Since it seems to be a common question for many new users.

  • eddanja@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Think of instances (lemmy.world, kbin.social, sh.itjust.works, etc.) like planets. Each planet contains cities (or subreddits communities). Most of these planets are federated meaning that if you were born on one planet (have a login) then you can travel and participate the galaxy of cities and planets. If a planet defederates, then you can no longer travel there if you were not from there.

    • Ophy@lemmy.nz
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      1 year ago

      What is the major difference between something like Lemmy vs Kbin, etc., compared to just two different Lemmy “planets”?

      Also, how do other platforms in the fediverse fit into this analogy? Something like Mastodon, would that be considered another galaxy? Is there any travel between these or do they require the birth of a new fedinaut within that galaxy to interact with those worlds?

      • 🐱TheCat@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Mastadon is like a galaxy of federated planets that can speak/travel to Lemmy planets when they want to, but lemmy can’t really understand anything they say to each other and can’t really travel to their planets (mastadon is ‘people’ based like twitter, whereas lemmy is ‘subject’ based like reddit)

        I dont know how kbin fits into this analogy. I think it basically is the same as lemmy and can talk/travel to lemmy but also only understands some mastadon

      • DontTreadOnBigfoot@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If I understand correctly, local only shows your planet and you can participate fully.

        All shows the entire galactic federation (though you may only get to sightsee other planets, but not talk to the locals without getting a visa (login credentials for that planet))

      • ThatGuyFromMichigan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Local view only shows posts hosted on this instance (planet). So only communities hosted on lemmy.world for example.

        All view would include posts from other instances as well.

        • Lzwzli@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          So should I have accounts on more than one instance? Which instance has the most communities?

          • TeaHands@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            No, where did you get that idea? If you want to view as much random content from everywhere as you can just browse by All. If you want a more curated experience, stick to your subscriptions. Local is sort of a weird limbo unless you’re on an instance that has a dedicated topic (like the Star Trek instance, for example).

            • Lzwzli@reddthat.com
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              1 year ago

              Ok got it.

              One interesting thing I found is I have a reddthat.com account and also a lemmy.world account. Using Jerboa, somehow browsing with the reddthat.com account is faster than using the lemmy.world account even if I’m browsing lemmy.world communities.

      • Doods@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Local shows posts posted on your planet, All shows the entire federation (galaxy).

      • Margot Robbie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sign up for a new account at a different instance. While you can transfer your account to another instance in Mastodon, you can’t do it for Lemmy right now.

      • formatc@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The best you can do right now is recreate it on another planet. Hopefully someday there will be a way to migrate (or a way to export/import).