Lemmy VS instances

Lemmy is an open source, federated forum system with lots of sites and users:

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy

https://lemmyverse.net/

It does not have as many users as Reddit, but a Reddit paywall might drive more users to Lemmy sites or other alternatives.

There already is a Reddit-like application that uses ActivityPub. It's called Lemmy (https://join-lemmy.org/).

Lemmy: A decentralized, open source platform that mirrors many of Reddit's features

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy

Lemmy is one such alternative. I follow a few instances.

Surprised no one mentioned ForgeFed [0]:

> ForgeFed is a federation protocol for software forges and code collaboration tools for the software development lifecycle and ecosystem. This includes repository hosting websites, issue trackers, code review applications, and more. ForgeFed provides a common substrate for people to create interoperable code collaboration websites and applications.

It's based on ActivityPub [1], the same protocol that powers Mastodon [2], Lemmy [3], and Pixelfed [4].

[0] https://forgefed.org/

[1] https://activitypub.rocks/

[2] https://joinmastodon.org/

[3] https://join-lemmy.org/

[4] https://pixelfed.org/

Lemmy is like Reddit and here because it has threaded comment discussions.

It's also federated, so you can pick a server you like and have discussions with users from various servers together.

https://join-lemmy.org/

Some Reddit apps switched to supporting Lemmy instead when they were kicked off the API.

Seems functionally similar to Lemmy: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy

The most crucial decision when joining Mastodon is choosing the most friendly instance. I have a strong interest in interacting with cybersecurity professionals, so infosec.exchange was perfect for me, either browsing subscribed or local posts. Browsing all is something I do only when I'm bored, because many posts are not what I'd like to see. You can always migrate your account if you want.

https://instances.social/

That being said, BlueSky is simpler and easier because there's no real federation yet, and even if they have a "Discovery" algorithm, you get many options to control what you want to see. It's feels like Twitter before their 2012(ish?) IPO.

Mastodon

A good way to find an instance that works for you is the site: Mastodon instances https://instances.social/

Firstly, you can start by searching for instances of interest here.

The latter. Source is at https://github.com/gallizoltan/usercount which states:

> A bot which counts users from all instances listed at https://instances.social then posts statistics to Mastodon.

> User Count Bot for all known Mastodon instances

For those on the fence, but know more about how instances work, this resource may help you pick a relevant one. There is also this Github resource that enlists all academia-based instances.

I used this site for finding specialized Mastodon servers. I used a variety of search string and did not find any Mastodon servers specialized to Indigenous People's concerns.

Go to this place to find a place to sign up: https://instances.social/