The way federation usually works is that a server will begin federating with another server once it encounters content from said other server. Therefore, instances on that list would’ve posted a post or comment or something on lemmygrad or on another instance seen by someone on lemmygrad, and that caused us to federate with them.
This is a bit complex to explain. Essentially, if someone was browsing their own instance and it was federated with an instance that was federated with us (like lemmy.ml), they would be able to see lemmygrad content. Upon encountering such content, their server would establish federation with lemmygrad automatically. Same is true for the opposite, so if someone on lemmygrad saw content from another instance, lemmygrad would federate with that instance.
So in simpler terms maybe, there needs to be a trigger for federation to occur. Instances don’t ping other instances automatically. The simplest trigger is to go on an instance’s post from your instance and post a comment there.
It’s like there’s no radar and you need to actually see the plane in the sky with your own eyes.
Another way of encountering an instance would be if you both federate with a third instance and they post there and you see it or interact with their post I guess.
Does Lemmygrad federate with all other instances by default? I think I read something about that being an option in the docs
That would explain it. There are also a few instances that seem to be broken, so maybe they were added automatically
The way federation usually works is that a server will begin federating with another server once it encounters content from said other server. Therefore, instances on that list would’ve posted a post or comment or something on lemmygrad or on another instance seen by someone on lemmygrad, and that caused us to federate with them.
This is a bit complex to explain. Essentially, if someone was browsing their own instance and it was federated with an instance that was federated with us (like lemmy.ml), they would be able to see lemmygrad content. Upon encountering such content, their server would establish federation with lemmygrad automatically. Same is true for the opposite, so if someone on lemmygrad saw content from another instance, lemmygrad would federate with that instance.
So in simpler terms maybe, there needs to be a trigger for federation to occur. Instances don’t ping other instances automatically. The simplest trigger is to go on an instance’s post from your instance and post a comment there.
It’s like there’s no radar and you need to actually see the plane in the sky with your own eyes.
Another way of encountering an instance would be if you both federate with a third instance and they post there and you see it or interact with their post I guess.