There is perennial discussion about what fediverse servers (Lemmy or otherwise) to recommend to new users. I have a proposal, perhaps not very original but I haven't seen it made often.

Let's just recommend that newbies pick an instance that is located close to them geographically. That's to say: their country, their region, or (ideally) their town.

Some context. Personally, I am not totally sold on social media, federated or otherwise. The evidence is now pretty clear that it causes major social harms. One way it does this is by fuelling polarization around hot-button national and international debates, at the expense of local issues. Reviving democracy is going to mean boosting communities at a local level. This could be a small way to do that.

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[–] Ofiuco@piefed.ca 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There's only one mexican instance, it uses a whitelist and it fucking federates with grad so... Yeah, out of options.

I've been here since the reddit API exodus and I've never seen a latinamerican comm in my feed, much less latinamerican spanish posts.

And hosting an instance is not that simple, it requires effort, content, time, some originality and money (even if a little)... And people who want to join, but I've seen maybe 1 mexican (who I assume lives in México too) other than me... Because mexicans love being strangled by meta, so there's little to no incentive into creating a space for us in the fediverse.

[–] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It surprises me a whole lot how few Hispanic instances there is, as far as I know feddit.cl is the biggest and kinda the only proper one.

[–] Ofiuco@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago

And I've never seen their posts on my feed... I'll try searching some comms from there to here and see if it was just missing active federation.

And being the cynical asshole that I am... It doesn't surprise me at all, the technological ignorance is huge in latinamerica and we are stubborn as fuck, people just don't want to learn or try anything different, even if it could be better.

[+] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

There’s only one mexican instance

Join it and make it better.

it uses a whitelist and it fucking federates with grad

Change that fact, or accept it, or use blocking features (which are not lacking).

Sure, these won't be popular suggestions, but IMO social media should not be just another form of shopping, where we pick exactly what agrees with us best, and annoys us least, and then lock the door to keep everything else out.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Your views here go against the nature of the fediverse. You're telling people they should go there and be unhappy with their choices. That's not how the fediverse works.

The fediverse way to to spun up a Mexican server which does have the views and federation people want, and encourage others to join naturally.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well, if the true nature of the fediverse is to encourage people to silo themselves into echo chambers where they never have to deal with others who don't already share all their values and opinions - if that's truly the point of this thing - then yes, apparently I'm wasting my time here. I still hope there's a better way.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ah I believe this is the Either/Or logical fallacy.

People not wanting to see hate speech or propaganda does not mean they are in echo chambers. Those are two different things.

It also doesn't stand with my original statement. Go set up your own instance that is welcoming. That would prove that it's not an echo chamber and expand the fediverse. Win win from what I see. Let us know when it's up.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

People not wanting to see hate speech or propaganda does not mean they are in echo chambers.

You know that bad guys are now calling your ideas "hate speech" and "propaganda", right? And they believe it as much as you do. How do you propose to get out of this mess if not by talking?

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And I believe this logical fallacy is Moral Equivalence.

We're not comparing here, I'm not biting on the rage bait. Again, the proposed solution stands. Set up your own instance and prove us all wrong, show us how to make this utopia you promise.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Since when am I proposing a utopia? I'm proposing that people talk to people in their physical communities. Nothing more ambitious than that.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Again, the proposed solution stands. Set up your own instance and prove us all wrong, show us how to make this local place where people talk to each other in their physical community.

There, that better? Show us how to do it, if it's popular more will do it.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You're just saying I should practice what I preach and get off LW, is that it? Can't be bothered, but fair enough. My proposal here concerns new users.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, that is my proposal. Many people complain saying there are better ways to host instances but no one is willing to practice what they preach and actually do it. If you want to see change in the fediverse then you should step up and do it.

New users have a choice when joining, you should make a new instance and convince the new users why they should join. I would support a toggle on join-lemmy which lets them see what servers are geographically close, but that would be irrelevant before you set up an instance to pave the way.

If you "can't be bothered" then obviously you aren't as passionate about it as you claim to be.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Since when did I claim to be "passionate" about anything? My proposal concerns new users, it's in the title. I'm not a new user any more and I have a bunch of post and comments to my virtual name (not that it's important, sure). But I now see that it would have been better if I had been pushed to another server when I signed up. Hence the proposal.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 9 points 2 days ago

I'm sorry, I assumed by posting about it that you were passionate for this change. If you don't care that's fine - but I don't know why you posted about it then.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They said why they don't join there: federation with unsavory instances

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes and I answered that argument

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But then you're supporting an instance that in turn supports something you don't agree with. lemmy.world federated with a furry server and I don't mind just blocking it because I don't want to see it...but if something like hexbear gets federated, I'm gone.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This - IMO - is the kind of thinking that has got US politics into the state it's in today.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nah, being tolerant of intolerance is how we got here. Don't need to hear from the "other side" anymore

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's exactly what they're saying - and believing - about you. Meanwhile they have the power. Good luck.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

A fair sentiment for a decade ago, not so much now