Fellow Fediverse wanderers, I’ve got a bone to pick with our current Lemmy experience. 🌐
The “All” Feed Syndrome
Has anyone else noticed how painfully similar the “All” feed looks across different Lemmy instances? It’s like we’re browsing the same curated content, just with different window dressings. The posts, upvotes, and discussions feel completely uniform - a far cry from the diverse, decentralized dream I signed up for.
The Dream vs. Reality
What I imagined:
- A small film-focused instance with an “All” feed curated by passionate cinephiles
- A German instance showcasing content relevant to German users
- Niche communities with truly unique content bubbles
What we got:
- Homogenized content across instances
- US-centric discussions dominating global communities
- The illusion of decentralization without the benefits
My Wishlist: Local Votes Only
What I’m craving is a simple setting that would:
- Filter posts based ONLY on local instance votes
- Showcase truly instance-specific content
- Break the algorithmic echo chamber
- Highlight unique community perspectives
Imagine seeing genuinely different content on lemmy.world vs sh.itjust.works vs [your favorite instance]. Right now, it feels like we’re just shuffling the same deck of cards.
A Call to Developers
Is this technically feasible? Would love to hear from the community about:
- Potential implementation challenges
- Interest in such a feature
- Alternative solutions to content diversity
Who’s with me in wanting a more genuinely decentralized browsing experience? 🚀
#lemmy #fediverse #decentralization
How does this prevent anyone from participating? This kind of sort would make one engage less with some content and users they don’t want to. You could do it for efficiency, mental health or whatever reason you come up with. Having an option of increasing importance of your local instance in shaping what you see is just one more way of tweaking your experience without affecting others. It’s dangerously close to „the algorithm” but works without being a black box.
OPs issue is not solved by private instances because it cuts off contact entirely. You might as well set view to Local and ban other instances in your client.
…I mean that sounds like the entire point of what you’re proposing? I guess I’m still confused but I will agree that BlueSky-style custom feeds would be a super-nice addition to any social platform.
This is not BlueSky-style, it’s Activity Pub style.
I can browse a Lemmy community from Mastodon and see it in a very different way. Yes, I could sort by activity but then I’d have to keep a separate Lemmy account for those low traffic communities. In Mastodon I can make a list of groups and see only last two replies per thread effectively. Votes are irrelevant and Mastodon has that covered by not implementing that at all.
We don’t have any control over how others will view whatever communication or interactions are being sent over AP. That also means one is free to reinterpret it in whatever way they see fit.