I thought I would try out firefish/calckey but found a few issues.

I should say I am in my 50s and have been around since I used 1970s BBS so have a reasonable understanding of the Fediverse etc.

But, joinfirefish.org seems to have gone for style over substance. It also doesn’t render properly on Safari (iOS)

Choosing a server to join seems unnecessarily difficult. At the top of the list is firefish.social marked as verified but when you click or tap to find out more you are presented with a coming soon page (not seen one of those since the 90s when everything was Under Construction).

The choice of servers seems limited with a need for more general servers.

It looks like I’m going to need to host my own. But a quick glance seems their’s poor documentation.

What do people think? Can anyone recommend a good general server in English?

  • Retronautickz@beehaw.org
    6·
    11 months ago

    I think Calckey/firefish, because of it history and characteristics, tends to have more themed instances. Many of the so called “general” instances, are multi-topic or multi-fandom themed instances rather than actual general purpose ones.

    I think someone not used to these things would see ‘Coming Soon’ and just leave it as not launched yet.

    It’s probably not launched yet. The main instance hasn’t open (or rather moved from calckey) and other intances are moving from either old Calckey or foundkey.

    Firefish has already set up a new site and infrastructure under their new name. The flagship instance of Calckey.social is in the process of moving over to Firefish.social. The migration effort is intended to retain users, posts, credentials, and data. The move is expected to officially happen over the course of the next few days.

    I would say to wait at least a week to check the official instance.

    • FelipeFelop@beehaw.orgOP
      1·
      11 months ago

      I agree, the instances marked General are not really. I think you might also be correct about waiting a week. The lead developer seems to be fighting some other battles on Mastodon at the moment.