Hi all, sorry for a lack of updates but there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes and events moved rather rapidly.

I recently posted that we were going to have to move to another instance because our only Admin was missing and problems looked to be piling up.

Fortunately, Tom dropped me a line the other day and he has updated the instance and made GreatAlbatross and myself Admins.

So the immediate crisis has been averted and we’ve fallen back to the original plan which was get more Admins in place and work to ensure there’s no single point of failure, so any one of us could get hit by a bus (bagsy not me) and the instance will carry on.

Soooo bear with us while we thrash out the details of what else needs doing to ensure the continuity of the instance and while I figure out what all the new buttons do (hopefully not by mashing them all at once just to see what happens).

In the meantime there are likely problems that need fixing. I know, for example, that some are still having email verification problems and have been waiting a while, so I’ll figure out how to resolve this and work through the pinned post here. If you have this problem then post there and we’ll get it sorted.

If there are any other issues you want to flag up for attention then you can do so here or contact one of the new admins.

And, finally, thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm for this instance in the other thread and elsewhere, if the folks on here hadn’t formed a great community that they felt was worth the time and effort to save we wouldn’t be here now with the future looking more secure. Tom built the house but you all made it a home. So carry on…

edit 1: I’ll keep tagging things on as I think of them. Firstly, we’ll be keeping the Matrix space - it’ll be our fallback if the server goes down and provides people with an encrypted (and private if needed) channel of communication. If you add your Matrix ID to your profile it adds a secure DMs button to your.profile, so Matrix and Lemmy are integrated to a degree.

  • Phil K@lemmy.world
    33·
    9 months ago

    This is the best news.

    I’m relieved Tom is okay.

    Thank you, great albatross and everyone else who has put so much effort into Feddit UK

  • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
    25·
    9 months ago

    This is going to be an interesting few days while we get to grips with everything, especially behind the scenes.
    (Seeing site wide mod-queue is like staring into the void, I must say)

    As we know there were a lot of issues stacking up, I’m going to do my best to do a power day tomorrow. Any janitorial/administrative work that’s been sitting, just blow up my inbox. Or Emperor’s.

    Hopefully next week we’ll start to get procedures for “I’m locked out” or “This isn’t against the rules, but I think it should be” type things.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      10·
      9 months ago

      (Seeing site wide mod-queue is like staring into the void, I must say)

      I may have swore, although it’s worth noting that not all of it is on this instance (although I suppose it kinda is because of federation), so may take some sifting.

      Hopefully next week we’ll start to get procedures for “I’m locked out” or “This isn’t against the rules, but I think it should be” type things.

      Yes, we are open to ideas or issues but we may also be spending some time reading the manual. If there’s anything urgent then don’t be shy about it, we knew it was going to be an overwhelming few weeks we’ll sorted things out.

  • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukEnglish
    17·
    9 months ago

    I’m happy to hear that Tom is okay and I welcome our new admin overlords. 😁

    I was worried that the new instance and transfer would possibly confuse people and we would lose them in the move but now that has been averted.

    As the tacky merchandise would say: I’m on Feddit UK. We kept calm And carried on!

    😆

  • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    9 months ago

    Good news!!

    Although I’m a little bit disappointed for not finding out what the new domain was.

  • Feral@feddit.ukEnglish
    8·
    9 months ago

    Could you make this instance have its own baked in old reddit layout with the old.feddit domain like lemmy world and others have, instead of relying on 3rd party domains like opnxng etc?

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      9·
      9 months ago

      Yes, we’ve discussed design ideas including this and it should be relatively straightforward to implement. Hopefully, there’ll be a few to choose from and we are open to suggestions about others. Keep an eye out for an announcement about it once we get everything ironed out.

  • Chris@feddit.ukEnglish
    7·
    9 months ago

    Note to self: always subscribe to the “instance news” community so chaos like this doesn’t pass by unnoticed.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      8·
      9 months ago

      Ah yes, a real Sliding Doors moment but, hopefully, we should be able to use a lot of the ideas and enthusiasm to improve this place. Which reminds me, we need a duck community now.

      • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
        6·
        9 months ago

        The ideas won’t work. Feddit UK is an awful name and we won’t really be able to expand this place easily with such a name, and if we do, reddit will get annoyed with us because we are basically stealing their name. I am really disappointed that you’d kill all of our plans for Quackhouse overnight without much consultation :/

          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            9 months ago

            And “Federated Reddit UK” AKA “Feddit UK” isn’t? Quackhouse was also chosen by community members in the matrix chat, it wasn’t even my idea

            • noodle@feddit.uk
              3·
              9 months ago

              No, it’s fine.

              The “community” is here, not a matrix chat.

              Nothing prevents you setting up your own instance. In fact, I’d say you probably should. If you’ve invested so much into this name already, then you may as well.

            • Patch@feddit.uk
              2·
              9 months ago

              With the greatest respect: what the fuck is a “matrix chat”, and what does it have to do with this Lemmy instance?

              I’m neither particularly attached to nor offended by the current instance name, but if we’re going to choose a new one it should probably be done by users of the actual Lemmy instance itself…

              • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
                1·
                9 months ago

                People will buy up the domain that we decide upon if we do it publicly. It was decided upon by lemmy users of this instance. We just did it in a chatroom to stop people from domain sniping. The link was posted on here by Emperor. We had around 20 members of the community on there

        • Rogue@feddit.uk
          6·
          9 months ago

          You seem to be a absorbing a lot of down votes but you are completely correct - feddit.uk is an uninspiring identity. What does it mean? Federated Reddit UK?

          1. If so that’s blatantly imposing on Reddit’s IP/ trademark.

          2. The average user really doesn’t care about federation so it seems pointless to include it as part of a brand.

          3. feddit.uk seems to imply some relationship with feddit.de and similar domains. Not only is that open to confusion, but it could be a bit of a minefield if (when) one of them falls into controversy.

          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            9 months ago

            Yep. I made a full post on here proposing the name change. Please check it out if you have the time. But you’ve basically nailed it, plus added the relationship for feddit.de

        • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
          5·
          9 months ago

          Compared to Reddit we’re a tiny blip, there’s no way they’ll ever care about our name and even if they do I doubt it constitutes trademark infringement

          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            9 months ago

            “we are” is present tense. We cannot guarantee nor should we plan around being tiny and insignificant

          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            You’re talking about what we currently are. This post is about the future.

        • Phil K@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          It was always the case that the plans were a last resort and there was no way to migrate everything across.

          Anyone can set up an instance so Quackhouse can still go ahead, that’s the benefit of federation.

          • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
            3·
            9 months ago

            Emperor and I have had chats about both directions in the background following the unexpected feddit.uk reveal.
            There are pros and cons to both.
            For now, we’re planning to get feddit.uk running happily, then have a think/public discussion on what happens next.
            People seem very enthusiastic about the new domain, but it would entail effectively shuttering an already running community, so it has to be weighed up.

            • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
              4·
              9 months ago

              I believe we should take a simple course of action and work in phases.

              1: Get Quackhouse running 2: Create alternative communities there 3: Turn off sign ups on Feddit.UK 4: Shut down the communities on Feddit.UK

              Then leave Feddit.uk as is so people can still use their accounts. Feddit.uk is held back by the domain. There’s two outcomes of it which are inevitable, barring tom disappearing again and money running out:

              1. Lemmy hype kind of dies off, so people are already settled on their Lemmy instances and don’t join, as feddit.uk is set up right now to only really appeal to lemmy people. Feddit.UK dies out slowly.

              2. People keep joining Feddit.UK, it gets large enough that Reddit’s lawyers notice it and shut it down because we absolutely are infringing on their brand and have no defence for this.

              The new domain, Quackhouse.uk, had two main appeals:

              That you could tell people who don’t understand the fediverse about it without having to explain, so you can “advertise” it as it’s own thing, making the fediverse more mainstream-friendly

              It’s not named after an existing social media site and is copyright friendly.

              I strongly believe that a migration to a new domain in some way is ABSOLUTELY necessary. People talk about forcing it, but if we don’t force gently, this community will fragment more. The alternative I suggested allowed a renamed site to survive and thrive excellently while people could keep their accounts until the reddit lawyers get angry. Our appeal is “A UK based instance”, we are better standing as one UK based instance than two with identical communities. The latter option of having two identical communities is heavily impractical and the sapling for Quackhouse would likely be choked out by the bramble bush that is Feddit.UK

              • ToasterOverlord@feddit.uk
                7·
                9 months ago

                I disagree. The country-specific Lemmy instances tend to share the Feddit branding which I think is a big plus. I think there’s a strong argument the name doesn’t infringe Reddit’s brand (it’s not like Apple can just make all i-Whatever products go away).

                And feddit.de is the 5th biggest instance, and would surely run into problems first. They seem to be doing fine.

                • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
                  2·
                  9 months ago

                  What’s the strong argument? The difference is “i-whatever” is because i means internet and it’s a single letter. What sets the feddit brand and reddit brand apart is the fact it begins with “f” and not “r”. Feddit.DE hasn’t been taken down YET. But it’s inevitable if it keeps growing.

            • Phil K@lemmy.world
              1·
              9 months ago

              I don’t want to know Tom’s private situation. But I think a few of us have concerns about the continuity of Feddit UK.

              Questions like:

              Who is running the servers (paying for hosting etc)? Will the instance be kept up to date? (Is it only Tom that can do this)

              • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukMEnglish
                2·
                9 months ago

                Things are still being confirmed, so may change. Once that is done, we’re aiming to put details of everything to the community.

                The aim is to devolve the responsibilities a little. Current plan is to have a few more admins, and them be a point of escalation if there is a mod issue.

                Plus, some admins who also have back-end access, so can handle upgrades/breakdowns.

                Finally, myself and Emperor taking responsibility for domain/hosting (and handling any really boring back end decisions, while being available as a final escalation if there are problems)

                • Phil K@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  9 months ago

                  So you’re going to have to migrate Feddit UK to a new server? That hasn’t gone well when other instances have tried it.

          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            2·
            9 months ago

            Quackhouse won’t have the existing community here and suddenly you’ll have two casualuk communities, two unitedkingdom communities, etc. Feddit.uk is tiny as it is. We would need to pick one. Hence my proposal, which I will write in response to albatross’s reply