That’s okay, it can be a little hard to wrap your head around!
What helped me is thinking of it like email: I can use a Gmail account, you can use a Hotmail account, and someone else can use their own private mail server. We all go to different websites/programs/apps to access our emails, and those programs might have different features, layouts, etc, but we can all still email each other. They’re all federated with each other. And if you start getting emails from marketing@spamcentral.com, promotions@spamcentral.com, etc, you can block the entire spamcentral.com email domain - ie, defederate from it.
The fediverse works very similarly. We can all use different websites with different layouts and a few different features, but all of them can communicate with each other and show common content because they’re federated with each other.
There’s a big benefit to this: no single company can control the fediverse. If your instance - feddit.uk - has to shut down, or it turns out to be run by nazis, or they start trying to charge users vast amounts of money to use the instance, or make some other move you don’t like, you can just make an account on another instance and continue to use the rest of the fediverse. Maybe a few communities that were hosted on your previous instance will become inaccessible, but the larger fediverse will still be available.
I am fairly savvy with what makes the internet work. If Lemmy is linked then it must have a central control point. This is the piece that I was unaware of.
I was under the impression that each server is freestanding. I have a log in for Feddit and also for Lemmy.
So is each instance (eg: Feddit, Lemmy.one, Lemmy.ml) on a host machine in someone’s home or is it hosted on a main server?
Lemmy instances are federated with each other, allowing a user on a given instance to participate in a “community” on another Lemmy instance without having to create an account on the other instance;[4] and with other instances in the Fediverse that use different software. ActivityPub is the protocol used to allow Lemmy instances to operate as a federated social network. It allows users to interact with compatible platforms including Mastodon and PeerTube.[16]>
It works as I said. I never realised Lemmy was linked. TIL
@Syldon Did it clear up your belief there must be a central control point?
(If I get to that WP article I might change “are federated” to “may federate” because it is more precise, and because that is part of the methods which substitute for central oversight.
Then I have to apologise for my ignorance. Reddit refugee here. I obviously do not understand how this works yet.
That’s okay, it can be a little hard to wrap your head around!
What helped me is thinking of it like email: I can use a Gmail account, you can use a Hotmail account, and someone else can use their own private mail server. We all go to different websites/programs/apps to access our emails, and those programs might have different features, layouts, etc, but we can all still email each other. They’re all federated with each other. And if you start getting emails from marketing@spamcentral.com, promotions@spamcentral.com, etc, you can block the entire spamcentral.com email domain - ie, defederate from it.
The fediverse works very similarly. We can all use different websites with different layouts and a few different features, but all of them can communicate with each other and show common content because they’re federated with each other.
There’s a big benefit to this: no single company can control the fediverse. If your instance - feddit.uk - has to shut down, or it turns out to be run by nazis, or they start trying to charge users vast amounts of money to use the instance, or make some other move you don’t like, you can just make an account on another instance and continue to use the rest of the fediverse. Maybe a few communities that were hosted on your previous instance will become inaccessible, but the larger fediverse will still be available.
I am fairly savvy with what makes the internet work. If Lemmy is linked then it must have a central control point. This is the piece that I was unaware of. I was under the impression that each server is freestanding. I have a log in for Feddit and also for Lemmy.
So is each instance (eg: Feddit, Lemmy.one, Lemmy.ml) on a host machine in someone’s home or is it hosted on a main server?
@Syldon @loobkoob “Must”? My impression is that it does not, and is said not to, and that that is not impossible.
Ok you made me research it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmy_(software)
It works as I said. I never realised Lemmy was linked. TIL
@Syldon Did it clear up your belief there must be a central control point?
(If I get to that WP article I might change “are federated” to “may federate” because it is more precise, and because that is part of the methods which substitute for central oversight.