Skip Navigation

What are the relations between different lemmy/fediverse instances?

I'm aware of some stuff like that some instances have defederated from others for anti-communism (lemmy.world / hexbear.net), but that's where my knowledge ends.

I'm looking to understand what instances to be aware of, each instances' political leaning, defederation etc.

You're viewing a single thread.

33 comments
  • Of the big ones:

    sh.itjust.works - biggest comms are a pro-NATO circlejerk comm and an anti-communist drama comm. Its users are a mixed bag due to it being a "generalist" instance but many are straight up fascist, the classic Nazi bar.

    Lemmy.world - Reddit but more acutely Reddit than Reddit itself, because those that dislike Reddit don't sign up for it but instead choose other instances. Overwhelmingly liberal, mods and admins lean Zionist.

    dbzer0 - Excellent piracy comms. Generally an anarchist instance, generally anti-ML, but federates with Hexbear.

    Hexbear.net - One of the two genuinely great instances, alongside Lemmygrad. Left-unity, so sectarianism is bannable, but majority ML and explicitly pro-AES. Has anarchists, Maoists, etc as long as they don't complain about AES. Has a mostly good News megathread, and is far more casual than Lemmygrad.

    Mander.xyz - Science based instance. Some of the mods and admins are pretty cool, too, not generally anti-communist like the liberal instances.

    Lemmy.ml - ML mods and admins, mixed bag users. Widely federated, so a constant stream of arguments. Best spot for agitprop on Lemmy IMO if that's your thing.

    Blahaj.zone - queer-focused instance for people that oppose AES. Liberal, but fights with Lemmy.world and sh.itjust.works for them sometimes being anti-LGBTQIA+. The explicitly leftist queer instance is Hexbear, so the rest tend to go to Blahaj.

    Lemm.ee - dead

    Lemmy.zip - Mixed bag, some fash some leftists some liberals. Truly a random grab.

    That's all I can think of! In general, Grad is one of the most defederated instances, followed by Hexbear. The 3 Marxist-friendly instances are generally on good terms, and the rest of Lemmy constantly saber-rattles against us.

    I have accounts on Hex, Grad, and .ml, and use all 3 depending on my mood. I'm technically most active on .ml but I enioy my time on Hex and Grad way more.

    • Really nice overview. Just curious why would anyone complain about AES? Also, could you clarify on how you use all 3 depending on your mood? This will help me more understand the unique communities in each of the 3 instances mentioned. Also, something I would like to add is that I've noticed is dbzer0's stance on "generative ai" is questionable. I'm all up for copyleft, but the issue isn't just with copyright. I feel like the greater issue with "generative ai" is the replacing of actual creativity and human emotion that would be normally tied to the different art forms that "generative ai" is usually made to replace whether on purpose or not, so I expect slop coming out of their.

      • Depends on who they are, but opposition to existing socialism is common, especially anti-DPRK, anti-USSR, or anti-PRC views. Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos mostly seem to get a pass, though, and sometimes Yugoslavia under Tito. It's a combination of the red scare, constant propagandizing, and a general adherance to liberalism, with a heavy dose of class interests.

        • I edited the original comment right after you posted yours.

          • Ah, gotcha! The way I use them is as follows:

            Lemmy.ml - Purely for agitprop. I look for opportunities to discuss Marxism-Leninism with those who seem radicalized but directionless, and I try to debunk or riposte anti-communism. I also host my introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list there so as many people can see it natively as possible, without fear of it being taken down.

            Hexbear.net - Shitposting, gaming discussion, general hangout without libs or fash. The news megathread is also excellent, usually. I also host their Capital reading threads there, and participate in the imperialism reading group. Generally more active than Grad.

            Lemmygrad.ml - When I want to relax, not feel so online, and generally only want to talk to Marxists. The people here seem to touch the most grass and are the most familiar with theory.

            As for dbzer0 and generative AI, you'll find that there isn't really a line on it on any of the 3 major Marxist-aligned instances. The closest is that AI could be useful under socialism, but right now it's used in the worst ways possible by capitalists, and that refusing to understand it will end up with us falling behind. For general commodities like stock photos it can be usefulish, but for art it gets far more touchy.

      • I think that creativity is not reduced, but increased, as the new tools allow more people to be creative

        • How? By "generate me a picture of x"? Nothing about that is creative. It simply undermines the centuries old tradition of putting hard work and most importantly emotion to make a masterpiece. Those tools will never be able to achieve that. Instead, the undermine the already unappreciated artists that put their emotions into pieces that can make people stare in aw. You can argue how automation in a socialist society can be used to better people's lives, but you can never argue that automating such a creative process so fundamental to human expression that it has been used since we were cave men is not a bad thing, let alone a good thing to "increase creativity" no matter what economic system present.

          • If you use it this uncreatively... its like you drew two lines on a paper.

            Read some Artisanal Intelligence before you defend artists

            https://polclarissou.com/boudoir/posts/2023-02-03-Artisanal-Intelligence.html

          • I agree with @m532 also on account that more advanced tooling is better for artistic expression. Without undermining the value or beauty of using more traditional tooling. It provides a bigger scope for artistic expression.

          • You can argue how automation in a socialist society can be used to better people's lives, but you can never argue that automating such a creative process so fundamental to human expression that it has been used since we were cave men is not a bad thing, let alone a good thing to "increase creativity" no matter what economic system present.

            This makes a lot of assumptions.

            1. Everyone is trying to make a masterpiece. Not everyone is and some people want to just kit-bash things together. I've been playing VNs from my childhood that are just people stealing assets or using quickly gathered photos to put together a story that was interesting instead of obsessing over every detail. They still had some care for their craft, but didn't care for meticulous control over every aspect. No different than making art out of hundreds of rocks you find that you leave intact otherwise. Would a real craftsman only use rocks they handcraft to suit their exact image? Maybe the creative vision of the artist requires a lack of spirit and soul in certain parts? For something so valuable and long-lasting human creativity must be a fragile thing to be extinguished by a probability machine.
            2. Most people that want to put hard-work into art still will. It's like complaining that photographers are trying to skimp on hard work since they aren't trying to choose the right colors and brushstrokes for the project they want. The only way it undermines unappreciated artists is because it financially harms them. If there is no financial need or incentives due to a system that makes such redundant, what harm is it causing? The people that just want to look at pretty things already have chosen alternatives throughout history. There are people that stare at the stars, sky, or even just bloodstains because its visually interesting without a damned care about "human spirit." Automating it, can be plenty good, is the photograph bad because artists no long choose every color in capturing as scene? Is the typewriter bad because you lose the complete flexibility of how your script expresses itself? If people want to and care about that aspect they will.

            Hell, there are entire fields of art I have zero care for in creative aspects. Never gave a damn about sculptures outside of their technical difficult, the vision can be damned, I just like seeing a human with shitty tools accomplish it, which auto rules AI out. Some types I only care about because they look pretty, like a lot of anime-styled art, though not all. And there are plenty that only are particularly desirable for me when I'm trying to suss out the creators meaning such as horror-based work or essentially all creative writing.

            For me, I'm obsessed with my own writing voice so I refuse to use LLMs for my writing in almost any capacity on that motive alone. I also prefer drawing my own art, but that's because I like drawing, if it wasn't for the horribleness of the AI industry in so many ways there are plenty of cases where I would find an image to be "good enough" for whatever I want it for, like a tabletop character design, Hell, even since I started playing I only rarely drew or commissioned them and instead just found a picture I liked that looked, "close enough."

            This is either Luddism cosplaying as something else, or your argument implies a doubt about the inherent meaning of art itself as if it has meaning, people will seek that meaning either way. The main issues I find with generative AI are economic, environmental and honor-based with how it is working out. IDK though, when I have an inability to understand where a large percent of people are coming from on things like this I just blame the neurodivergence, so maybe I'm just missing something.

    • Lemmy.world - Reddit but more acutely Reddit than Reddit itself, because those that dislike Reddit don’t sign up for it but instead choose other instances. Overwhelmingly liberal, mods and admins lean Zionist.

      They made a skin that looks like old reddit to give you an idea

    • I'll be honest, I've moved off of hexbear.net after the domain expired. All the struggle sessions (especially over China) were incredibly taxing.

    • Are you aware of piefed instances? I don't know the instances there or why someone would even use it over lemmy.

      • Not as much, personally. Piefed is even smaller than Lemmy from what I know. Most instances seem to be Piefed versions of existing Lemmy instances.

33 comments