So far for me the process is very convoluted:

  1. I go to https://browse.feddit.de/ and find the community.
  2. Then I need to copy it’s name.
  3. Then I need to go to my particular instance (lemm.ee)
  4. Then I type manually in my browser address bar lemm.ee/c/<communityname>
  5. Then I go back to https://browse.feddit.de/ and copy the address of the original instance of the community.
  6. Then I go back and add the original instance address to already typed thing in step 4 like this lemm.ee/c/<communityname>@<originalinstanceofcommunity>
  7. Then I can finally subscribe!

Oh my God! Please, tell me there’s a better way of doing this!

EDIT: There is a better way! Solution is to … use the search function in your instances home page and select community (if it exists already) and search. This way I don’t need to go to browse.feddit.de anymore. And links will take me straight the the communities “reflection” in my own instance, where I can subscribe.

  • Ingwie Phoenix@drachennetz.comEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    When I add !privacy@lemmy.ml into my search field, it doesn’t show anything - in fact, it ends up telling me that there are no results. I have to then go into the Communities tab again, and hope it shows up there.

    I can see it doing work as I watch the logs. But this is really a little weird/frustrating. I hope this sees improvement eventually! =)

  • PriorProject@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Check out https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/61827

    • If anyone else on your instance has already subbed, you can “just” visit /communities/ on the instance where your account is and click subscribe.
    • If you’re the first to discover this sub, it’s an annoying process. The steps I’m used to (and that are described in the post above) are different than what you described. I’m not sure how much easier they are, but they’re what I recommend and have found easiest among approaches I’ve tested.
  • thebestlettuceEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    You can copy the link to the other community in full (something like instance.url/c/community_name) and go back to your community and go into the search menu. Paste the link in and you’ll see the community in the search results. Click that link and you can subscribe

    • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Correct me if I’m wrong, but that search only exposes the communities that at least one of the servers members is currently subscribed to. It is not a list of all possible communities. This works okay if your server has a lot of members because it will likely surface the main popular communities, but it’s misleading that it’s all communities and someone had to do it the hard way like OP said the first time around.

        • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          I suppose you could, but it’s done this way on purpose to reduce load on the server. As soon as a user from that instance starts flowing the community from another instance, that server has to keep track of all updates in that community to be able to deliver it to you.

          Essentially, if none of the instances users are following that community, why bother with keeping track of it. If you wrote a bot to subscribe to everything your server load would skyrocket and so would the costs.

          I think it’s much more likely that a better community browser will be incorporated so that people don’t have to rely on third party sites.