Asklemmy

Leave already

As a relatively new Beehaw user (I deliberately waited for the reddit exodus to subside before applying), I understand the reasoning. The "default" open nature of ActivityPub creates moderation challenges for a "well tended garden" - much more so than a more controlled space. I also understand the software (lemmy) itself is somewhat problematical, both politically and from technical/maintenance perspective.

I wouldn't be against moving - and I'd follow. The Beehaw groups are active and contain lot of good quality discussions, I'd assume that wouldn't change outside fediverse.

I'd be still free to access the fediverse through other kbin/lemmy instances if I wanted to participate and I wouldn't close my Mastodon account just because Beehaw decided to move somewhere else, so I wouldn't personally lose very much - and I would stand to gain a "safe haven" - a more closed discussion forum I could always turn to when the noise of the outside world gets to be too much.

For the sake of everyone moderating Beehaw and our communities, I'd completely understand. Fediverse is a very rowdy bar and as volunteer bartenders, it must be somewhat tiresome for you.

In the long term I'd worry about building a too small echo chamber without the required diversity for Quality Discussions and I'd also worry about "hiding" - it would be harder for fellow disenfranchised cretins to find us - and perhaps we'd lose good members. I know the Beehaw strategy priority is not centered around growth, but nevertheless, some kind of strategy would have to be devised to monitoring the long term health and diversity of the community.

Late Reply: This is going to sound harsh but it's true. I wouldn't miss it. If Beehaw disappeared tomorrow I probably wouldn't even notice, and I'm sure that would be the case for many other people here. The problem is that because Beehaw has defederated so aggressively from the largest instances and shut its doors to new users, and people just moved on, or didn't notice or care. I spent most of my first days on Lemmy.world and consequently didn't see a majority of the content from Beehaw, but I did see many upset users who had to Migrate from Beehaw due to the defederations since most of the content and communities they wanted access to wasn't available to them on Beehaw.

Since Beehaw didn't (and still doesn't) have community creation enabled it never really had niche communities like other instances did, it is rather forgettable because of that, what most people will remember it for though is the defederations and having to migrate accounts to not be cut off from the rest of the fediverse.

I disagree with you guys for a lot of reasons.

Diversity of thought and, well, your silly shit are important. No. I wouldn't do what you do myself. Yes. You should stay. Send a link and I'll donate.

The fediverse needs testing of both technical and social areas.

I'm not sure I understand where you guys are planning to be moving on to- just a website? I will miss beehaw for sure, I appreciate the technology and gaming communities there which I follow. I've been blissfully oblivious to any toxicity either from beehaw or towards beehaw. But you must do what your instance prefers first and foremost.

You're smaller and weaker defederated. The fact that you chose to post this on lemmy.ml rather than beehaw clearly proves that.

Do what you need to do, but it'll mean less traffic on overall - meaning people who are actively pro-ActivityPub will be switching and using other accounts more. I would probably be out shopping for a different node at that point. But I also fully understand the reasons why one would want to defederate.

TLDR don’t want you to leave.

At least two communities I use are on Beehaw, but I wouldn't be super affected.

The fact that you talk about users as "seeking refuge" means you think of your instance as much more than a social media platform.

So I would say that yes, maybe Lemmy is not what you actually need. It's designed to federate discussions between everyone using it, and that's a poor fit for a refugee center (so to speak).

Indifferent

It'd be a shame imo but end of the day your choice.

I have broadly enjoyed interacting with content and users from beehaw, but have also had friction with their moderation style at times. However that is is the point of the fediverse, my home account is not on beehaw, I don’t have to agree, I just have to play nice in the occasional thread.

Overall the federation adds content,variety, and texture to the fediverse and it’d be a shame to lose it

I don’t give a single nacho

Don't let the doorknob hit you in the ass on the way out.

I'm not a beehaw user, so personally I won't care. If I had joined beehaw in order to get to a federated platform, turning it into a walled garden would be disappointing to say the least. I'd leave, of course.

In general, it would be a shame to lose the content and connections that there might have been.