this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
58 points (98.3% liked)

Asklemmy

44067 readers
1205 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

As the title indicates, how does Lemmy work?

I recently inquired in a couple other communities about necessities (whether it be hardware or software, ect) and guidance to create a server/instance and decided I may be better off understanding how this realm works and operates as my starting point, then move into the hardware side, then continue to the Sofware and setup.

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Reddit is one website where everything lives. The website is made of many different parts that all run on computers that are owned/controlled by Reddit.

Lemmy is multiple sites where everything lives. Lemmy is made of many different parts that are run on different computers by different people.

These parts all speak the same language so for someone using Lemmy, it feels like it’s all just one website.

[–] ron3ats 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Ahhhh, so it's a decentralized BTC version of the content we want.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes it’s decentralized but that’s about as similar it is to BTC πŸ˜†

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Particularly in the way that lemmy isn't finance bro bullshit

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Love that for us.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It uses ActivityPub to send and receive all messages to any instance that has subscribed to a community.

So I'm typing this message on my own instance (Lemmy.today) after my instance made it pop up in my feed since I subscribed to the AskLemmy community on lemmy.ml.

Also ActivityPub is the common protocol for all fediverse software, which is why you can even read Lemmy posts from Mastadon for example.

It's the coolest tech I've seen in a long time because users have their own platform instead of it being centralized. They make the rules for their own instance, or they join an instance they like.

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

How do usernames work? If someone has a username on one instance, can someone else register the username on another instance? If so, how are they distinguished?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yes, you can have same usernames on different instances.

The full username is always @user@address.

So I'm @[email protected]. There's also a @[email protected] (that's also me, I stopped using it to help with server load, but ignore that part :P). Servers and people can distinguish between the two users because it always includes where the user is from.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

To understand how Lemmy works, let's break it down into its main components:

Content management: Users can create, edit, and delete posts containing stories, links, and comments. They can also upvote or downvote posts to influence their visibility on the site.

Federated architecture: Lemmy is designed to work with other federated sites, allowing users to interact with content from different platforms seamlessly. This means that users can post on one site and have their content appear on other connected sites, fostering a more interconnected community.

Voting and ranking: The upvoting and downvoting system allows users to influence the visibility of posts. Highly upvoted posts will be more visible on the site, while downvoted posts will be less visible. This helps to create a self-regulating community where quality content is promoted and less relevant content is demoted.

Commenting: Users can add comments to posts, allowing for discussion and debate on the content. This encourages conversation and fosters a sense of community among users.

Scalability: Lemmy is designed to be lightweight and easy to set up, making it suitable for small to medium-sized communities. It can be deployed on various platforms, including traditional web servers and cloud-based platforms.

In summary, Lemmy is a lightweight content management system that enables users to create and share stories, links, and comments within a federated community. Its key features include voting and ranking, commenting, and scalability, making it an ideal choice for creating forum-style link collection sites.

(Obligatory: GPT generated EILI5)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What happens if an owner of an instance like u/spez goes crazy or shuts down his server for other reasons? Does this delete my user and content or can I move my account to another instance even if the server is already shut down?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Currently Lemmy does not have a way to move your account to another instance even if the server is still up. It would delete your user and content, however that content may still exist on other instances.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

A picture (or infographic) is worth a thousand words. https://imgur.com/a/uyoYySY

load more comments
view more: next β€Ί