• lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Piefed and mbin (I think kbin is dead and mbin the successor) are on the level of lemmy in the sense that they are the software and there are different instances of them. So you don’t just join piefed but you join one instance of piefed.

    From my understanding, neither is even a lemmy branch but both are their own software using the more general fediverse protocol (that also includes mastodon and others) so they are compatible, look similar but have different developers.

    And protocol refers to the data exchange format in a way. Think of it as a chess computer that outputs moves in the standard notation. Two computers can play chess together no matter how differently they are built and programmed inside as long as they agree on the communication. Same here. You have posts, comments, up and downvotes, … but that’s just the protocol. The program can work very differently. It’s even possible to post from mastodon on lemmy (not the other way around tho because mastodon doesn’t allow it, not for technical reasons) that’s how different software can be and still communicate.

    I hope that makes sense.

    • cloudskater@pawb.social
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, I think that makes sense, thanks so much for the explanation. I should ask though, in that case, should I move myself over to one of those services? If so, which do you recommend? My account here is only new so now would be the best time for me to switch.

      • lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 hours ago

        The whole idea is to spread to different instances. Some have a geographic focus (US, Canada, Europe, …), some a political leaning or other topics like queerness, literature, traveling, …

        I recently joined anarchist.nexus but don’t really use it yet. On the join page of every instance, you see a list of I think all instances with a description so you can choose which one fits best for you:

        https://anarchist.nexus/auth/instance_chooser

        Also, from my experience on lemmy, it doesn’t hurt to have more than one account until you decided which works best for you. It’s not that you lose any followers like on mastodon.