I'm also commenting to you on Fedia! Lol I ended up here because I wasn't able to understand how this worked on kbin. In due time it won't matter, and I can decide whether or not kbin or Fedia is the instance for me. I'll stay here now though as it'll let me get my feet wet with how this stuff all works.
CMLVI
A lot of us are still learning, but I think I'm figuring it out here. I was/am on kbin too, but they aren't federated with anyone so it's just a reddit clone currently, and it was hard to understand without context.
If you go to magazines and search, you can see some with normal names and some with @ names. The normal named ones are here in Fedia, the @ names are a different instance (Lemmy, Beehaw, kbin when it federated). You can subscribe to communities there and see their content, interact with the users, etc like you would normally. You won't even be able to really tell the difference.
The part where it differs from reddit is that you will have multiple of the same sub, as each instance grows. Ideally, you would start with an instance you agree with 100%, but that's not realistic. So as you navogaye the Fediverse (hate that term), you'll see where you fit in best with instance rules and ideology. Assuming everything is still fairly similar, you would be able to federate with the same instances and still see the same content, but from the instance you choose.
Yeah, I'm 1000% community focused. In "niche" hobbies, you might have a few local people who participate. On Reddit/online communities, you have thousands. Their experiences are varied and provide insight not local to you. It's just a way better way to have that community.
It also did a fairly decent job of providing news and updates. It had it's shortcomings, but it was decent at aggregating and the community was fairly knowledgeable and able to give corroborating or opposing info as needed, which then would be corroborated or opposed. You were able to "go down the rabbit hole" in a linear, easy to follow fashion.
I'm figuring it out I think. I think my questions now pertain to how the community will be somewhat unified, but I guess that goes against the "spirit" of federated content. The point seems to be to build smaller communities that fit what you want, but at the expense of bulk content. Less users posting more stuff each in more locations.