[rant] Why is this so hard for people?

Can I just rant a little to you all?

I've tried numerous times to help people from reddit set up an account and get started on Kbin (and lemmy), but 4 out of 5 times people can't seem to grasp the concept of registering an account and starting to use this platform. Even breaking it down into 2 steps, with direct links... They get angry, and then ragequit their attempt in a huff saying how it's too fucking complicated and it will never take off because it's so hard.

Ok, I get that the fediverse is complicated if you think deeply about all the interconnectivity and federation etc, but there is no reason you even have to think about any of it to create an account and get started. Like, at all.

It reminds me so much of my 70/y old mother-in-law not immediately knowing how to work a tv remote and shoving it at me after 1.5 seconds saying "here, I can't figure this out". When in reality all she had to do was press the fucking big red button...

I'm just so frustrated with people's complete lack of ability to help themselves.

trynn,
@trynn@kbin.social avatar

I can only assume that the people having trouble understanding kbin/lemmy are either relatively young, or relatively inexperienced with technology. Basically those people whose online experience really only started in the era of Reddit/Facebook/Twitter/etc. Those of us who were online in the early 2000s are familiar with web forums. Kbin Magazines/Lemmy Communities are basically just web forums that can be interacted with from any kbin or Lemmy instance that's federated. Those of us who are even older and were online in the 90s (or earlier) are familiar with Usenet. Kbin Magazines/Lemmy Communities are basically Usenet newsgroups, with the particular instance you're on essentially the same as your Usenet provider. Or for the really old folks like me, instances are like BBSes that are connected to each other with FidoNet.

It reminds me of people who get confused getting on Discord for the first time, when it's really just a modern incarnation of chat-rooms or IRC. None of these ideas are new, and people were able to figure out these core concepts decades ago.

Zednix,
@Zednix@lemmy.ca avatar

It is confusing. Simple as. I have an account on lemmy dot ca, but I don't understand how to view or participate in kbin content so I just don't

CynAq,
@CynAq@kbin.social avatar

You are literally participating in kbin content right now, commenting on a thread on a kbin magazine posted by a user registered to kbin.

LostCause,

That happened to me too in the beginning with lemmy coming from kbin, until I discovered the very bottom of the page where it showed me which community I‘m in (odd place to put that).

I made some strange posts like linking to a community I was in. Gets better with time.

sethboy66,

What community you're in is right in the URL and can be found at minimum twice in the sidebar. Just look for @[sub]@[instance], or the previous with @[username] in front of it.

LostCause,

Thank you, all that is so good to know!

I didn‘t see any of that, cause the back of the URL is a bit painful to look for on my phone's browser and the sidebar part is collapsed by default. Now that I know what to look for I‘ll hopefully not get lost again.

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