Is there any difference between Lemmy instances? If so, what are they? How do people choose an instance? How does one decide one instance over another?
On a related topic, do you have any opinions about specific instances? Not trying to start a beef battle or anything. Just curious in learning more.
I personally found a “service” about Lemmy instances about a year ago, with half a dozen instances “highlighted”, advising picking a popular but not too popular one, so I chose the one I use now (though I use Jerboa, extremely rarely the website). Now, I’m curious about learning more and seeing what other options could offer, if anything (not that I ever had any problem with Lemmy Today). Having an alternative could also be useful if there is ever an outage in one instance.
“What is Beehaw”: https://docs.beehaw.org/docs/core-principles/what-is-beehaw/
TL;DR: Beehaw.org is intentionally curated and moderated to try and maintain a “nice” environment free of aggression and trolling.
The influx of Reddit refugees last year was a bit of a shock to their system. The Beehaw admins have floated the idea of leaving Lemmy entirely.