I think it goes back to the Reddit days. Subreddits would be referred to as r/SubredditName, which referred to the URL path (reddit.com/r/SubredditName) and was how they would be displayed on the page. I think the Reddit mobile app at least would actually turn that into a link. The equivalent to a subreddit on Lemmy is a community and their URL often shows up as lemmy.instance/c/CommunityName. It’s not actually as useful in the Fediverse to refer to them in that way, though, because it generally only works as a link if you’re signed in to that instance. Using !CommunityName@lemmy.instance is better because it should work regardless of what instance you’re on, or even if you’re using something different from Lemmy.
I picked up on the reddit reference, but I had no idea how any of the fediverse stuff worked in relation to that. That’s really cool that you can link that way, honestly. So presumably I’m just missing out on exactly what instance and community people are talking about when they say stuff like that?
Doesnt that link directly to only one instance’s version of that community though? Rather than combining every instance community of the same name into the same feed?
MissesAutumnRains@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
This is the second /c/ reference I’ve seen tonight. What’s that?
jqubed@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think it goes back to the Reddit days. Subreddits would be referred to as r/SubredditName, which referred to the URL path (reddit.com/r/SubredditName) and was how they would be displayed on the page. I think the Reddit mobile app at least would actually turn that into a link. The equivalent to a subreddit on Lemmy is a community and their URL often shows up as lemmy.instance/c/CommunityName. It’s not actually as useful in the Fediverse to refer to them in that way, though, because it generally only works as a link if you’re signed in to that instance. Using !CommunityName@lemmy.instance is better because it should work regardless of what instance you’re on, or even if you’re using something different from Lemmy.
MissesAutumnRains@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
I picked up on the reddit reference, but I had no idea how any of the fediverse stuff worked in relation to that. That’s really cool that you can link that way, honestly. So presumably I’m just missing out on exactly what instance and community people are talking about when they say stuff like that?
lurch@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
no, sometimes it’s a joke and the community/subreddit doesn’t exist.
Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 day ago
your way is better if the community exists
I do it this way when it doesn’t exist, or I don’t actually want to link to it
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Doesnt that link directly to only one instance’s version of that community though? Rather than combining every instance community of the same name into the same feed?