this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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I agree with statement about statistics. But I disagree that if I'm fixing an old linux computer, and someone posts a meme, it's not what I wanted. What I personally want on the Fediverse, is human connection and interaction. So I think that's a wholly valid post. I'd like the answer, but I'm here to build bonds. I've met so many people I've talked with on the Fediverse, because I don't just want the answer. I want REAL conversation.
I agree if you're looking at health of a SERVER, MAU counts. But let's just take Lemmy. If we just look at lemmy.ml MAU doesn't begin to tell the whole picture of "LEMMY" and not "lemmy".
I was just talking with someone that compared it to pamphlet bombings. You have NO CLUE how many see it. It's more about how many SHOW UP. And I'd argue that "showing up" would look completely different even on Lemmy vs Mastodon vs Pixelfed vs anything else. So it seems like an INSANELY complex idea.
I want folks to feel GOOD about the future of the Fediverse. And these posts about "MAU" distract from the real point. I can't do anything about someone posting, I greatly appreciate the work, but I'd like to have a discussion about how we turn this value that has ZERO real world use on the Fediverse, and help pivot to how we can actually help grow our own communities in our own ways. :D
So I guess maybe the real problem is I just don't want to admit that MAU fluctuating might truly indicate the "health". But I love it no matter what. :)
Sorry, I'm an idealist and a romantic for the Fediverse. :D
Totally agree. First of all with the Linux vs Meme... Yeah, we're all living in more than one dimension. Guess I more or less wanted to say, most helpful advice I got on what non-spec combinations of RAM and computers work etc... I got from Reddit. I think it's a bit an amount of users thing.
I'm also for human connection. I'm also here to talk to people. Especially in the comments. Also why I sometimes disagree with people on what the Threadiverse needs more of.
With the pamphlet bombings... Well, the internet changed a lot in my lifetime. We had times we thought it was a bit unethical to do statistics on what software you install, hence what packages in Debian are installed how many times. As a more privacy-oriented person you were told to just put it out there and not worry about collecting that kind of data... Or just write your Blog mainly for yourself and maybe some people will like it as well. I think as of today, that's very niche way of thinking. Thanks to the advertising industry, we need exact page impressions. And everyone expects social media to come with all these engagement metrics, how many people saw the post... Not only professional "influencers". I've heard random people will also have a look at the numbers. And your local youth organization also wants to know about the propagation of their invitation to the summer party. What the algorithm does to their posts, etc... Just counting how many people showed up isn't how communication works any more. At least in my experience.
I've upheld the opinion, the change in the MAU is probably a rough indicator on our attractiveness. If a place is nice, people will come and want to join the party. But it's a bit of a diffuse metric and doesn't tell anything in specific. Plus it's not the only factor.
Incredibly profound. Thank you for sharing. :-)