Is Lemmy.world centralization worth fighting against?

Probably a very polarizing question.

On the one hand, having most of the users and communities on LW causes technical issues (see this post), and also gives the LW staff too much power over Lemmy as a whole.

On the other hand, with 18k MAU on LW out of 47k (https://fedidb.org/software/lemmy/), every community listed there has a much higher chance of visibility compared to an alternative hosted on another instance

History of LW controversial decisions

when they promoted Discord as an official communication channel (https://lemmy.world/post/3478399 - since then they created a Matrix chat)
when they blocked the piracy communities (https://lemmy.world/post/13320356 )
when they announced they might move from Lemmy to Sublinks (some comments from LW admins were quite controversial: https://lemmy.world/post/13899357 )
when they forced the media bias fact checker bot and discarded user feedback (https://lemmy.world/post/18775630 - to be fair, they since then removed it from !news@lemmy.world , it's still in !politics@lemmy.world )
when they realized centralization of communities on LW was impacting the ability of other instances to stay up to date (https://lemmy.world/post/13967373 )
when they updated their rules following a power trip overtake of a community (https://feddit.org/post/2308651 )

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76 comments

I think until there’s some tool or system that helps collate all the information out here, fragmentation is detrimental to growth.
If the same story is posted in multiple communities, I’m only posting the first one I come across. Sometimes that becomes the next big discussion and other times it’s lost and another community takes over.
I’m not going to copy and paste the same comment with every mirrored post.
So sometimes commenting feels like a waste of time.
Centralizing helps ensure that there’s vibrant, consistent discussion which is what Lemmy should be about.
In my mind, the fix is that all posts to the same link should just collect the discussion all in one place, regardless of which community spawned it.
There may be a ton of good reasons that isn’t happening, but until there’s some sort of fix, centralization ensures you find a discussion and can contribute meaningfully.
- Hello,
  Thank you for your comment.
  I agree with the fact that a story of post should only exist once, as you said. I guess the remaining question is what to do where there are two communities for the same topic.
  I have a good example that I just stumbled upon: !map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz is the most active community about maps, has usually one post per day every day for the last few months. Once in a while, someone posts on !mapporn@lemmy.world, and they instantly get a lot more comments than the first community.
  !games@sh.itjust.works is also quite active, despite not being on LW.
  Should we just give up with federation, and just aggregate all communities on LW?
  
  I would prefer we didn’t give up on federation, but until the tools are in place to mechanically support it, I don’t see it as strictly beneficial.
  A post a day in a community is a bot, more often than not, and trying to create discussion on bot posts often just falls on deaf ears.
  I don’t see a reason to push for fragmentation at this time, but rather organically support active communities wherever they’re found.
  I’d love for there to be a mechanical solution to fragmentation, so you don’t see so many duplicate posts in your feed and all those individual discussions are instead in one place.
  
  A post a day in a community is a bot, more often than not, and trying to create discussion on bot posts often just falls on deaf ears.
  In this case, I'm pretty sure it's not, it's a mix between @The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world, @garfaagel@sh.itjust.works, myself and a few others.
  We had a nice discussion a few weeks ago about metal bands (https://dormi.zone/post/1721444)
  organically support active communities wherever they’re found.
  Makes sense
  so you don’t see so many duplicate posts in your feed and all those individual discussions are instead in one place.
  I guess at some points moderators of communities around a same topic will have to agree on where to host the community. The split between !android@lemmy.world and !android@lemdro.id still doesn't make sense to me today.
  
  Sorry I didn’t mean to imply your specific example was a bot, rather my experience when I find a community with high post rates and low engagements it tends to be a bot.
  
  No worries, I get what you mean.
  
  Should we just give up with federation, and just aggregate all communities on LW?
  No. Half the point of federation is that not only communities (instances) can carry their own content but also their own culture. Posting or commenting about a soccer personality in, say, !spain@soccer.xyz is vastly different from doing it in, say, !soccerdrugs@news.world, even if the originating link to the discussion is the same.
  
  I know, but this question is asked in the specific context where posters are mostly alone on a community for several weeks / months, where the LW equivalent has much more potential.
  
  Should we just give up with federation, and just aggregate all communities on LW?
  Might it not be more beneficial for related communities to, in the way of the old web, highlight each other in pinned/featured posts and sidebars? The idea being that there's still some benefit to different moderation styles and community cultures/vibes.
  Maybe also encouraging community moderators to communicate with each other more to figure out how they want their communities to be, how they might want to differ to create more distinct identities?
  
  Might it not be more beneficial for related communities to, in the way of the old web, highlight each other in pinned/featured posts and sidebars?
  I think this is an excellent idea, and I have tried to do this with subs like !spaceflight@sh.itjust.works. It would be great if this became standard practice, or a sort of reciprocal courtesy between communities.
  Any ideas for how to encourage mod communication?
  
  Any ideas for how to encourage mod communication?
  I would just DM the other mods. Worked quite well for me
  
  Might it not be more beneficial for related communities to, in the way of the old web, highlight each other in pinned/featured posts and sidebars? The idea being that there’s still some benefit to different moderation styles and community cultures/vibes.
  Indeed, we kind of have that in the sidebar of !casualconversation@lemm.ee
  Maybe also encouraging community moderators to communicate with each other more to figure out how they want their communities to be, how they might want to differ to create more distinct identities?
  I guess. As said elsewhere, cases such as !android@lemmy.world and !android@lemdro.id still seem weird to me

76 comments