I would say the problem with discuit, and other centralized alternative sites for that matter, is that there is no draw to them, other than being an alternative. I think people have been burned by traditional centralized social media going south after new leadership or poor decisions by existing leadership. They see that they are being monetized and manipulated and are sick of it. This is the draw of the fediverse, in my opinion, that no one can own it or control it, and people are free to run it in a decentralized manner, as a form of communication should be. That combined with lack of advertising for an overarching concept to draw people in (i.e., people might sign up for Mastodon looking for a twitter alternative and stumble across Lemmy or pixelfed), and it makes it hard for people to learn about this single centralized alternative site, unless they are really not into the fediverse as a concept and ok with the possibility of that alternative going to crap eventually. I had honestly not heard of discuit until you mentioned it, and I would imagine the people who are aware of it is pretty small. And I’m someone who is pretty well versed in social media alternatives. Compare it to a more well known (but arguably still pretty removedty) alternative Mewe, which has 20 million registered users and 170k active users as of 2023, and I think it paints the picture that there is a real desire for alternatives. See also, Bluesky, Mastodon, etc.

So let me get this straight. Are you really saying “we the developers are going to build this however we see fit, and you the user can go removed yourself, or else learn how to code and build it yourself”? Is that really the dynamic you’re trying to cultivate here? Seems very welcoming and productive.

I’m not complaining as much as I am giving constructive feedback. Don’t like the feedback? Great, feel free to ignore it, or tell me why I’m wrong. Nothing I am proposing will impact how you use the fediverse. I’m not saying we need to cater to everyone or be exactly like big social media sites, but I am saying that a lot of people are dissatisfied with mainstream social media and are looking for alternatives. This alternative has existed for a long time, but still has a fraction of the users as other alternatives out there. Aren’t you at least curious as to why that is? Should we really be satisfied to be relegated to some niche technology that no one really uses, when there is the potential for it to become something more? For me, I just want a platform not controlled by corporations hell bent on monetizing every click and view, where I can keep up with my family and friends and enable people to make content for others to enjoy. Not sure why that is such a repulsive concept to some people.

I would argue that the fediverse is doing just fine enremovedifying itself. From apps that have started to integrate ads, to platforms that are still barely functional a decade and a half after they started development, to the stubborn refusal to cater the overall experience to anyone but tech minded users. We need to do better. I do plan to get involved, but even if I didn’t I think my points would still be valid.

Being generous, let’s say 75% of reddit is bots. Then let’s say 10% of the actual people decide to move to Lemmy. That’s still 30 million people. The infrastructure is not ready for it. I’ve seen it happen in some bursts of interest, people swamp an instance, the instance doesn’t work because too much traffic, and people give up on the fediverse entirely because it didn’t work for them. If you want the fediverse to grow, you need to plan for growth, not just figure out a plan on the fly.

If it’s a perennial problem that you keep hearing about, maybe there’s something to it. I will note, I did not once ask “why servers”. I’m fine with servers and I get servers. The issue I see is that while most nerdy tech type folks can easily wrap their heads around the concept, most lay people cannot. That’s not to say that picking a server of your liking should go away, but for the onboarding process for the masses, which I would think most proponents of the fediverse would want to include, the process needs to be a lot more seamless. Automated stuff in the background that keeps the decentralization, but doesn’t bother the user with the need to worry about it. It’s simply improving the user experience. I realize it’s work, but I think it’s work worth doing.

I really appreciate the response. You were absolutely right, I don’t know how, but I had downloaded an older version. I followed the links from GitHub to f-droid, so I don’t know how it happened. After downloading the new version, I was still having issues, but it was only with the logging in, which I had been having all day in the browser so I think it was an issue with the friendica.world instance. After signing up for a new instance and logging in, I can now do all the expected functions. I really appreciate the help, I’ll be sure to report any other issues I encounter!

How does the existence of few large servers negate the need for streamlining sign ups or easy scaling? Reddit has 1.2 billion monthly active users. You really think those 3 servers would be enough if all of reddit decided to migrate? How would those needed new servers be created, and by whom? At a certain point, with real scale automation is a necessity.

I used to see non-stop NSFW stuff about a year ago, but it seems better now.

Only android app development as far as I know, and it’s got a long way to go.

I’m not saying that we should remove the option to choose servers. But as soon as you tell someone “you have a pick a server”, their eyes glaze over. I fully understand how fundamental servers are to the fediverse, but users should not be forced to pick one if they don’t want to (which I believe most people will not want to). Forcing people to make their own servers for their families to simplify the process is also not really a solution. What I am suggesting is some sort of scaling system for the fediverse, which will default to grouping people by locality. Again, the mechanism behind this is tbd, but I know that it is possible to quickly spin up servers on demand, and so it should be possible to auto set up servers with some default settings for people who don’t care to deal with browsing through a list of servers with names such as “Patriot Nest” or “doodeman.org”. It just confuses people and creates friction to them joining the fediverse. Indecision paralysis is a real thing, and some people just don’t want to bother with it. Also, without this mechanism, we end up with super servers like the .world that we see on most fediverse platforms, which quickly become overloaded when the fediverse sees a surge in interest. If the fediverse wants to scale in a meaningful way, something has to change. I would argue that this would make the fediverse even more decentralized than it is, because we would see a proliferation of servers based on locality, rather than congregating based on interest, or all grouping up into one default world server for those who don’t care.

The functionalities you mentioned “work”, if you know how to do them. It is very difficult to figure out how to do them though, and there are no tutorials that I know of. The barrier to entry for regular people is still very high to use what should be basic functionalities. I think marketplace needs to happen, because people want it. If groups worked, that could serve the function of marketplaces in the mean time, but again, I don’t really see a way to browse for groups, only manually search for them.

I think it’s a bit of a semantic argument whether the servers are the site or the platform is the site. Each of the servers are running the same basic software, with some variations between them. There is a github for friendica, the software. That software is hosted on servers, with a friendica logo displayed on the top. Doesn’t really matter either way, the point remains, people have a desire for alternatives, and right now this is the best one I know of, but it is still severely lacking, to the point that I am not able to recommend it to them. I am for sure hoping to help out however I can. That includes coding. I’m not a web engineer though, so I can only do so much for now. There is a sense of urgency though, so I will do my best.

EDIT: Never mind, I had downloaded an old version!!!

Update, yea, still not functional for me. Hearting or sharing posts does nothing. When I try to comment I get an unexpected error. Even loading my profile page gives me an error of some kind. Also, no one I know is going to download an app off of GitHub, but I do understand that the play store listing is pending.

EDIT: Never mind, I had downloaded an old version!!!

That was the one I tried. I could log in, but nothing else worked at all. I will give it another shot though.