Is there a way to browse available communities of an instance? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 weeks ago by 1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@lemmy.zip to c/voyagerapp@lemmy.world

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Let’s say I’m logged in lemmy.zip. I discovered there is a programming themed instance at programming.dev and would like to check out what communities are available there. I can’t do it via search; it matches the search term with community name or description but not the instance name. I can go to programming.dev on a web browser and look at its list of local communities; but then I’ll have to search for each community I’m interested in in the app to subscribe with my lemmy.zip account.

Is this doable in the app?

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[-] gigachad@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think this is technically very challenging, as your instance is only federated to those communities that is has seen once (as in one user of your instance subscribed to it). Exploring all the communities of another instance can therefore not be done from the perspective of your home instance, instead your would have to visit it somehow as a guest. And that would be a huge challenge for an app developer. I hope what I am saying is understandable lol

[-] 1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

I get what you mean, it does seem to be quite technically challenging, and perhaps not a frequent enough use case for devs to spend time solving for the moment, even though it would be something “nice to have”. Guess we’ll have to keep doing it the roundabout way.

Thanks for all who replied.