YSK that a lot of common questions/complaints about Lemmy are presently answered by kbin

This is not an attempt to convert Lemmy users, nor is it a slight on Lemmy. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why Lemmy works better for some, and I love the fact that we not only have multiple choices, but multiple choices that allow us to interact with each other regardless! It's amazing. Lemmy is great, no shade.

With that said...

Why YSK: I see a lot of users posting frequent questions about Lemmy that are currently answered by kbin.

For example:

  • The ability to block a whole domain, or subscribe to one
  • The ability to subscribe to individual users
  • A built-in search tool to find communities all over fedi (kbin, Lemmy, Mastodon groups, etc.) with an indication of how active they are
  • Mitigation for the "tracking pixel" issue

I find that almost every day, I see Lemmy users asking about features and I think, "well, kbin does that." I think it would be worthwhile for more users to check into both platforms and decide which might be best for them.

Fedizen ,

Do they have an API yet?

ADHDefy OP ,
@ADHDefy@kbin.social avatar

From what I hear, it's being tested/reviewed currently, but it's basically ready and will be available soon.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA ,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

Kbin how does Lemmy taste

forrcaho ,

I have accounts on both, and I like the look of kbin better, so I’ve tried to use it more. However, the functionality you mention has been undiscoverable to me: I have no idea how to get a list of non-local magazines, and I’ve looked around for that quite a bit. On lemmy, it’s as easy as clicking “All” when searching communities.

Is there any document that would help me find those features on kbin? Or, for that matter, a similar sort of documentation for lemmy?

atocci ,
@atocci@kbin.social avatar

In the magazine tab on Kbin, it functions similarly to Lemmy. You can search for a community/magazine there, local or federated. If something doesn't show up because it's not federated yet, you can use the @ tag with the @ domain name. You can also use it as a list of all communities currently federating with your kbin instance by not typing anything into the search bar, selecting "local and federated" in the dropdown, and clicking search.

Jase ,
@Jase@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    TheKingBee ,
    @TheKingBee@lemmy.world avatar

    You can’t black instances though, instead of blocking 100 communities you can just block one instance…

    Hazzia ,

    Definitely a good alternative to defederation. After all, what are the chances you’ll find an instance that has the exact same values/tollerance level you do? Even if you do, it takes time for admins to become aware of, investigate, and defederate problem instances, during which you could theoretically block them yourself.

    Knightfall ,
    @Knightfall@lemmy.ca avatar

    I saw in the comments here there are no apps yet for Kbin. So are Kbin users just using the website on their devices for now?

    I’m enjoying Connect for Lemmy and awaiting Sync for Lemmy to be released. Can or will those work for me if I made a Kbin account and will I gain these Kbin perks you speak of?

    ADHDefy OP ,
    @ADHDefy@kbin.social avatar

    kbin is newer, and there are apps on the way. Artemis should be available soon, and I know there are at least one or two more being worked on. But yeah, none available rn so people are using the PWA.

    utnapishtim ,

    Can someone tell me why the back button doesn’t work in Kbin and why my phone starts to heat like there is not tomorrow?

    atocci ,
    @atocci@kbin.social avatar

    The back button doesn't work?

    utnapishtim ,

    Yes, if I click on a post on my phone and I want to go back the android back button doesn’t work.

    ADHDefy OP ,
    @ADHDefy@kbin.social avatar

    Sounds like a bug in your browser, or maybe the Android system.

    utnapishtim ,

    I can’t wait for an app for Kbin.

    atocci ,
    @atocci@kbin.social avatar

    What browser are you using? I haven't experienced this one myself on either Firefox or Edge.

    NicoCharrua ,
    @NicoCharrua@lemmy.ca avatar

    What do you mean by the built in search tool to find communities all over Fedi? From what I can tell the search bar only searches communities that are already federated with kbin, so you’d still need to use something like lemmyverse.net/communities for small communities anyways.

    And also if you want to have access to a community that hasn’t been federated already, I think you need to use a different search bar. On Lemmy you can use the same for both.

    For me Lemmy is better. The web UI is simpler and easier to understand for me, and I have no use for the microblogging features. And more importantly there are Lemmy apps but no kbin ones. I’m glad there are options for everyone, and hopefully they both get the features that they’re missing but the other has!

    Hobovision ,
    @Hobovision@kbin.social avatar

    Yeah the current challenge with searching is if no one has subscribed to a magazine or user on another instance, you have to search the exact name@domain to get it to show up. Ideally Kbin instances would implement a user bot that subscribes to all the users and communities it can scrape from all federated instances until this search limitation is fixed.

    Hazzia ,

    Petition to name subscriber bot “Tom”

    Boozilla ,
    @Boozilla@lemmy.world avatar

    Are there any mobile apps for kbin?

    T156 ,

    No, Kbin hasn’t released their own, or an API yet. I believe the developer is working to stop it crashing after the recent migrations, so has been mostly focused on that instead of the app.

    rideranton ,
    @rideranton@kbin.social avatar

    I've been working on the API, and it is pretty much feature complete (barring feedback) and should be entering review very soon.

    atocci ,
    @atocci@kbin.social avatar

    Amazing, thank you!

    Arcturus ,
    @Arcturus@kbin.social avatar

    There is an app on Testflight and Play Store at the moment.

    But you won't be able to login yet, besides the test Kbin api server.

    Chickenstalker ,

    Begin, the Fediverse Wars has.

    xavier666 ,

    You were supposed to bring balance to the Fediverse! Not leave it in darkness.

    fidodo ,

    Are those features client or protocol specific? My Lemmy client, connect, let’s me block instances and has search for posts, communities, users, comments, etc.

    Black_Gulaman ,
    @Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    yes connect has all of these features. It’s my main app on mobile and wefwef for pc (i refuse to call it voyager, because it’s a generic name)

    yak ,
    @yak@feddit.it avatar

    “tracking pixel” issue

    Sorry, what’s that?

    Zeth0s ,

    Embedding in a comment a invisible image that, when loaded, can tell the poster few information about the reader such ip address

    yak ,
    @yak@feddit.it avatar

    I knew that it’s a thing in the emails, but what this has to do with Lemmy, and why kbin should solve this issue? That’s what I’m not understanding

    Zeth0s ,

    Lemmy allows markdown in comments and it automatically displays images without filtering for “safe” host websites.

    It is potentially dangerous for doxxing, but I am not sure how easy it is to exploit it in a useful malicious scenario. But I am not a secops expert.

    It was introduced recently and will be fixed soon I understand

    nix ,
    @nix@merv.news avatar

    I would consider kbin more if the naming for things wasnt so bad. “Magazines” as a name is in my opinion is terrible.

    I also like that lemmy uses rust

    pazukaza ,

    I know this is a bad take, but my hate for PHP is why I’m in Lemmy.

    601error ,
    @601error@lemmy.ca avatar

    Same. As a Rust lover and PHP hater, the choice was easy.

    floofloof ,

    As a recent Rust convert, I chose Lemmy because I expect it to be the better platform in the long run, and maybe one day I’ll be able to help fix bugs myself. I also just like to support a Rust project and have no love for PHP. In fact, with all the good tools out there these days, it strikes me as odd to begin a project of this scale in PHP.

    AnonymousLlama ,
    @AnonymousLlama@kbin.social avatar

    It's good that there's multiple ways for people to enjoy the fediverse. I'd also point out that there's a heap of people actively looking into improving kbin (you can follow the PRs coming here)

    I'm super keen to get in some of the usability ones, tweaks for mobile and other features to make the mobile experience more exciting.

    Eventually I'd like to tackle the core search functionally so we can search for users, magazines, posts and other content with more filters and options. Right now it's good enough, but having more granular control would be handy for finding just that right community or post

    cakeslayer ,
    @cakeslayer@lemmy.world avatar

    Lemmy.world was my first choice, and I’m glad I stuck through it. I’m 4 weeks in and I’ve seen this community grow and iron out the kinks. The hell if I’m ever going back to reddit.

    TheSaneWriter ,
    @TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com avatar

    You are correct about all of those things, but KBin doesn’t have any currently released mobile apps and I like to have a mobile app. Ultimately KBin will probably have mobile apps soon and some of those features above will probably eventually be added to Lemmy, so it’s just a case of what’s the most important to us now.

    Pietson ,

    I've made a shortcut in Firefox to add the kbin mobile site to my home screen and it is essentially indistinguishable from a mobile app like this.

    Fingerthief ,
    @Fingerthief@lemmy.world avatar

    While PWA sites are nice I’ve never personally used one that felt as good or as consistent as a native application.

    As much as my web dev heart would love to say they were haha.

    jimmy90 ,

    Agreed but if a lot of effort is put into the mobile web it can get very very close. Now Lemmy ui will have a rust/tailwind version, things are going to get very interesting 😀

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