Generated by AI Hexbear attracts a broader, more meme/shitpost-oriented leftist crowd. Users tend to be highly engaged, irreverent, and active in culture-war and international-news megathreads. The instance is known for very high comment volume and a chaotic, humorous vibe that some outsiders find off-putting (hence frequent defederations). It feels like a lively, tight-knit leftist meme hub.

Lemmygrad.ml: More strictly Marxist-Leninist and theory-focused, with strong emphasis on pro-China, anti-imperialist, and geopolitical content. The userbase is dedicated but smaller and generally less meme-heavy/more serious. It has a larger number of local communities dedicated to specific socialist topics or regions. Often described as the "classic tankie" instance.

Overall: Hexbear has the bigger, more energetic userbase by most metrics (total users, activity, content volume). Lemmygrad is smaller but punches above its weight in organized Marxist communities. Both remain tiny compared to general-purpose instances like lemmy.world (which has tens of thousands of MAU). If you're looking for raw leftist engagement, Hexbear wins on size and vibrancy; Lemmygrad feels more focused and "pure" ML.

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[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They only seem to have my reddit profile, but...

Zalthor: He created the character Zalthor, a "dark god" and recurring surrealist political candidate within the subreddit. His work with Zalthor was cited by VICE and The New York Times as a landmark in internet-native performance art.

What the fuck? I got cited by the New York Times? When Vice reached out about r/fifthworldproblems I thought it was a joke instead of an actual interview.

[–] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh shit that was you? That was a cool ass sub

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish it hadn't been on reddit. The premise is still fun to me, but you can't tell redditors to make their own sci-fi stories without referencing existing canons. That is the absolute last group of people online who should be given that responsibility and nobody should have to moderate that without being given a comically large gun. Redditors are ontologically soypointers.

[–] xijinpingist@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I tried making original stories and got baffled replies like, "what is this in reference to? I'm not familiar with this series." I made it up MYSELF! Apparently this is wrong and bad. I used to wonder why all TV sitcoms were the same and this is why.

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The moment it hit like a thousand users, it became a hive for zany pop culture references. I had to make that stupid Zalthor thing to coach redditors like toddlers into making something that wasn't just "What if I was a guy in Star Trek? What if I was Cthulhu but Star Trek?". Then they just latched onto that and half the posts became repeating something I said about Zalthor. Blacking it out for the mod protests was the only time it became good again because we just left it like that and nobody could post.

[–] xijinpingist@hexbear.net 5 points 2 weeks ago

Bring back Digg!

[–] xijinpingist@hexbear.net 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I very vaguely remember it. Wow, it was a long time ago I quit using reddit. Honestly it surprises me that people still use it. The mods and admins are terrible, terrible people.

[–] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

It's so much worse now, every single thread immediately opens with a horny post and then 50 gifs (who the fuck thought giving them gifs was a good idea!) of that fucking hot dog guy who-did-this