Quick post to answer some basic usage questions that can throw off new users.

Where should I register?

The age old question of fediverse. The answer is pick an instance that is not right-wing and you should be fine.

https://join-lemmy.org/instances makes this very easy. Once you find an instance, just go to its /signup endpoint. For the instance you’re reading right now, it would be: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/signup. Another great option is to use the lemmyverse which provides a lot more info about potential instances and communities, including a trust score.

Do I need to create a profile for each instance?

No! Each instance can access each other instance, unless it’s been defederated because its admins are toxic (this is why I told you not to join right-wing instances earlier).

I joined an instance, but the community I am interested in is in a different instance

No problem. Simply add the instance domain at the end of the url endpoint.

For example, say you’re in lemmy.ml and you realized that stable_diffusion is in lemmy.dbzer0.com. To access it, simply add @lemmy.dbzer0.com at the end of the url after the community name. So:

https://lemmy.ml/c/stable_diffusion@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Or to put it differently, you can access any community, in any instance by adding /c/ (The requivalet of reddit /r/) and then community_name@instance.domain

If this doesn’t work, then it’s likely this instance is not yet federated with yours. To solve this, you need to search for it. See the next section.

But how do I even find the community I want to if it exists in any of hundreds of instances?

One option is to use the lemmyverse, as it’s very user friendly, if you specify which instance if your home, it will automatically convert all links to your own instance.

Alternatively use the use the built-in search.

Note that if you search for an community in an lemmy instance your own instance doesn’t yet know about, it won’t find it. You need to give it more precice instructions to find it, which require the whole “address”. To follow our example above, you would put !stable_diffusion@lemmy.dbzer0.com in your search field.

When searching for a community in a new instance, it might take a few minutes to take effect. The first search will not return anything, but if you search again after a couple of minutes, it should appear.

How do I find my community from reddit?

https://sub.rehab allows you to search for any subreddit and see if its official community exists in the threadiverse. You can then search for it specifically to subscribe. If you’ve already registered an account somewhere, make sure you visit the settings in sub.rehab and set your home instance there, so that all links go through it.

Community? Instance?

An instance is a lemmy server hosted by someone. it has its own set of users and communities. lemmy.dbzer0.com is an instance. You can access (almost) every instance from any other instance.

a community is like a subreddit in reddit, or a channel in discord. It’s a topic in inside an instance. stable_diffusion is a community inside the instance lemmy.dbzer0.com.

In more plain terms, consider a lemmy instance like a street, and a community like a number on that street. When you write !stable_diffusion@lemmy.dbzer0.com you are giving the exact address and number to search for.

I keep seeing the same posts

In you’re in a smaller instance and you’ve subscribed to communities in other places, you might have set up your default visibility to not show them.

Switch your view to Subscribed/Hot to get a similar view like the reddit frontpage.

Switch to All/Hot to get a similar view to reddit /r/all

You can store this setting permanently as default in your user settings

Tips and PSA

Also see

  • BeardyGrumps@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Many many thanks for this. Got up and running in no time. Loving the communities and the lack of toxicity in the posts and comments. What a breath of fresh air!

    Just needs traction and more users. Doing my bit posting and getting involved in the discussions. Really scratches that Reddit itch without the dirty feeling that I am supporting some wanker CEO.

  • Azzu@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I made a userscript (Lemmy post) which rewrites all links everywhere (not only on Lemmy) to always point to your home instance. It helps a lot with subscribing to communities and in general makes browsing the web and finding Lemmy links nicer.

      • Azzu@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Also, this userscript also works on Firefox on Android with the Tampermonkey extension, which wouldn’t be possible with a regular extension since those have to be separately approved.

  • riek42@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Is there a possibility to hide this post?

    I’ve seen, read and (hopefully 😅) understood it, I would just like to see content straight away instead of this post all the time.

    If not, would this be a server or a client feature? So I could perhaps add it to their issue tracker, if it doesn’t exist yet.

  • cyberkebab@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I’m migrating here from lemmy.world. Is there any way to import the communities I followed there? Or do I have to search and follow them manually?

  • knr@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    hello! hey db0, im here because of you… literally. I was starting in the r/piracy and spez happened… then, a few days later, i saw ur post about moving to this platform (which i honestly had never heard about, but that doenst matter)… and since i was really upset with the way that motherfucker dealt with was, to me, a sacred thing in reddit: the decade-long golden relationship between company and users (so much so that Reddit itself could capitalize on ads using sheer amounts of “good will” bcs of how the community and therefore the world saw the company)… and throw it in a river of radioactive poo aka his mom, so i decided to join here and try to help in anyway i can! problem is… im kinda noob to the whole piracy, datamining, AI and whatever other tendencies nowadays, so im not sure how much (nor where) i can help… and thats why im writing this: do you mind if we chat a bit in private so u can explain the whole situation, its ramifications and propose ways that i could do my part? it would be great.

    lmk yeah? a handshake from brazil

    • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPM
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      1 year ago

      Hey mate, I’d love to chat, unfortunately I’m up to my nose in work. I suggest you post in /c/piracy with your questions, or with a general post with a similar vibe as this comment. I’m sure others will join in to chat. Or you can post in /c/div0 instead.

      • knr@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Ill do that, thanks. But i still would like to chat w u about all the stuff thats happening, in order to get a wider POV, then try to deduce whats going to be their next steps and its overall impact to, finally, try help by making suggestions, debating, brainstorming etc. Talking to you specifically is a key point bcs i cant think of another person thats more “in the eye of the storm” than u (maybe other former top mods from different subs, but i dont know them), so u can be REALLY enlightening. If ure wonder what i have to gain with this, its simple: knowledge. as i said, im a noob in this area but my interest on it is huge, so the mere act of chatting with u and other veteran guys will be insanely helpful for me (and ultimately for everyone here, as more knowledge = more ways to help). its a win-win.

        i understand u have ur pants full of work (dunno if its IRL or online, but nvm its work anyway), so i will wait until u can talk. seems good? in the meantime, i will do what u suggested and try to check out this platform.

        do u have an idea of when things will slow down for u? approximately or not, whatever. if no, then ill just msg u from time to time, ok? i hope i don’t bother u.

        knr

        • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPM
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          1 year ago

          hey I’m gonna be honest, I won’t have time for a long while. between Lemmy, AI Horde and Family, I am constantly busy. However if you have any specific question you want to ask, fire it over. It’s way easier for me to write asynchronously.

  • jollyroger@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    New to lemmy system. Trying to subscribe to You Should Know@lemmy.world via communities from dbzer0 says " Subscribe Pending " . Is this because of dbzer0 settings or because of lemmy.world?

  • Reepus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I have several accounts for all the different lemmy sites, i dont know if that was a good idea, and im probably gonna use this as my main.

  • famaouz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Sorry, I’m just stupid.

    So I made a lemmy acccount in this instance lemmy.dbzer0.com. From my very limited research, apparently I can just login to other “federated” instances, but I can’t login (infinite time “loading circle” in login page) with the same username and password in both https://lemmy.fmhy.ml/login and https://lemmy.ml/login. Why is that? Any help would be appreciated, sorry if it’s obvious because it’s not to me

  • Crinkly4516@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    When I’m browsing “All” I’ll get half way down the page and it’ll start federating/updating from another instance. Is there a way to set this to only happen on refresh? It a bit of a pain when your feed is regularly quickly expanding from the top. It makes scrolling a pita.

  • Makeshift@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    So I’m using the progressive web app for Lemmy , which does not have a URL bar. How am I supposed to subscribe to a community if it’s not showing up in search? It is way too much work to find and subscribe to communities

    • User Deleted@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I think you have to manually trigger the server to conduct a search if no one on this instance has ever interacted with the community.

      Example:

      !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

      Then you have to wait a few minutes and see if it shows up in search, if not, try again.