Hi all,
I’ve been observing and participating in this community for about a week now. I’m liking it so far, but one thing I’m really missing is a way to link to other Lemmy content in a way that’s instance-aware.
For example, if I were to want to link to !risa@startrek.website, I’d link to https://startrek.website/c/risa. But then I’d end up at a Lemmy instance where I don’t have an account; I’d really prefer to be redirected to https://derp.foo/c/risa@startrek.website.
So here’s my proposal: create a central Lemmy redirection service where people can set their instance (in a cookie). The idea would be that people can link to, say, https://example.com/c/risa@startrek.website, and be ensured us lemmings end up on an instance where we can actually post.
Linking to posts and comments should ideally be part of this as well but whould involve a little more work.
Usability-wise - absolutely agreed. I do wonder if it’s possible to implement it on a technical level in a way that does not cripple smaller instances.
There’s an issue about it https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui/issues/1227
If you link
!community@instance.tld
the URL should bec/community@instance.tld
, instead ate the moment the URL ishttps://instance.tld/c/community
on version v0.18.0 if you write !risa@startrek.website it will be hyperlinked to the community on the instance of the user that’s viewing it.
Posts and comments have yet to be implemented in this way, but instance-agnostic links already work for communities. Simply typing !memes@lemmy.ml or !bicycles@lemmy.ca or whatever will give you a link which redirects users to that page on their instance. Your instance might have to be running the latest Lemmy version, though.
Beside Lemmy 0.18.0 linking primarily to your own instance’s mirror of the community from other instance, there is also a browser addon trying to solve this issue if you ever end up on a wrong instance. (If you do not find the button to redirect to your instance, try refreshing the page.)
create a central Lemmy redirection service
This is contrary to what the Fediverse is about.
!risa@startrek.website
is already unique and an identifier to universally refer to that community. It automatically links tohttps://your-instance-URL/c/risa@startrek.website
which makes absolute sense, because you have an account on your instance.If you want to visit
!risa@startrek.website
just open the link with your instance. Either by using the URL or by cop&pasting the URL into the search field, or by something like lemmy Link in your browser.