this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023

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Lemmy.ca's Main Community

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thank you. (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Just wanted to say thanks to the host of this instance.

The mini essay was a great idea. I definitely believe it will keep out at least some level of the riff and the raff. As much as people may dislike the idea of a gatekeeper, I believe it will make and keep the community much more fun, friendly, and useful.

I feel much more at ease on this service than on Reddit. I don't feel like I'm arguing with bots and trolls. Or dealing with bad actors and agitators. I'm discussing things. Reading the actual articles. And not doom scrolling. The nature of this service seems more organic.

Again. Thank you for your time and service to this (hopefully) growing community.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (6 children)

you're welcome! although i can't claim that the required new user application was my idea. early in the lemmy days everyone had open registrations and we used to get trolls that would register many accounts (it's rate limited now), and would post weird nazi-ish troll images, or a bunch of scat images, etc. the trolls also seemed to enjoy impersonating the two main devs as well, and it just got annoying so most instances decided to implement the registration applications, and i just followed along, and have kept it ever since.

and there's now some drama with two of the bigger instances with open registration too. sighs

anways, i think i've said it before but will review the whole registration application thing at some point. i know it's an annoying barrier, and we could probably have more users if it wasn't on, but i like to think that the user/content quality is higher because of it. at least that's what i'm telling myself!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting 🤔 thanks for the drama link. Seems pretty reasonable since they're a safe space first, and I know for a fact I saw (and reported just myself) a lot of bad actors just spamming lgbtq spaces yesterday

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

yep, totally their choice. it happens all the time in the fedi.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So, like, say, Usenet, we can't choose not to receive feeds on certain people/subs/etc ?

bah. I guess, whether we can or not, it's a lot of management to pick and choose ...

... and in selecting or filtering content don't we lose the section-230-like protections in USMCA as we're no longer just a carrier but a content moderator??

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

i'm not 100% sure what you're referring to, but as a user, you can block users & communities to your hearts content.

as an admin, i can block (defederate) from whole instances as well.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think that friction plays a useful role in many processes and circumstances. In this case, the "entrance essay" may have a role in managing growth. If the old theory about vandalism being a side effect of boredom is correct, then it might at least filter out the lazy disrupters.

Re: de-federation. To me, the whole point of a federated system is to allow "super communities" to form. That is, each person finds a home among the various instances and the collective that forms (or the admins fostering the growth of the kind of community they desire) makes and breaks connections to other instances to meet larger objectives. Neither federating nor de-federating should be undertaken lightly and neither action should be considered more or less important than the other.

Note: when I say "finds a home," I don't mean a single or even necessarily a primary instance. Each of us contain multitudes, and explicit federation with other instances is a pretty blunt instrument.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I love the signup barrier and hope you find a way to keep it! Thank you :)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Out of curiosity -- assuming you read them all -- have you ever seen anything truly bizarre in an essay?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

i've had a few that have made me laugh but for the most part they've been fairly standard. i really should keep a list of the good ones, haha.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I like your approach. The right thing to do now now may be different than the right thing to do later, gotta just be pragmatic depending on the state of the community and the state of the infrastructure behind it. I think the desire for unlimited and fast growth at all costs is a trap people often fall into.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was surprised that an email address is optional here on lemmy.ca

It should be required and verified. Otherwise you could sign up and do shit, get banned and repeat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing stops anyone from using a temporary email service to sign up though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

yep, or googles (and other providers) + thing, whatever it's called.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

just to expand on this a bit, when i took over the instance that was how it was setup (no e-mail required), and i never bothered to change it.

if someone wants to sign up and do bad shit, even with emails required & verified, it's still easy for them to create multiple accounts.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I 100% agree. I don't know how sustainable it will be if/when this instance grows, but I enjoyed the approval process. Deffo should limit bot accounts, and I too feel more comfortable here. The .world and .ml instances seemed a bit to hectic for my tastes.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just watch out for ChatGPT responses from bad actors.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had ChatGPT write an introductory paragraph from the perspective of a yuppie, then asked Bard if an LLM wrote it. Bard was noncommital.

...I think they're covering for each other.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

They’re creating a Mafia

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I still agree with having a little about yourself blurb, it just steps a nice tone in my mind for what this community is about. That plus the introductions thread just let's people start feeling a community spirit and remember there's a real person behind that username.

I'm enjoying the small community conversations, the fact that the board game community I made less than a week ago only has started to grow is great, but moreso the fact that people are sparking interesting conversations from it is what validates this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Right here with you and yes I am enjoying the small community as I know I am dealing with actual people instead of trying to figure out if something is automated or not.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Loving how fast this is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

As long as there's enough people to review to keep up with demand, it seems like a good way to ensure human beings are signing up. Though we should keep in mind the 90-9-1 rule of the internet

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