When a user lives within an instance, the user is only capable of creating a community in that instance.
My original thought process was the following:
I want to set up an instance in which the focus is nature and science, and so people that share the same interest can join in. However, I do not want to set limits on the types of communities that can be created, because I also want users to be able to build communities about their other interests without needing to be searching for another more appropriate instance.
However, after reading comments from a few users, I have considered a different perspective too. Users that join into this instance may appreciate being able to browse specifically content about science and nature when sorting through “Local”, and diluting this content with off-topic communities can worsen that experience. By setting a tighter boundary on the types of communities that are created, we may be able to provide a better “Local” experience for the average user.
So - I would like to hear from you.
Would it be worth restricting the topics of allowable communities, even if that means that some users will need to hop in between instances to create their communities?
If yes, than how should the boundaries be drawn?
Some cases are easy to define. A sports-betting community is certainly off-topic, and a Nature Sketching community certainly on-topic.
But what about a community about “Sensors”? One can argue sensors fall into ‘engineering’ and not necessarily ‘science’, but I still think that there is significant enough overlap. So, if anyone has some good tips on how to define the boundaries, please let me know.
Of course, even the boundaries can be ‘soft’, and common sense can be used, but I think users would appreciate knowing what to expect.
I think extending to STEM is a good take on it. That would keep it at least academically focused and make it easy to say “communities about horror fiction authors aren’t what we’re going for”, etc. My only concern would be an explosion of extremely niche communities that never really take off, potentially diluting broader communities. However, that’s more an issue with the Fediverse in general and could be unavoidable growing pains.
I love being able to browse local and only get topics in the sciences field. It gives Mander a unique feel and I think that tone is worth preserving. I have subbed to communities on other instances that are definitely not science-based and can easily catch up on them by filtering subscribed.
If a horror fiction author wanted help writing about a vine that could grow over someone as they slept, we would love to be the place for that discussion.
Oh, definitely! I actually saw a post like that on lemmy.world earlier today. I was referring to the community dedicated to Stephen King that used to be here.