this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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I am one of the admins of Beehaw and I'm trying to get some feedback on our potential move.

Let's start out with a little Beehaw history before judgements are passed, please.

A handful of us were beta testing Tildes when we decided to have discussions on a Discord server.

We decided that our 'Northern Star' or guiding principle would culminate as 'Be Nice' with purposefully vague/flexible interpretations. Our overall goal is to provide a safe space to disenfranchised persons.

We talked for a little over a year and some of our members became impatient. Then someone stepped in to suggest a couple of platforms that we could consider getting started with.

One of those platforms was Lemmy. None of us knew, at that time, anything about ActivityPub.

During the Reddit exodus (surrounding the API outcry and blackout), our instance exploded. We were, initially, crippled by the mass amounts of users seeking refuge.

Thankfully, someone stepped in and volunteered hundreds of hours of work to stabilize our instance and refine it further.

After many hours of talks, it became clear to us that our overall goal could be achieved outside of Lemmy/ActivityPub.

Right now, we feel that Lemmy and ActivityPub have downsides that are limiting us from achieving that goal.

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[–] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 10 points 2 years ago

I would not like it.

I understand the issues for the people running Beehaw and they are totally real and understandable. That being said you have to appreciate that Beehaw is setting an example as one of the most popular instances on the Fediverse. What y'all are doing is not just limited to what you directly control but is also influencing this new and developing sphere that is the Fediverse. I understand that some people are resentful of how Beehaw enforces the rules of its own community, and I understand how a barrage of that can be extremely demotivating and tiresome. I have also heard about the absolutely despicable content that some mods have had to deal with which is extremely traumatizing which ideally shouldn't have to be experienced by anyone. I would understand anyone who would want to never have to deal with that again since that would probably be my reaction.

In terms of ideas, I really appreciate that Beehaw is making a firm stand in the interest of free expression without being bogged down by prejudice and economic interests. The success of Beehaw compared to other instances demonstrates that the project y'all are working on is desired not only by Beehaw denizens such as myself but also those from general instances. This is despite what I assume is a barrage of negativity, complaints, trolling, and legitimately criminal behavior by those who do not support the kind of place which Beehaw is. I know it's a big and unfair ask to want you guys to continue experiencing the things that cause you to want to make you abandon the fediverse, and honestly I wouldn't blame you if you do, but it is very clear to me that the existence of Beehaw as it is is a huge draw to the fediverse and is establishing norms which can't be accommodated outside of what we have here. Reddit sure as hell can't offer what I've been experiencing on the fediverse, and I think that Beehaw is a huge reason for why that is.

[–] AchtungDrempels@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Never really tapped into beehaw because i am on lemmy.world, but seeing people from other instances say that you had some good content, i'd say stay and refederate with lemmy.world and sh.itjust.works.

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago

I'd be sad, there are many great communities and contributors there, and I'd hate to see it go away :(

Maybe some limited federation with instances you consider responsive enough when an issue arise?

[–] AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago

I follow two beehaw communities and they are both duplicates on other servers but with slightly different content.. I wouldn't even notice.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 2 years ago

TLDR don’t want you to leave.

[–] Stoneykins@mander.xyz 9 points 2 years ago

I mean if you want to know how it would effect me it wouldn't. Posts from beehaw don't even come up, flooded out by more active communities, unless I go directly to the beehaw comms. I functionally use it as a seperate website anyways now, if I ever feel like checking it.

I don't really understand your overall goal talk tho. You want to be nice in an intentionally vague way, but you feel like federation is somehow limiting you from achieving this vague state of niceness... Is it just moderation difficulties (not to downplay them) or is something else about leaving the fediverse door open problematic to being nice?

To be blunt the solution to your problems seems to me the same as every single other time beehaw federation is talked about: the community you want to achieve will require many more moderators than a typical community of equivalent size, they will need specialized mod tools, they will need to be high quality skilled highly vetted mods, and you will need exponentially more of them the more users appear on beehaw. Federation doesn't directly stop you from doing any of that, but it does lead to faster growth, which leads to too much work if you aren't constantly adding moderators to match growth.

You should be asking yourself how big you want beehaw to be, and how big of a beehaw you think can be achieved at all.

Sorry I didn't mean to be this rambly when I started writing ignore it if you want

[–] gaael@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I already have another account I only use on beehaw, so I wouldn't mind a compkete defederation or software change. Safer/nicer spaces are really hard to maintain without moderation control, and lemmy clearly isn't there yet and might not be there for some time. If staying federated/on lemmy means beehaw administration/moderation ends up burnt out, I feel like it's the right move to move.

As a personnal aside, the only thing that would prevent me from staying on beehaw is if you chose a closed-source platform (eg discord).

Anyway, thanks for the things you do and the way you do them !

[–] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 9 points 2 years ago

Sucks that you're getting shit for this. You do you, and you'll do good whatever you decide because this is the whole point of it all - freedom to choose.

[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It would be a big loss for the fediverse, but if that's what OG Beehaw users want, I don't necessarily feel like we should have a say

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[–] Fungah@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure what baehaw is. I don't really)l care? So it if you want to or don't.

[–] small44@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

With your abuse of defederation and the unability to create our own communities I don't care that you leave. Although lemmy.world abuse it too, at least there is a ton of communities that I could join

[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Well my small instance is still federated, but the other NZ instance defederated after an 'issue'

I think in the last 2 or so months, the interaction between Beehaw and the main (other) lemmy instances has been less abrasive than it was during the big exodus.

I feel that you leaving now may limit the further growth of the fediverse, but if it is the right thing to do for your users than that is up to you and your users

[–] wolfshadowheart@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 years ago

Reading through the lemmy.world responses is just disheartening.

[–] aeki@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

People say that the point of activity pub is federation but to me that also means voluntary federation. The possibility of federation. What I dream for it is an option to opt-in instead of opt-out. You should be able to pick "opt-out" if you want a big, connected place. You can have your cake and eat it too by also keeping an account in a big instance of your choice. Most apps let you switch accounts with a tap or two.

We don't all want to be thrown into the world all the time; complete federation just makes it a safe space for majority populations and marginalizes minorities by default. No, I'm not saying you're all evil and exclude people on purpose, it just happens. It happens to me too.

Some of you seem to think that marginalized people are too soft and want a safe space, but you fail to notice that largely, you also have a safe space for yourself, it's just that you probably belong to the default in many areas (I am sighted and most of the internet is made for sighted people).

I grew up in a small forum; people should be able to choose to keep things small, and open in a controlled way. Because that's the beauty of activity pub, you can still federate with others!

I understand the very practical problem of lack of moderation tools and to me that's pretty much the only reason to leave, for now. Maybe come back if it gets better?

[–] BaroqueInMind@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

I would tell them "don't let the door hit you in the way out."

[–] MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

I don't think lemm.ee is federating correctly, but I'll give my take here if some one can sees it.

Beehaw will go the way of every other reddit alternatives, because the existing community is not enough to sustain the critical mass of activity needed. In fact, with the current instance policy, Beehaw is struggling to sustain itself as is with federation, which will only get worse if you defederate.

I'm not sure why Beehaw refuse to use Lemmy's white-list federation feature and selectively pick and choose who to federate with instead of going full scorched earth.

It's ultimately up to the admins at Beehaw to make this choice, but I would like to say, grass is not always greener on the other side, defederation will harm Beehaw more than it helps.

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 7 points 2 years ago

I always got death-cult vibes from beehaw. I expected their flame-out to be a lot more dramatig than this, though.

[–] hai@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

Let me start by saying that if Beehaw would be missed for all of us, but I doubt people would move with it if it left ActivePub. That being said I’d recommend sticking with Lemmy, sure it doesn’t have all the features yet β€” but it’s still young (and is still growing).

[–] Voyajer@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I already can't see beehaw users, maybe when you finally defederate from everyone some will rejoin the fediverse proper.

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The fediverse defederates servers as a means of limiting the influence and reach of their content and users. This just sounds like admins contemplating self inflicted injury.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

yea just keep moving around until you don't have users anymore

[–] jennwiththesea@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I think you have to do what's best for your people. You have a very particular set of goals with Beehaw, and if the fediverse isn't the right place for that then it's fine to move on. I'll be curious to see what you all decide to do, and, if you do leave, what you end up creating!

blahaj and beehaw are my two favourite places on the internet so id definitely miss y'all ❀️

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago

I like some communities that beehaw hosts such as music.
Other than that: The more the merrier?

[–] Satiric_Weasel@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago

I would be sad, but I'd understand; and I would be grateful to all of the admins that made Beehaw possible on Lemmy; and hope Ai saw you all somewhere else out there on the web.

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