Also found in a !fedibridge@lemmy.dbzer0.com post by @biltong@piefed.co.za : https://piefed.co.za/c/fedibridge/p/22233/post-on-r-buyfromeu-on-the-recent-surge-of-users-to-piefed
I like the way Voyager does it:
DeltaChat also has a very easy onboarding process: you just put your name, and that's it. The app creates the password in the background and allows you to switch servers easily. That really helps with onboarding new joiners.
Piefed.zip could be a nice default choice. If there are others you see, feel free to suggest.
I think the "it doesn't matter which server you pick" default reply should also be done away with, because it does matter. However, like e-mail, it allows you to communicate with every other server (unless you're in a server that's been widely banned for reasons) and can be online while other servers aren't.
The better message instead of "it doesn't matter what instance you pick" should be "your choice of instance is not permanent." With any product choice, the rule of thumb is that most consumers will switch products only when they perceive a 10x improvement. It is clear from many similar threads that the sign-up process is a barrier to such perception, because of the cognitive load of having to choose. To me, there's two ways to address this: offering fewer choices, or reducing the perceived cost of a choice. In particular, streamlining account out settings migration (eg via export/import tools) may make arbitrary server choices more appealing, as it then becomes easier to pack up and switch.
So it does matter which server I choose? Will my choice mean I can’t see all the posts from every server?
Yes
Yes. Federation allows any server to maintain lists of trusted and blocked servers. On lemmy and piefed, you can visit
<address.com>/instancesto check it - the link should be at the bottom of the homepage. If I'm not mistaken, most servers also take a "trust unless we manually block" approach, so new instances will show up by default.This is a double edged sword, but it thankfully errs on the side of safety. Blocking servers means you can ensure that no communication from any server that has shown sympathy to extreme content or spam will reach the one you're in.
Big public instances are often federated with one another, which is what the majority of the users want, so you won't be missing out.
I think there should be a review page for instances that allows comments. That would help immensely. The person reviewing has to have been, or is currently a subscriber and it's listed how long. The longer, the higher the review.