My initial thoughts on Diaspora and Friendica after two days
Joined the diasp.org node for Diaspora, and Nerdica node for Friendica. They both seem like they're one of the largest for each network. I've posted a couple of posts on both.
Diaspora I immediately preferred the interface. I wish I could edit posts, and like individual comments, and some form of communities would be nice (but I don't currently use those all that much on Google+ personally). On both posts I've had several people interact straight away, and all seemed friendly!
Friendica seems much more confusing to figure out the interface, and just seems a bit buggy, hanging when trying to load things. Maybe that's just the Nerdica node being a bit flakey at the moment, I don't know. Took me a while to figure out how to upload an image to a post, because yeah it's totally intuitive to need to click on the tab called "browse" to upload images. I've also had zero interaction on the posts there so far.
I was going to give Hubzilla a try next, but checking out the demo site, I'm really not that impressed with the interface.
MeWe I'm put off due to the fact there's no public sharing, and I'd probably end up having to pay for it before too long.
Minds sounds interesting, but I've not really looked at features yet (and how long can they just keep giving out crytocash?).
Joined the diasp.org node for Diaspora, and Nerdica node for Friendica. They both seem like they're one of the largest for each network. I've posted a couple of posts on both.
Diaspora I immediately preferred the interface. I wish I could edit posts, and like individual comments, and some form of communities would be nice (but I don't currently use those all that much on Google+ personally). On both posts I've had several people interact straight away, and all seemed friendly!
Friendica seems much more confusing to figure out the interface, and just seems a bit buggy, hanging when trying to load things. Maybe that's just the Nerdica node being a bit flakey at the moment, I don't know. Took me a while to figure out how to upload an image to a post, because yeah it's totally intuitive to need to click on the tab called "browse" to upload images. I've also had zero interaction on the posts there so far.
I was going to give Hubzilla a try next, but checking out the demo site, I'm really not that impressed with the interface.
MeWe I'm put off due to the fact there's no public sharing, and I'd probably end up having to pay for it before too long.
Minds sounds interesting, but I've not really looked at features yet (and how long can they just keep giving out crytocash?).
I've been using Pluspora. I'm not a fan of how if you like a post there it opts you into receiving comments for that post unless you remember to disable follow up comments after you've pressed the heart button. It's a small thing, but I wish I could opt out of that.
ReplyDeleteYou probably already know this, but MeWe is in the process of developing the ability to post publicly to the MeWe network. It should be released in November of December from what I've heard.
John Ward yeah that is a bit annoying I agree. MeWe might be one to check out later... plenty of time yet!
ReplyDeleteJohn Ward Ironically, a lot of people complained about the opposite behavior on G+, leading to the "/sub" cruft in so many comment threads. Pluspora at least allows both options.
ReplyDeleteDave Hill you’re right about the sub comments. Is there a way to disable it on Pluspora?
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteJohn Ward Not on a default basis, as far as I can see. If you wish to simply like something without being subbed to further likes and comments, you have to also (I believe) ignore the post.
ReplyDeleteI've been testing Friendica on libranet.de node and its also hanging and the web UI is buggy. I also initially thought it might be a specific node issue but I've now heard similar issues from 2-3 nodes so I'm starting to think its a software issue with Friendica. The glitches and sometimes bugs are annoying enough that I'm ready to move on from Friendica (but not to diaspora, lack of features makes it a non choice for me).
ReplyDeleteI tried Mind and well, it seemed mindless. They have this hokey point system. Really Annoying.
ReplyDeleteMeWe seems to work well for two groups I’m in . But I must admit very few of the members migrated from the g+ to the new groups on MeWe.
ReplyDeleteJuha Lindfors yeah I've since seen other buggy reports on Friendica. What's next for you to try?
ReplyDeleteMichael Warburton I did a quick take on Hubzilla on hub.libranet.de as well but basically was thrown into an admin interface, it was late, I got tired and gave up.
ReplyDeleteI've looked at Mastodon earlier but am always put off by the character limits on posts.
Those have been my four attempts at federated networks so far and I've found none of them to be ideal. Scuttlebutt is one more that sounds interesting to try but I'm currently out of energy and motivation, and so have gone back to MeWe for the communities/groups that migrated there.
If I think about creating a public profile again, it will be one of Mastodon (seems to be the most well-productized and popular at the moment), or Hubzilla (but need to read more documentation), or testing scuttlebutt.
One more point on Friendica: I just tried export/import to a new node. It is labeled as an experimental feature, and you need to know the import URL to find where it can be used.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to bring over your contacts from one node to another but not much else. Any posts you made with your old account do not appear to migrate over.
One of Hubzilla's selling points is to address these types of issues.
In my opinion Hubzilla is superior in every way to Friendica and Diaspora. I installed pods for all of them on one of my servers to test the systems and even Hubzilla is lacking in design (as are the others) it has far more features I want, like likes, editing posts, moderation, blocking. It connects with other federated networks. You can even add wikis to channels.
ReplyDeleteSince Hubzilla is themeable here is a high probability that better designs will surface if and when more people use it. You can even change some of the look of the frontend in the backend by just filling in a few values in a parameter form in the settings dialog.
Sounds like I need to give Hubzilla a chance then!
ReplyDeleteYou're doing a real public service MW. Keep us posted!
ReplyDelete