I previously posted this topic on the main Star Wars community, but it was removed for being too meta. Which is fair enough but it does leave is in a Catch 22 situation as you can’t exactly get a SW instance started if you can’t discuss starting one. Fortunately, @blaze@lemm.ee was kind enough to suggest this instance would be a good venue for such discussions, so here we are.

So here’s the original post with additional thoughts arising from the discussion or subsequent pondering:

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In a Fediverse, far far away…

I have been involved in a few discussions about how to help the Fediverse grow and diversify and one thing I feel is key is to have more specific instances rather than large general purposes ones. It helps people when they are signing up and can help give communities a home. I know because I signed up with feddit.uk, helped grow the place and am now part of the Admin team.

Or, to cut a long story short, should there be a Star Wars Lemmy instance? Today seems the perfect time to open the discussion.

After all, there are other focused instances like:

  • startrek.website
  • sffa.community
  • literature.cafe
  • ttrpg.network
  • adultswim.fan
  • dormi.zone
  • futurology.today
  • lemmy.radio
  • hobbit.world

Could move across existing communities:

[edit: see more comprehensive list below]

And there are a lot of potential others:

  • A community per film and show
  • SW Books - with potential to spin-off popular and long-running series
  • SW Comics
  • SW Board Games
  • SW Video Games
  • SW Cosplay
  • SW Helmets
  • SW Lightsabers
  • SW Galaxy of Heroes
  • The Empire Did Nothing Wrong

Possible names? A lot of obvious ones will have been scooped up or you risk copyright infringement, but how about:

  • Fediverse’s Edge

[edit: I found a discussion on the old place, about starting a Star Wars Mastodon instance and you could share resources and expertise by Hosting them on the same server. Which led me to suggest Fediverse’s Edge as the umbrella domain with the Mastodon instance at Tootooine and thr Lemmy one at something like Lemmandalore). If you were doing this then you could also include an instance of BookWyrm, Galactic Library?, that would bring the Star Wars novels and comics front and centre. It could be a good example for others thinking of setting up instances for transmedia franchises like this - a Marvel part of the Fediverse, for example. It would really help people sign up to a chunk of the Fediverse as it is either all in one place or you could direct people elsewhere, to, say, a Pixelfed instance dedicated to toy photography.

Other name suggestions:

  • tattooine.social
  • dagobah.space
  • hoth.books
  • coruscant.forum
  • bespin.io
  • thesenate.domain
  • thesenate.im
  • unknownregion ]

May the FOSS be with you.

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Those who contributed to that previous thread are: @Blaze@reddthat.com @OpenStars@discuss.online @inlandempire@jlai.lu @Statick@programming.dev @wjrii@lemmy.world @slazer2au@lemmy.world

And some who have been engaged in Star Wars instance discussion since (why I am bumping this post up my to-do list: @sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al @ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world ]

I also had a second post removed that listed all the Star Wars communities and it was relevant for this discussion to show the breadth of existing Star Wars discussion on here:

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As a lot haven’t federated over to my instance I went digging, so you may as well have the list:

Star Wars:

Misc:

TV and film:

Games:

[edit: I’ve since started !starwarshunters@lemmy.zip ]

NSFW:

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Those who contributed to this thread: @Blaze@reddthat.com

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPEnglish
    3·
    5 months ago

    The main directive of growing this site, should be “easy”. I’m telling you guys, that linux mindset won’t work here.

    Yes, even though Lemmy users are more tech savvy I bet most who have signed up for a few Fediverse services have suffered Instance Indecision. Scrolling through lists of instances looking for the Goldilocks instance that sounds just right, then finding it full of 14 year old anime fans.

    I’ve taught mature students (often retired and sometimes elderly) and you can assume nothing and go back to basics (they often preferred keyboard shortcuts to the mouse and menus). So there are likely aspects we are overlooking but one of the most important early issues to address is the problems with on-boarding.

    I think specific instances really help with this but I may be biased as spotting a UK Lemmy instance made my decision easy, as I am sure it is for other local instances, especially non English-speaking ones.