It might be worth noting that the platform is stable, but still growing. Expect little quirks; we’re dealing with a big influx of new users.
For example, I joined during the first big wave of signups and the servers were having trouble keeping up with the sudden spike in activity (10 to 1000x+ new posts/users/instances). I would sometimes see federated content, sometimes not. After 12 hours and a massive effort by the devs, everything became MUCH more stable.
There will be bugs, but they are actively being squashed at breakneck speed.
For example, one that I encounter regularly is leaving a thread open in a background tab too long (on Firefox) eventually stops syncing with the server. When I eventually get to that tab, the data is old and attempting to interact (click arrows, reply, subscribe, etc.) send me to an error page. The fix? Refresh the page if was open more that 30 minutes ago. It’s a minor bug that will eventually be fixed, so give it time.
I also wanted to throw some advice out there, in case it’s useful…
If they’re ever confused, there are plenty of support communities/magazines. First, check if others have posted about the same problem. If they haven’t, feel free to ask. The NoStupidQuestions community hosts a ton of simple Fediverse-related questions posted by users, and it has some of the highest engagement on the platform. I know the reluctance of posting may have been ground into you by Reddit, but (a) this isn’t Reddit, and (b) we’re all new here.
There is a slight learning curve, so canoodle around a bit to get a feel for this new Reddit-esque multiverse. Read a few FAQs, skim the support communities, follow a few rabbit holes.
Here’s what I suspect is a semi-normal new user experience (because it was mine :) ):
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To start, you’ll want to register an account, so you do. You’ll click a few stories, try to comment, and find you’re not logged in and can’t log in. You’ll notice you’re not on the original server. Do you have to register a million accounts? That makes no sense! The answer is no.
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Next, you’ll want to understand why. That post you clicked took you to another instance (think of them as servers). So, how do you post a comment on another instance? Ah, from your home instance. So, did it matter where I registered? Yes and no, but mostly no.
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- Keep going down the account rabbit hole and you’ll read about the pros and cons of running your own instance, how federation/defederation works, and other instance-related topics,
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- Or, hop back out and proceed to comment on the post you read. Wait. My comment has no votes. The path forks again.
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- Is there something like Reddit’s karma system? Down the voting/rep rabbit hole!
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- Is it considered bad form to vote for my own comment/post? (There’s no consensus right now, so don’t worry.) Down the Lemmy/Kbin etiquette rabbit hole!
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You’ll eventually go back to hit on those forks in the path you didn’t take. Follow whichever path suits you best and expand from there.
I almost thought I had written your comment and completely forgot about it. No, I just almost made the exact comment and want that hour of my life back.
If there was some over the top racist rant, I sure didn’t see it. And the admin pushing for the defederation sounds so bizarre. Bizarre is the best word I could come up with because “petty” makes me think it was like high school politics. This is closer to a grade school sandbox argument.
The worst I saw was “defedfags” and it was used in a way that was meant to highlight how they never said anything offensive. Like saying, “If you thought what I said before was offensive, let’s see how you respond to something intended to be negative.”
The crazy thing is that the decision is being made because the admin just liked a post. It’s not even because of the post content - which has nothing controversial and appeared maybe 8 times in my Lemmy/kbin feed yesterday.
Editing to add that this is the article: https://kbin.social/search?q=wakeup+call