Customarily, backwards compatibility starts with version 1.x, so until Lemmy doesn't release a 1.x stable version, instead staying on a 0.x "let's break everything", backwards compatibility is more of a lucky coincidence.
At that point... they could just make it official and say "$1 net worth = 1 vote".
It's not like reality is that far from that already, when "1 person = 1 vote" can only cast their vote on a representative financed by someome with large enough net worth, then discard a bunch of "1 person" votes, and end up with "1 representative = 1 vote" who can further be lobbied based on someone's or some company's net worth.
Reddit sells NFTs (avatars) that could easily make them more (from a percentage of each transaction) than what they're asking for API access, if they just required 3rd party apps to include them, which wouldn't have generated barely any backlash. But it's their loss, and if we get a federated alternative in the process... then so be it.
Could it be a subdomain, though? What if a spammer started a "Lemmy instance as a service" on "legit.ml", and started creating instances on "lemmy.u
<number>
.legit.ml"? What if some of the instances were actually legitimate, while thousands of others weren't? What if... oh well, the rabbit hole goes deep on this one.
This is why I'm not deleting my Reddit account, it's all the "power" we users have over what's going on, they'll have to ban me to stop editing my stuff... and then we'll do the GDPR dance.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. Think of it like this:
Instances: define some ToS and Code of Conduct
Communities: define a theme and a sub-Code of Conduct
By having multiple instances, you aren't bound by a single ToS or Code of Conduct, you can pick whatever instance you want that matches the content you want to post to a community.
For example, the same "Technology" community could be on:
an instance directed to kids
an instance that allows visual examples of medical procedures
an instance that discusses weapons technology
Having the community limited to a single instance, would never allow the different discussions each combination of instance:topic would allow, even if the topic is technically the same in all cases.
Forcing communities from multiple instances to merge, would also break the ToS of some of them.
So the logical solution is for the user to decide which instance:communities they want to follow and participate in, respecting the particular ToS and Code of Conduct of each.
On Reddit, the r/Technology community needs to follow a single set of ToS and Code of a Conduct. If you try to discuss something that meets the topic but is not allowed, then you will get banned, possibly from all of Reddit.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. Think of it like this:
Instances: define some ToS and Code of Conduct
Communities: define a theme and a sub-Code of Conduct
By having multiple instances, you aren't bound by a single ToS or Code of Conduct, you can pick whatever instance you want that matches the content you want to post to a community.
For example, the same "Technology" community could be on:
an instance directed to kids
an instance that allows visual examples of medical procedures
an instance that discusses weapons technology
Having the community limited to a single instance, would never allow the different discussions each combination of instance:topic would allow, even if the topic is technically the same in all cases.
Forcing communities from multiple instances to merge, would also break the ToS of some of them.
So the logical solution is for the user to decide which instance:communities they want to follow and participate in, respecting the particular ToS and Code of Conduct of each.
On Reddit, the r/Technology community needs to follow a single set of ToS and Code of a Conduct. If you try to discuss something that meets the topic but is not allowed, then you will get banned, possibly from all of Reddit.
I just came from a Reddit r/tech thread where all the upvoted comments were people making fun of the title, without realizing the title was descriptive of the linked article.
Make a website for idiots, and only idiots will stay on it.
If you're serious about making games, it won't be your last one, so you'll have many more chances to try other languages, engines, environments or whatever.
Agreed that blocking is a security precaution... but this is not just an anti-spam feature, defederation in user communities can come from any motives, including political, religious, or whatever other views the instance owners find undesirable.
I think each user should be able to pick what kind of blocking experience they wish for themselves. There should be as a bare minimum a way to set either an instance, or a client app, that can interact with instances that are defederated among themselves (without acting as a bridge, obviously).
Another thing I think is missing, is the ability to follow communities from instances that aren't federated together. I wonder if you'd have to start your own instance and read-only federate with them, but it would be nice to have a single interface to do it.
Why wouldn't UAE or Saudi Arabia citizens not trust their government? Aren't lots of them family anyways, and spending lavishly on those who aren't?
Now women, or slave immigrants, I bet they didn't ask those.