this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
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Fediverse

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Fediverse is a portmanteau of "federation" and "universe".

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Talk about choosing "a community", not "a server" (lemmy.pt)
submitted 3 days ago by Ninguem@lemmy.pt to c/fediverse@lemmy.ml
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It stroke me that saying things like "First, you have to choose a comunity to join the fediverse" might be a better way to ease onboarding nwecommers than "First, you have to choose a server".

Although the latter might be technically more accurate, the former is what people might

  • understand better;
  • ends up being what they're really doing;
  • frighten them less;
  • reinforce the "community" contribution aspect;
  • lead them to better understand the federated aspect as they realize that communities are not isolated and can talk to eachother.

What do you think?

"Let me know in the comments bellow..." - just kidding!

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 49 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

An immediate problem is that "community" is a term in the threadiverse, where !fediverse@lemmy.ml is a community. It also might make it sound like an exclusive space with a specific topic, whereas in reality when you join a server you can still interact with the wider network.

IMO this is a concept that can't be expressed in one word when someone is unfamiliar with the concept. We put together this guide a while back to try and explain it: https://fedecan.ca/en/guide/get-started

[–] VonReposti 22 points 3 days ago (3 children)

We could call it a home, shortened from home server. I didn't pick a server over another. I keep using other server's communities. What I did was that I called one server my home on the fediverse while you called lemmy.ca your home.

It's not perfect but it would solve the term conflict.

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 10 points 3 days ago

That’s a great analogy. It does also highlight that, when you travel to another instance, you are a guest and should behave accordingly.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago

I like "home", I might try using that in the future :)

[–] anothermember@feddit.uk 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I feel like that's getting there, though 'home' doesn't sit right with me somehow; too many other connotations (after all it's still somebody else's server, unless you're self-hosting it, you're still using it on their terms so it's not a 'home' in a typical sense).

Maybe 'gateway' or something like that?

[–] itsoctober@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I like home, gateway, or home base.

Maybe neighborhood?

[–] anothermember@feddit.uk 2 points 2 days ago

Maybe neighborhood?

Showing my age, that reminds me of Geocities.

[–] Ninguem@lemmy.pt 3 points 3 days ago

Thanks for the guide.