No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world Eclipciz @lemmy.world 1 yr. ago

How do I find the lowest ping Lemmy instance?

I joined Lemmy a few days ago under the lemmy.world instance and want to keep it as my main instance, but it’s being pretty laggy.

I don’t have access to a computer to ping each instance so am wondering if there’s a mobile way to do so.

33 comments

The lag is a result of server load, not ping. Lemmy.world is the largest lemmy server and it's groaning under the weight of the July 1st refugees.

It'll resolve itself as servers get upgraded or people spread out. You can try joining another smaller instance if you don't want to wait.
- That gave me an image. Think of Atlas, the guy who had to hold up the world, only replace that person with the individuals trying to keep up with server demand of lemmy.world
  
  If I could do anything in artwork or Photoshop I’d create a meme myself.
"Ping" shouldn't affect lag, and your ping should be almost unnoticeable to you. Ping basically means the time a packet takes to the server.

For anything other than a video game, you're going to focus more on server load, and utilization. If something is overloaded (Lemmy in general is overloaded) it doesn't matter what your ping is, the server can't process as many requests as it gets and you see "Lag".

Part of the process right now is figuring out if Lemmy can keep up with the traffic, this is part of the growing pains of a new "social media" server. Best thing to do if it's bothering you is give it a few days and hope they can work something out.
- I realize. I just wanted to make a new account with the lowest ping instance while the server is upgraded at lemmy.world
  
  The point I'm making is "ping doesn't matter". If you want to go to a different instance that's fine, find one that seems responsive. You're using the wrong terminology/thinking when deciding which instance you want to be on.
Start with physical location https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/map

then ping/test the ones you like closest to you.
- This is amazing! Thank you!
- It's weird. My instance is hosted on a VPS in New Jersey, but shows here in Mexico. The company I rent the server from doesn't have a data center in Mexico
  
  they providing any edge caching for you?
- This is awesome, found a tiny instance near me and it's the fastest one I've used yet
  
  small instances are the best, remember it will take some time before new subscriptions start flowing into the server esp if you are the first person to sub to a remote community.
- Yea ended up choosing a pretty popular one near me, hopefully they don’t shut down or something though. Thanks!
  
  always a risk. keep an eye out for migration tools.
There is unfortunately not a good tool to help with what you’re looking for.

The best way is to browse to a few servers and see if they feel snappy. You can click through without an account.

https://wirebase.org is ours, which is hosted in the US
- My understanding (from limited knowledge) is that also due to how federation works even if you're instance isn't under too much load, you may notice issues with posts/comments from other instances if they're struggling.
I’d like to see or make a tool that measures “federation” quality.

Lots of servers are locally responsive, but lag or completely fail posting to remote servers or accepting remote requests.

How can i participate in a conversation when half of the instances are hours behind or may not get my comments at all :(

This seems to be a combination of software and load and it is very insidious because it doesn’t affect local functionality so admins that don’t care or check think their communities are just fine.
- I’ve been considering doing something very similar. Will PM you
I dont have it on me but there are fediverse sites that track all the instances.
https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/list

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