At least in my own bubble, many did switch to Mastodon. Those that didn’t are looking at other options, because the whole federation idea and things like home instances didn’t appeal to them or were simply too complicated (they want a service that at least hides its decentralized nature).
There are a ton of reasons not to like it and they’re evident on Lemmy pretty notably, let alone other platforms. The entire idea of being able to defederate and federate at will is a big feature of these platforms but they’re also the part that people like the least. If the server you’re on defederates from another server you like, you have no choice but to start all the way from the beginning if you need to choose another instance to join. At the same time, each instance gets its own version of every single community. If you join an instance that federates with lots of other instances, you’re very likely to see the exact same posts multiple times since each community is completely unique and separate (again, a feature for some, a boon for others).
Federation is great for a few reasons and really horrible for others. It’s not the single answer that works for everyone.
One thing genuinely confusing is having people reply to a comment I made from a federated instance, and when I try to reply to their comment, I get taken to the reply in the context of the lemmy instance they commented in, not the one I commented in. For example, if I’m on Beehaw and someone from lemmy.ca replies to my comment, and I want to respond to them, what I’ll typically do is click on the button below the comment that shows the context of the conversation, because I comment a lot and don’t always know what comment I made that someone is replying to. When I do that, it takes me to lemmy.ca, which I can’t reply from, because I’m not on lemmy.ca. This is confusing, because this routine thing pulls you into other parts of the fediverse that your reply might exist in, and which other people can see, but you can’t comment on that instance because you don’t have an account there. But if you go back to your own instance and find your comment through your profile, you can navigate to a reply someone from another instance made and reply to them as long as you’re still on your instance. This is both cumbersome and, to a new user, terribly disorienting.
Why not just use mastodon? Why is this better in any way? Twitter was already going to shit before Elon accelerated it.
At least in my own bubble, many did switch to Mastodon. Those that didn’t are looking at other options, because the whole federation idea and things like home instances didn’t appeal to them or were simply too complicated (they want a service that at least hides its decentralized nature).
I don’t get why people dislike federation
There are a ton of reasons not to like it and they’re evident on Lemmy pretty notably, let alone other platforms. The entire idea of being able to defederate and federate at will is a big feature of these platforms but they’re also the part that people like the least. If the server you’re on defederates from another server you like, you have no choice but to start all the way from the beginning if you need to choose another instance to join. At the same time, each instance gets its own version of every single community. If you join an instance that federates with lots of other instances, you’re very likely to see the exact same posts multiple times since each community is completely unique and separate (again, a feature for some, a boon for others).
Federation is great for a few reasons and really horrible for others. It’s not the single answer that works for everyone.
This is why Nostr is better in every way
Well… don’t leave us hanging. Why? “This” is not a reason.
What’s confusing about it?
One thing genuinely confusing is having people reply to a comment I made from a federated instance, and when I try to reply to their comment, I get taken to the reply in the context of the lemmy instance they commented in, not the one I commented in. For example, if I’m on Beehaw and someone from lemmy.ca replies to my comment, and I want to respond to them, what I’ll typically do is click on the button below the comment that shows the context of the conversation, because I comment a lot and don’t always know what comment I made that someone is replying to. When I do that, it takes me to lemmy.ca, which I can’t reply from, because I’m not on lemmy.ca. This is confusing, because this routine thing pulls you into other parts of the fediverse that your reply might exist in, and which other people can see, but you can’t comment on that instance because you don’t have an account there. But if you go back to your own instance and find your comment through your profile, you can navigate to a reply someone from another instance made and reply to them as long as you’re still on your instance. This is both cumbersome and, to a new user, terribly disorienting.
I meant “what’s confusing about some people disliking federation?”
And I agree with you, unnecessary complexity is one of those reasons.
Check if an issue already exists, or file one