Introducing the new Fediverse.info

Hello everyone,

I just launched the new https://fediverse.info/ that includes the new People Directory and links to more resources, including SocialHub.

Feedback appreciated!

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Great work @dansup! The design looks clean and easy to navigate, on both desktop and mobile. Great to see the Elena’s new video on the site. I presume you asked her where she’d like the attribution linked (currently elena.social), although it would be cool to be able to click through somehow to Elena’s original on her PeerTube instance.

My only niggle is the bit where it says;

Own Your Data. Your content and connections belong to you, not a corporation.

That’s an aspiration we all share. But for now, the practical reality of most fediverse software is that people’s data belongs to the server they post it on, tied forever to its domain name.

Our social graph, on the other hand, can be rebuilt on different servers, even though the migration tools for doing this quickly have a long way to go. So I suggest modifying that to something like;

Own Your Social Network. Your relationships belong to you, not a corporation.

If you still want to say something about data, what about;

Your content belongs to your community, not a corporation.

I’m reminded of the overenthusiastic evangelists who push the fediverse as better for privacy. Again, it’s definitely an aspiration we all share. But until we have E2EE for private content I think the verse is better explained as a shared public space, with nooks for quiet conversation. With so many newbies getting interested in alternatives to the DataFarms, I think it’s really important to under-promise and over-deliver.

BTW Thanks for the link to fediverse.party :slight_smile: That’s nudging me to spend some time pruning and planting on the wiki, so it’s fulfilling it’s role as an up-to-the-minute reference for those updating the production site.

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May I ask why you decided to create a new site?

The content and design would be great on ActivityPub.rocks, and I’m sure your input on that front would be well appreciated!

:100:

Marketing is ok, but if it’s not accurate, users will find out anyway and trust will be damaged.


Edit:

A good analogy for the fediverse is email

I’ve never thought this was a good analogy. When selecting an email server, people don’t usually: “Choose Your Community. Join servers that match your values and interests.” They usually look for a reliable email service provider (maybe with value-added features like good spam filtering, dynamic aliases, and so on, at a good price) and they build their community as a social layer above that service (email lists, etc.). My “community” spans many AP servers.

Also, email feels a bit old-fashioned in the context of modern online social networks.

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Hi, thanks for the feedback, I updated the copy with your suggestion!

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It’s not new, just newly redesigned. I launched this in late 2021 as a more user friendly explainer/resource along with the People Directory.

I agree that it would have a better home on ActivityPub.Rocks, and would gladly hand it over if desired (its a nuxt site running in static mode, so it can be hosted pretty much anywhere easily). It does feature the People Directory, so I could move that over to FediDB so we could redirect or transfer fediverse.info to ActivityPub.Rocks

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Wow, awesome! Just so you know, it’s possible to embed the PT video instead of using a YT embed. Good to collectively dogfood : ) I thought maybe you were trying to avoid pounding Elena’s PT server, but the linked page reminded me that PT uses WebTorrent to share the load with the swarm of people watching at any given time.

You raise some good points. Do you have any suggestions for a better analogy? No analogy bears close examination, but the email comparison persists because it’s the only experience most people have of a unified online space with a choice of hosts.

I’d love to see the new ActivityPub.rocks benefit from @dansup’s design chops. But as I understand it, that site is intended to be a ‘start here’ resource for new fediverse devs, whereas fediverse.info is more for people new to using the fediverse.

Fediverse.party kind of straddles both, and as a result, isn’t optimal at either. I love its unique character, and I think it’s a useful reference site for people who’ve got their head around the basics, and want to explore what else the verse has to offer. But TBH I tend to link total newbies to fediverse.info, or to our About fediverse page rather than the landing page, which is delightfully cryptic :smile:

I agree, the new design looks splendid! For the embedding in case of Youtube there are various designs that do not load the google cookies unless you first click the video thumbnail to start the vid.

The updated site looks amazing! And thank you, again, for linking to the Join the Fediverse website!

I took a bit of an inspiration and added a more prominent link to the FediDB fediverse guide to a few places across the site, and also embedded Elena’s video on the “Learn” page.

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