this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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Should we have a Star Wars instance? (feddit.uk)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I previously posted this topic on the main Star Wars community, but it was removed for being too meta. Which is fair enough but it does leave is in a Catch 22 situation as you can't exactly get a SW instance started if you can't discuss starting one. Fortunately, @[email protected] was kind enough to suggest this instance would be a good venue for such discussions, so here we are.

So here's the original post with additional thoughts arising from the discussion or subsequent pondering:

__

In a Fediverse, far far away...

I have been involved in a few discussions about how to help the Fediverse grow and diversify and one thing I feel is key is to have more specific instances rather than large general purposes ones. It helps people when they are signing up and can help give communities a home. I know because I signed up with feddit.uk, helped grow the place and am now part of the Admin team.

Or, to cut a long story short, should there be a Star Wars Lemmy instance? Today seems the perfect time to open the discussion.

After all, there are other focused instances like:

  • startrek.website
  • sffa.community
  • literature.cafe
  • ttrpg.network
  • adultswim.fan
  • dormi.zone
  • futurology.today
  • lemmy.radio
  • hobbit.world

Could move across existing communities:

[edit: see more comprehensive list below]

And there are a lot of potential others:

  • A community per film and show
  • SW Books - with potential to spin-off popular and long-running series
  • SW Comics
  • SW Board Games
  • SW Video Games
  • SW Cosplay
  • SW Helmets
  • SW Lightsabers
  • SW Galaxy of Heroes
  • The Empire Did Nothing Wrong

Possible names? A lot of obvious ones will have been scooped up or you risk copyright infringement, but how about:

  • Fediverse's Edge

[edit: I found a discussion on the old place, about starting a Star Wars Mastodon instance and you could share resources and expertise by Hosting them on the same server. Which led me to suggest Fediverse's Edge as the umbrella domain with the Mastodon instance at Tootooine and thr Lemmy one at something like Lemmandalore). If you were doing this then you could also include an instance of BookWyrm, Galactic Library?, that would bring the Star Wars novels and comics front and centre. It could be a good example for others thinking of setting up instances for transmedia franchises like this - a Marvel part of the Fediverse, for example. It would really help people sign up to a chunk of the Fediverse as it is either all in one place or you could direct people elsewhere, to, say, a Pixelfed instance dedicated to toy photography.

Other name suggestions:

  • tattooine.social
  • dagobah.space
  • hoth.books
  • coruscant.forum
  • bespin.io
  • thesenate.domain
  • thesenate.im
  • unknownregion ]

May the FOSS be with you.

__

Those who contributed to that previous thread are: @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

And some who have been engaged in Star Wars instance discussion since (why I am bumping this post up my to-do list: @[email protected] @[email protected] ]

I also had a second post removed that listed all the Star Wars communities and it was relevant for this discussion to show the breadth of existing Star Wars discussion on here:

__

As a lot haven't federated over to my instance I went digging, so you may as well have the list:

Star Wars:

Misc:

TV and film:

Games:

[edit: I've since started [email protected] ]

NSFW:

__

Those who contributed to this thread: @[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Im gonna create one, put in all the work to make it thrive and then delete it.

See if I can create a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Make users fear something terrible has happened.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Insidious!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I really like thesenate.im.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

That tickled me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Nice one

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I like topic specific instances, and it's a cool way to organize the content. I'm almost always in support of new ones, and the few considerations I have for them are

  • who is running the instance
  • how can the instance build confidence that it will stick around

The first point speaks to moderation practices and guidelines. If for example it's being run by a fan community, then this could be really cool. If it's run by the brand / owner of the IP, then they might remove criticism of the topic. The instance should also have some solid guidelines to prevent future issues.

The second point is important for communities to grow on the instance. Lemmy.film was really cool and had potential, but it didn't work out in the long run. No shame there, running an instance can be difficult/ time consuming. Some long term planning would inspire confidence, and that includes things like finances, team size, and how the team is structured.

Dealing with those two areas would give the instance a solid foundation. Star Wars specifically has so much content that could be organized into communities

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm almost always in support of new ones, and the few considerations I have for them are

  • who is running the instance
  • how can the instance build confidence that it will stick around

This is key.

People get hung up on:

  • Money - fundraising will scale with usage
  • Installing and maintaining the software - Lemmy tends to have a lot of people with the right skills, so this should be easy enough to address

And I will start another thread here about running an instance.

However, what makes or breaks an instance is:

  • Is there a good Admin team? Single Admin instances are just one day away from vanishing.
  • Are they in it for the, at a minimum, the medium haul.

When we took over the running of feddit.uk one of the most important things we did (perhaps influenced by the original Admin going AWOL) was to ensure that there was no single point of failure - duties are spread around between us and if any one of us gets hit by a bus tomorrow (not today, I'm busy) then the instance can carry on.

So the you just need a few people who are committed. Oh and they can't be dicks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I agree with all of this ... and good to hear too!

I hope you start it and goes well!

While I agree with all the arguments about how effective topic specific instances can be ... one counter I'll just share is that they can maybe be rather damaging should they go down or sour on people, because the communities then fracture as there isn't an obvious place to go afterward.

This kinda happened with the start trek instance, where, if you don't know, the admins were viewed as being toxic or incompetent by some and so drifted away from the instance. Some reforming happened around some communities on lemmy-world, but I don't think things are the same afterward.

Which of course doesn't mean that a topic-specific instance can't be great ... quite the opposite really ... I think the lesson from the above is that ensuring that a good, healthy, transparent and sustainable admin team and culture would really be invaluable.

Perhaps one principle to center policies around (just a suggestion off of the top of my head) would be the idea that the instance kinda belongs to "the fans" ... so some democratic mechanisms or feedback, some ideas around changing "the guard" (as you've spoken about already) etc ... just to instill the idea that the instance is for the topic not just the admins hobby.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Yes. You should. The BEST usage of the concept of Lemmy isn't even being used right now, and thats niche interest instances. Now, I know, among THIS crowd star wars isn't niche. It's even debatable now among mainstream society if it's a niche interest. It may have enough people who enjoy the franchise that it's about as not-niche as spiderman, or batman.

Still though, the idea of "this is THE star wars instance, with only star wars sublemmys allowed, WOULD attract a more active userbase among all the different star wars topics. From there you COULD have various niche star wars sublemmys. You could have one JUST for podracing. You could have one JUST about the politics of star wars. You could have one JUST for users to role play in the star wars universe. You could have one for fan written star wars stories. Hell you could even have an NSFW section for star wars universe sexy things. Maybe cosplays, or drawings.

Point is, I've seen the original "part 4" movie. The one that got released first. I've also seen "part 1" released in 1999.

I would not consider myself a star wars fan, and even I think it's a good idea to have a star wars instance.

And sure, you COULD set up lemmy.world/c/starwars after that other instance exists.......but I suggest 95% of Lemmys star wars userbase would just join those sublemmys. You might even see the real hardcore fans use it as their home instance.

And this should be how it is for every single topic that has enough interest.

I am BAFFLED that Lemmy.music doesn't exist with countless bands as sublemmys.

Lemmy.music/c/thebeatles

Lemmy.music/c/taylorswift

Lemmy.music/c/michealjackson

Now imagine this with THOUSANDS if not millions of sublemmys. As far as I can see, the 3 biggest instances in terms of engagement, number of sublemmys, subscription numbers, should be

Lemmy.music

Lemmy.tv

And Lemmy.sports

THIS crowd may roll their eyes, but forget the internet for a second. Forget this Lemmy bubble. Go out into a grocery store and ask a random person "which of these is more important to you, music, or linux?" and you'll find out real quick how niche this current audience is.

If you want to grow Lemmy, you gotta open the bubble. Right now Linux Memes is one of the most popular places here, and almost ZERO engagement about things popular in the real world (other than politics/news). Which tells me everything I need to know about the userbase.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

The BEST usage of the concept of Lemmy isn’t even being used right now, and thats niche interest instances.

I have another post drafted to go alongside this one about why we need more specific instances. I think it's going to be key to Lemmy's growth and, if we look at the more.mature ecosystem over with Mastodon, it's inevitable. We just need to give it a helping hand and ensure those starting instances get the help the need (another thread I am drafting about starting your own instance).

Still though, the idea of "this is THE star wars instance, with only star wars sublemmys allowed, WOULD attract a more active userbase among all the different star wars topics. From there you COULD have various niche star wars sublemmys. You could have one JUST for podracing. You could have one JUST about the politics of star wars. You could have one JUST for users to role play in the star wars universe. You could have one for fan written star wars stories. Hell you could even have an NSFW section for star wars universe sexy things. Maybe cosplays, or drawings.

It may also be where the LemmyBB frontend becomes important as it looks like an old school forum (specifically phpBB) and you can sort the communities into groups - so all the TV show communities go in one, the films in another, cosplay in it's own one (so you could cover clothing, armour, weapons, etc), games, books, comics, etc.

Point is, I’ve seen the original “part 4” movie. The one that got released first. I’ve also seen “part 1” released in 1999.

You should definitely give Rogue One and Andor a go.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

There's https://lemmy.studio for music stuff and https://soccer.forum for football stuff

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Unless it shut down, there is a sports-centric instance called fanatacus.social.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lemmy.music/c/taylorswift

I'm surprised you don't know about [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I think you have the wrong idea. I don't personally care about taylor swift. Just the same as I don't care about Micheal Jackson, and only slightly like The Beatles.

My point is, if you want expanded userbases for the WHOLE platform, you have to cater to the mainstream first, and THEN the niche stuff will follow.

Look at reddit's userbase. At one point they had a subreddit that was just pictures of toasters. It probably still exists, but I haven't personally looked into it since 2015.

The point is, reddit has some of the most random, most batshit insane concepts for subreddits I've ever seen.

Meanwhile, the average user (so, not most people who are already here) would have trouble even knowing there IS a place to talk about one of the most popular musicians of all time.

There's this whole untapped potential of this Lemmy concept, and all it needs is a few minor adjustments, and a grassroots effort to grow this place.

The search engine at https://browse.feddit.de/ should just be the built in propriatary search platform wide.

The main directive of growing this site, should be "easy". I'm telling you guys, that linux mindset won't work here.

It reminds me of when I played monopoly on Nintendo Switch with my grandma, for the first and only time. Her turn ended, and she wanted to do something, I think maybe build a house. And she asked me a simple question. "How do I build a house?"

And I answered with a simple answer. "You press the L button."

My grandma at that time was 101 years old. She had never played a video game. She had ZERO concept that L stands for "left trigger". She didn't even know what a trigger was.

So after I told her it was the L button, she starts turning the controller all sorts of ways looking for L. I watched her do that for about 3 seconds before I realized what was happening. And then I showed her with my finger.

I was so used to playing with other people who at some point have played a video game, that I hadn't even considered that there was a disconnect for her. I was about 38 years old at that point. I knew controller layouts from playing with them for 30+ years. My grandma had not. So me giving her the answer in basic terms didn't carry over in an easy to understand way for her. But once I showed her the button with my finger, she understood.

Then she pointed at the other side, and said "Is this the M button?" And I said "No, thats actually the R button. And the one behind it is ZR."

And she gave me this look that said a lot of things all at once without saying a word. That look told me that in that moment she felt stupid. A feeling she's not used to feeling. She was sharp in the mind all the way until her final days. But this whole video games experience, she saw me knowing what to do, and her NOT knowing what to do.

THAT is the thing that will either kill Lemmy, or let it blossom. I'm not quite at my grandmas levels of frustrated, but I still don't see an easy way to find all the niche communities I can think of, across ALL instances.

I don't see a clear and decisive way to say "oh, you're searching for THESE interests? Ok, here's the ones you searched for, but here's some more that may also interest you based on what you searched for.

For example. I subscribed on Lemmy to [email protected]

But it never suggested anything for Ninja Sex Bang, or Starbomb, or (not that I support him) Jontron.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The main directive of growing this site, should be “easy”. I’m telling you guys, that linux mindset won’t work here.

Yes, even though Lemmy users are more tech savvy I bet most who have signed up for a few Fediverse services have suffered Instance Indecision. Scrolling through lists of instances looking for the Goldilocks instance that sounds just right, then finding it full of 14 year old anime fans.

I've taught mature students (often retired and sometimes elderly) and you can assume nothing and go back to basics (they often preferred keyboard shortcuts to the mouse and menus). So there are likely aspects we are overlooking but one of the most important early issues to address is the problems with on-boarding.

I think specific instances really help with this but I may be biased as spotting a UK Lemmy instance made my decision easy, as I am sure it is for other local instances, especially non English-speaking ones.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I was just saying that the music instance is there, but people just don't care.

Lemmy demographic is very specific, and anything besides programming, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, leftists, furries and LGTBQIA+ would have an issue getting attention.

Special shout out to lemmy.film who existed but then when bust, and then reminded everyone that beyond creating a topic-focused instance, you need responsible sysadmins.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm not super tech savvy but it looks like Jedi.Academy will become available next month, if the current owner doesn't renew.

Tatooine.social or MosEisley.social would be good second picks.

Another meme one could be alderaan.no

What I mean is, yes I'd love to see a Star wars specific instance.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I’m not super tech savvy but it looks like Jedi.Academy will become available next month, if the current owner doesn’t renew.

That's one hell of a domain - it needs bagging anyway if it comes up (although I imagine it'll be expensive, so perhaps not). A bit Sithist though - red lightsaber users are people too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Do it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Now that's the kind of can-do attitude that Empires are built on!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

I would love to see it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Great post, thanks!