this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2023
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Asklemmy
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When I look at the many communities with the same names, I completely stops me from interacting with them. Most of the time I know they’re going to be copies of each other with a bunch of duplicate content reposted to infinity.
I think your example is interesting but i disagree with your assertion that it some how facilitates finding niche content.
For example it would be difficult to have to explicitly know that
obscure-instance.xyz/c/gameshosts content about 90’s graphic adventure games from the Netherlands andprogramming.dev/c/gamesis actually about game design and not games generally. A better way, IMO, is to just name your community what it is. Names likeadventure_games_nlandgame_designoffer a significantly better user experience. If we want to make the fediverse feel accessible to people, it has to be easy to find what you’re looking for.This whole thing feels like crypto where everyone has their own coin and they only kind of work together if you have some kind of exchange and some people accept Bitcoin and not Doge. It’s just too complicated for non technical people.
First, if it helps, redundant communities will solve themselves. We're in a period where people are trying stuff out, but if one group is just a weaker duplicate of another, everyone will eventually just coalesce around the slightly better version.
As for the general complaint, I can see your rationale. But I think a better analogy instead of cryptocoins -- which were all essentially useless ponzi schemes and ego projects -- would be bars.
In theory, you don't need two (or more!) sports bars on the same block. But there's a reason they stay in business instead of one owner just expanding to serve twice as many customers. They have different vibes based on different people. One might dig soccer more, or have a better selection of craft brews. Even though they're superficially similar, if you ask your friend, "Hey, do you want to go to X?" It's not at all weird for them to say, "Eh... let's to Y. if you want, we can stop by X later."
You know what I mean?
The bar analogy is interesting but is missing the most important factor: All of the bars have the same name. The only difference is where they are located. Now I have to go to each one because I have no idea if they’re a soccer themed bar or a karaoke bar.
Even if the redundant communities somehow solve themselves (which I doubt), there will forever be an abandoned community polluting the search results because no one is going to delete it.
The name thing doesn't seem that complicated. I already know that !memes@slrpnk.net are gonna be lefty memes, and the memes at !memes@lemmy.ml will be generic, and so on.
There are some where it's less distinct. Technology@lemmy.world and technlogy@beehaw.org are not so easily differentiated, but at the moment they have totally different content on their frontpages, so I have no complaints. Over time, I expect both to evolve, most likely in different ways.
I think the search problem will get resolved over time. Currently, search is very rudimentary, and barely useful for finding new communities. As it becomes better and cataloging communities it can also become better at downranking or excluding communities below a certain activity level.
Lol. I can only assume it’s a massive joke and I’m just not in on it. !memes@slrpnk.net in no way means “lefty memes”. It only proves my point
Well... are you subscribed to !memes@slrpnk.net?
I don't expect you to know that Gerry's Bar and Grill is a gay bar or that Fanatics is a Packers bar by their name. You find out by going there.
A good thing to note is that both of those bars you mentioned have different names. That makes it easier to know which to go to, once I figure out which is which.