The main reason for the Linux operating system not seeing widespread adoption is because of its multitude of distros. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Mint… there are just so many choices, just like how when someone asks how to join the Fediverse people will response with “which instance?”
Who the fuck cares about instances and whatnot when an average grandma just wants to make a post on knitting in a supportive community? It really turns people off and without niche communities, there is no way Lemmy will grow any further than its current state.
Without niche communities, what are we going to talk about? Memes? Just programming-related stuff? (I can just surf stackoverflow for that) It can be fun for a while but without diversity, the site will just devolve into boredom and circlejerks. I love this place to death and really want to see it grow, but man, seeing how confusing it can be for an average user makes me anxious for changes.
edit: paragraphs & grammar
edit 2: I’m not saying the Fediverse should be something else. Just like someone here said it better than me, Fediverse can be as complicated under the hood as it wants, but the end user does not need to know that. It must be presented in a way as simple as possible, with plenty of signs and helpful directions.
I disagree. When you create an instance, you want it to be advertised by its name so that people can find you immediately and register. If people are advertising Kbin, Lemmy, or ActivityPub in general, they will find the landing page of the software in question, perhaps reach a list of instances, and in that process there’s a good chance they’ll bounce because they have no clue what instances to pick. Furthermore, when the network in general is promoted, it does not promote any particular instance with its own culture, which is the lifeblood of a forum. If people get to your landing page, they will immediately see the top posts and people commenting. This is more likely to pique their interest and make them want to be part of the community. After registering, they can still discover that your instance federates and is part of a much larger community.