With lemmy.ml and beehaw getting throttled by the mass exodus, try supporting your small instances to spread the load and keep all our content up!
Search for another server while keeping your current instance going if you’re having troubles getting in. With frequent updates and an export feature supposedly coming out soon, this will get easier to move your content over in the future as well!
Same here - https://lemmy.rogers-net.com
Looking to keep mine small like 100 users (I’ll see how much resources that takes, then decide if I want more) so I don’t incur large bills but want to do my part. Not really anticipating any real “local” community but since everything is federated, you can always subscribe to any communities on any other instances and just live in your “Subscribed” tab, fully enjoying the Lemmy experience like any big instance. And of course users on other instances can use a community you set up here.
Federates with NSFW servers (that don’t have abhorrent content, I defederated/blocked burggit), if that’s something you’re looking for.
I saw someone suggesting “user only instances”, instances where you can’t post content but can make an account and browse the fediverse.
It might help with the overcrowding.
That could be a good idea for onboarding if it’s possible. You can just start browsing right away and then pick your home instance later
I’ll plug mine here too just so people have choice, though tbh it’s more of an instance where you’ll just see who you subscribe to, there aren’t really any communities on it. Just if people want a more customised experience I suppose.
Link - https://lemmy.lukeog.com