(edit) - Answered by @sexy_peach@feddit.de below. Thanks!
I created duplicate accounts (same username as this one), one here on lemmy.ml and another of the same account on midwest.social. This was before I understood how Lemmy works. Now I’ve deleted the account on midwest.social and want to login there with my federated account from lemmy.ml. However when I try to login it just sits and spins.
Will I be able to login to the other Lemmy server with this account? Do I just need to give the other server some time before it wipes out the account completely?
I have verified that the other server is federated with lemmy.ml:
https://midwest.social/instances> @sexy_peach
you can follow the communities from the midwest server by just searching for them on lemmy.ml. You don’t need to log in (you can’t, actually), on midwest.social.
Think of it like e-mail. You have your account on lemmy.ml, but you can send e-mails to everyone on any server (in the context of reddit join and comment on any community).
Just search for the community in the search field and even communities that are on other servers than lemmy.ml will show up!!
Ah, so I see that I still don’t fully understand how it works. :)
Can I still post and comment in those communities while logged in through lemmy.ml?
I can see this from lemmy.one and midwest.social!
Yeah, once it dawned on me how it worked it was intriguing. This Fediverse stuff is neat, here’s hoping that it’ll catch on as redditors jump ship, so that the community can drown out all the Russian bots and such.
Can I still post and comment in those communities while logged in through lemmy.ml?
Yes, exactly! You only need one account on one server and can use that server to follow and post everywhere!
Unless that community has been blocked by your community, right? Like, how LemmyGrad has blocked certain communities.
To me, it seems obvious to create an account on the “largest most general” server, as they are likely to not be blocked.
What are the pros and cons of creating your account on lemmy.ml for example?
The risk I see with creating my main account on a smaller server is the potential for the smaller server to go away if the creator decides to stop hosting. Right?
I’m just creating accounts on all the servers, just so I have them. I think I’ll use lemmy.ml and beehaw the most though. I’m still wrapping my head around this whole federated thing.
Pretty much. You can click the “Instances” link at the bottom of the site to see what communities are blocked on your instance