The Beehaw project is entering some significant challenges - Beehaw
beehaw.org
There is a lot of discussion happening in the background of our project here. We could not anticipate all of the challenges that we were going to face a few years ago. One of the reasons for this was because we had no idea what our choice of a platform would bring. Specifically, we chose Lemmy as the software that we would use to launch our endeavor to attempt a safe space for marginalized persons online. In the first year or so, this choice was completely successful for a very small number of users. And then we all experienced an enormous influx of users when Reddit announced/implemented their shutting down of third party apps. Since then there has been a huge number of people that have joined the Beehaw project. This tsunami of users initiated technical problems, and otherwise, that we could not foresee. Thankfully and fortunately, we have had a couple of incredibly knowledgeable persons that have swooped in to ’save the day’ and keep this site running. Unfortunately, these persons will NOT be able to continue to support the Beehaw project much further. They have life commitments and other factors, including careers and family life, that will prevent them from contributing to our project in an ongoing fashion. All that being said, Lemmy (the software that Beehaw runs on) development is incredibly slow and is riddled with problems that makes administration/moderation very painful. Therefore, we are left with some options that may feel uncomfortable to us. For example, we may want to consider leaving the Fediverse for another software platform that does NOT include ActivityPub. To explain, Fediverse/ActivityPub are very positive concepts on the foundational level. However, the Beehaw project is struggling to include this because most of our moderation/content/ethos is being jeopardized from OTHER federated instances (i.e. it, mostly, is NOT coming from within our own Beehaw registered user base). The aforementioned persons, that have ’swooped in to save the day’, have been discussing/working with us to come up with the best solutions that would enable the Beehaw project to continue while NOT needing incredibly experienced/technically adept persons around. Right now, we are testing alternative software platforms and evaluating them based on everything that we want Beehaw to become in the future. Thank you all for your continued support of the Beehaw project and entrusting us to make this happen.

I’m sure people here can empathize with having all the tech wizards get burnt out and leave, and all the various teething problems but this is a bit much… lemmy has its issues but plenty of sites larger and smaller than beehaw are getting on just fine. Perhaps the lib sysadmins are just going back to brunch?

  • the_itsb [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    This is really sad for me. Beehaw was what helped me really dive into the Fediverse, and then I found midwest.social through them, and then you guys federated, and now I’m here… but they’re such a kind and sweet place on the Internet.

    I get that they’re mostly lib af, but still, they’re very kind, well-meaning folk, and I wouldn’t have found you all without them.

    I’ve been meaning to dive back in over there to say hi and be supportive but have had so much irl stuff going on, and man oh man, it just really hurts my heart that they’re going through such terrible growing pains. I meant to contribute to the living expenses of one of the admins because I appreciate their work so much, and then I adhd-taxed myself and got some overdraft fees and was distracted with hexbear in the meantime and totally forgot, and damn do I feel like an asshole.

    Idk what the point of this is, except to say that they’re really wonderfully kind people over there, and I’m so sorry that things are getting so difficult for them.

    I need to put some money where my heart is and contribute more to them and to hexbear.

    • cynetri (he/any)@midwest.socialEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      midwest.social mentioned 🔥🔥🔥 but yeah thats the vibe i got from them too. one of the few libby instances that dont still constantly bring up hexbear despite defederating, pretty unfortunate to lose em

      • the_itsb [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Do you know why? This piece is the shortest of many essays they’ve got about what they’re trying to achieve and why. The basic gist is that they want to make a kind, supportive online community as a refuge for marginalized people. It’s an anti-dunking community, so definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m curious what about them might cause a negative view.

        Edit: I really appreciate all the information and perspective ❤️ thanks, everyone

  • pooh [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Therefore, we are left with some options that may feel uncomfortable to us. For example, we may want to consider leaving the Fediverse for another software platform that does NOT include ActivityPub. To explain, Fediverse/ActivityPub are very positive concepts on the foundational level. However, the Beehaw project is struggling to include this because most of our moderation/content/ethos is being jeopardized from OTHER federated instances (i.e. it, mostly, is NOT coming from within our own Beehaw registered user base).

    Sounds like they don’t like federation and just want to isolate their own instance. Why couldn’t they just defederate instead of going through the process of migrating to another platform? Is it really that difficult to do?

    EDIT: Thinking about this a little more, it seems like the admins (or admin?) have a very specific idea of the kind of community they want, and are getting frustrated when everything isn’t perfect to their vision, whether that’s lemmy code or other instances they are federated with. Then they complain and contribute nothing towards making the fediverse better. I guess what I’m saying is that they really do seem to want a walled garden that’s perfect to some idealized community that only exists in their heads, and I don’t think communities really work like that.