The upcoming v1.2 release will include a built-in instance chooser, so every instance will be able to recommend every other instance, without a centralized site like https://joinmastodon.org/ or https://lemmyverse.net/instances. (except those instances that have opted out or closed registrations)

The instance-choosers for other platforms tend to push people towards the bigger instances by prominently displaying the number of users or communities they have, or even worse sorting results by number of users. This seems like a good metric because if lots of people chose it in the past then it must be well-run, right? Right? Heh.

Instead, the PieFed instance chooser sorts by ping (network ping + page load speed) and prominently shows a “Stability” metric which is a combination of various things (daily backups, multiple people having SSH access, financial health, etc). Another key metric is Newbie-friendliness which is whether they have a decent number of topics created, which are used as starter-packs to get new accounts into many communities quickly. Thirdly, the Age is shown, which is the number of months it has been operating. Join brand new instances at your peril.

Another aspect I’ve chosen not to get into is regional or topic focus of instances because most people are into more than one topic, leading to difficult choices. Sorting by ping will tend to show you instances in your country anyway.

The primary language of an instance is really important - people need to be able to communicate with their admins - so I made that a filter.

With new PieFed instances opening up all the time we need to get new people using those instead of everyone clustering together on piefed.social. The sooner we do this the better, in terms of spreading the financial load around and fostering a healthy diversity of instances before one or two instances snowball and end up dominating.

I’m really looking forward to releasing this functionality, in the next couple of weeks.

  • ook
    15·
    vor 4 Monaten

    Piefed is shaping up nicely! As soon as my app of choice (Thunder) allows a stable login and browsing experience, I’ll jump ship!

  • Kroko@feddit.onlineEnglish
    9·
    vor 4 Monaten

    Very good. I had hard to choose instance because many of them don’t show country of hosting.

    • wjs018@piefed.wjs018.xyzEnglish
      6·
      vor 4 Monaten

      It will show up automatically if you meet some conditions (which you won’t until 1.2 is deployed):

      1. Running version 1.2 that has the code for the instance chooser (or maybe a custom build like piefed.fan must be)
      2. Enable the instance chooser in the admin settings

      I don’t know all the details as this is something rimu coded up, but I suspect that your instance would then be listed as a choice for any other piefed instances that have the instance chooser enabled and that you are federated with.

  • cabbage@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    vor 4 Monaten

    Does this function exclude instances the site you are currently on has defederated from? Is there an option for an additional blacklist?

    If I ran an instance I would probably not want to see my potential users redirected to instances like hexbear, grad, or exploading heads (had those been piefed instances).

    In a similar fashion it could be cool if instances could highlight related ones. A startrek instance could for example choose to promote other sci-fi or fiction related instances up front, giving users the most relevant alternatives first. But that’s more of an extra idea and less of a necessity.

    Love the concept of this.

  • marighost@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    vor 4 Monaten

    Really appreciate all the work you and the rest of the Piefed team put into this project. This is a wonderful feature!

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
    21·
    vor 4 Monaten

    So I think Pixelfed has a pretty good model, although it is centralized. Instances can opt in our out of being featured on sign up pages. There’s also some basic criteria they must agree to like agreeing to notify users with advanced notice before shutting down, and some basic moderation. In my opinion “uptime” should be added as well.

    • Rimu@piefed.socialOPMEnglish
      4·
      vor 4 Monaten

      Yep, what I have so far is pretty similar. This is the form that admins fill out to make their instance appear in the listings:

      screenshot

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    1·
    vor 4 Monaten

    using those instead of everyone clustering together on piefed.social
    There is a very easy solution for that, close registration on piefed.social now for some time until it spreads a bit.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    1·
    vor 4 Monaten

    sorts by ping (network ping + page load speed)
    Who’s ping, the users or the servers? If I’m on the other side of the world than the server then my ping and page load will be very different.

  • rozodru@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    vor 4 Monaten

    EVERY Instance of anything in the fediverse needs this. You shouldn’t have to depend on some website to tell you what the best instance is currently when it hasn’t been updated in weeks/months. I mean with PieFeed I just went with piefeed.social cause that was the easiest one to find. pretty much the same with lemmy and when I originally signed up with mastodon.

  • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
    11·
    vor 4 Monaten

    An instance maker*. You’re herding your experience choosing terms by depending on the owners’ judgements.

    Owning your experience means hosting your own instance.