PieFed: federated forums

PieFed is a federated link aggregator and forum that you use in the browser, so there is nothing to download. Version 1.7.17 is the current release of the software. Like Lemmy, it offers communities where people share links and start discussions, vote on posts and reply in threads, and it federates with Lemmy and other fediverse platforms, so communities on either side can be followed from the other.

Who PieFed suits

PieFed is aimed at people who want a Reddit-style place for discussion without a single company in charge, and who care about how moderation and the feed are handled. The project puts weight on tools that keep threads readable: filtering out topics or keywords you do not want, hiding low-quality content, and giving moderators more options to deal with spam. It suits readers who want a calmer feed as well as moderators who need finer controls. If you already have a Lemmy account, you do not need PieFed to take part in PieFed communities; if you are starting from scratch, a PieFed server is just as good an entry point.

How to start

The Open button leads to join.piefed.social/try, the official page with servers you can join. Choose one by language and rules, register and subscribe to communities. Keep in mind:

• your account exists on the server you joined, not on every server;
• you can still subscribe to communities hosted on other PieFed and Lemmy servers;
• each server's admins decide which other servers they federate with.

How communities work

A community belongs to the server where it was created, and its moderators are members of that server. When you subscribe from another server, new posts and comments are copied to your server so you can read and reply there. Votes and replies travel back to the original community. This is why the same discussion looks almost identical from a PieFed server and from a Lemmy instance.

Licence and source code

PieFed is free software under the GNU AGPLv3 licence. Its source code is hosted on Codeberg rather than GitHub, which is common among projects that prefer non-commercial hosting. Using a server is free; admins usually cover costs through donations.

Requirements

A modern browser on a computer or phone; no installation. Many Lemmy apps can also connect to PieFed, and the official site lists compatible options.

Safety

Your posts and account data are stored on your server. Pick one with transparent rules and an active admin team, and avoid reusing passwords from other sites.

Alternatives

Lemmy is the older federated alternative to Reddit and has more instances; PieFed and Lemmy communities can follow each other, so choosing one does not lock you out of the other. On Android, several clients made for Lemmy also connect to PieFed servers.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Reddit-like structure without a central owner.
• Pro: keyword filters and moderation tools built in.
• Con: a young project with fewer servers than Lemmy.
• Con: finding the right community across servers takes some searching.