's what they do on the app - but not joinmastodon.org
FYI you can restore deleted comments by clicking the delete icon again.
Oh hey thanks
This was @[email protected]'s original reply
https://lemmy.ml/comment/473341