this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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Unfederated news thread? Unfederated reddit? *i then struggle to explain reddit

Is it social media? Is it a forum?

I live around more tractors than people for context of my audience. I can explain what unfederated aspect is no problem but i sould like my grandpa describing facebook to his older siblings when i try to explain what a lemmy or reddit style forum is to my peers and family.

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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 25 points 3 weeks ago
[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago

Social news aggregator "like reddit" but without centralized control.

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's a forum. Servers are connected somehow.

[–] mereo@piefed.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Through a series of tubes.

If you don't get the joke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes?wprov=sfti1

[–] markz@suppo.fi 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Community-made reddit clone.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

How dare you

[–] redsand@infosec.pub 1 points 3 weeks ago

Spread out over regional and topic centered servers that cooperate so it all acts like one thing. The main cool detail if they seem interested enough to find out more.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

"Lemmy is a decentralized internet forum. People host their own "instance" or join someone else's instead of it all being hosted by one person/business".

Assuming you're talking to someone who doesn't even use reddit I would spare them any details until they ask.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 weeks ago

"You know reddit? Its basically reddit, but run by nerds who say its better and then start talking like Doctor Who when they try to explain it. But its basically reddit without so many bots"

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

But it’s not “unfederated”, it is federated.

Not that that necessarily matters when you are describing it. That happens to be a feature of the software architecture. Users might not care about that detail so much.

I would just describe it how you would describe Reddit. So then the question becomes how do you describe Reddit? I might call it a link aggregator. People posts links, and then users comment on those links.

[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Huh yeah i knew that but always used the term unfederated and this is first time im being corrected on it lol

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

“Federated” or “decentralized”

[–] emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you think federated actually means? Because calling it unfederated makes no sense

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[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

Lemmy is a site where you follow topics that interest you instead of following people.

[–] ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Reddit, with fewer white supremacists/imperialists. 👍

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

it's reddit for ultra nerds.

[–] Kritix@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

True. I just got here cuz I feel Reddit is being too mainstream these days.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

when my suburban conservative suv conformity at all costs family is quoting reddit posts to me... yeah it's way too mainstream. 10 years ago they would have seen reddit and dismissed it as a haven for leftwing nutjobs and nerds.

i haven't used it in 5 years now.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You'd have been permanently banned by now.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

i was 'perma banned' multiple times. IP bans even, and they kept unbanning me so they could sell me IPO stocks.

It's a joke of a site now. most of my old communities imploded anyway, or got locked down to mod-only approved posting, which meant they became echo chambers of the mods beliefs only.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I only started catching bans within the past two years. What were you saying that kept getting you into trouble?

Either Reddit got significantly worse, or, my going paranoia: you become the target of political operatives (Zionists, in my case) who mercilessly report anything vaguely actionable until you leave. I just saw the light on Israel a short time before I began catching bans and warnings, but could just be a coincidence.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

posting pictures of my cat and being reported for inciting violence. because he was outdoors in the picture and all outdoor cats are mass murderers, according to the Very Smart folks who use reddit.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That was a site-wide ban?

You said you got REPEATED bans, though. Does your cat have a Hitler mustache or something?

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

yep. the anti-outdoor cat people are insane.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

All outdoor cats are mass murderers objectively speaking, but a photo of an outdoor cat is not any kind of incitement..

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

No, they are not. That bullshit is a shitty infographic that distorted results from the actual stud(ies).

But people are idiots and don't read scientific studies, they just let dramatic political cartoonists tell them what to think.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Which studies? Maybe I've just been propagandized by Big Anti-Outdoor Cat?

My personal datapoint is how my yard was completely devoid of bird sounds a year after we moved in with our outdoor cat.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

cool. my cat never caught a bird in his 10 year life with me. he only ever caught baby rabbits which we have an massive over population amount of anyway.

too bad house cats can't kill deer.

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[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

I hated running into the "hidden" rules for communities by mods. You cant say certain words in certain communities as that would get you shadow-banned (you cant say meshcore in the meshtastic subreddit for instance).

And then reddit giving notices for up-voting certain content it does not want others to see .

They want conversions one way only. And supermods that have hundreds of subreddits under them like its a full time job....

Im glad im here.

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago

I just say its open source community run social media 🤷🏻‍♂️

Most people don't care, so I just move on to talking about whatever I was referencing that required the context of what the platform is

[–] justaman123@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

It's open source social media. There's no algorithm. It's a bit like the internet before it became owned by 5 corporations.

I think for tractor folk explaining how it's not like Facebook is probably a good start. If they know what you mean by open source you can tell them more and go into more detail about what federated means, or what instances mean.

Typically you cant really introduce normies to more than one piece of new information at a time. The new piece of information can have three parts, and should. But two of those parts should be in relation to two things they are familiar with.

[–] vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 weeks ago

Lemmy is federated. It's a federation of instances. Unfederated would be the opposite of what Lemmy is.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Why bother getting into any great detail. Say it is a bunch of different message boards and move on.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

unfederated??? unfederated reddit is reddit. federated reddit would be closer to the federation.

[–] SacralPlexus@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you I was reading the comments screaming why is no one pointing out that OP has it backwards!?

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Antisocial media.

[–] coolie4@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Solutions focused.

No one cares about "federation" or "decentralized".

They do care about contingency in the event of enshittification, algorithms that don't invade privacy, and viable replacements for the apps they already use.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

All the mental illness and personality disorders of Reddit, without as much corporate ownership and shilling.

[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Holy fuck this is the best one ive gotten so far hahaha

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[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago

non-corporate discussion forum?

[–] CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It’s a link aggregation system that’s user generated, and moderated… plus comments. It’s a lot like Reddit just decentralized.

The main difference with Lemmy is the content. You need to understand that half the content on Lemmy is cartoons of foxes fucking stuff and circlejerking about how ADHD means you don’t have to put any effort into anything.

Think like Jack Nicholson’s character in as good as it gets… you picture someone “and then I take away all reason and accountability…”

I describe it as a reddit like forum, made from many individual servers strung together. But I suppose that explanation glosses over the whole federation part and could be confusing to less technicly inclined peeps

[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I go with « Anarchist Reddit »

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

reddit before the reddit sub-purges of the 2016-2017ish. and before the homogenization, politicization of most subs.

[–] dyslexicdainbroner@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

You don’t have describe or categorize - just lead them to see and decide for themselves - anything else is just opinion

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

highly doubt a bunch of farmers would enjoy lemmy

[–] gandalf_der_12te@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

open source reddit that is accessible through the fediverse account.

if people don't know reddit: "it's organized around communities instead of user accounts. so you don't follow user account, you follow communities instead that each have a specific topic that's being discussed or talked about. like video games, football, memes etc."

I described it to a friend as Reddit (which itself is a forum that people comment on posts) that works like email - you can pick your own server and interact with others.

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