I've switched to Lemmy for about 4 days now. Here's my opinion on the platform:
Is it good?
Yes. I found many common communities I follow, such as Degoogling, open source, Linux, self-hosting, history, maps, space, Minecraft, etc etc. Many of the more obscure communities are a bit off-limits, tho, like Polandball or alternate history. I was able to find more underrated Degoogling things on this platform more than on Reddit, which is a huge plus
What caveats do I have on this platform?
Again, obscure communities are a bit off-limits, and while I was able to find SOME, most were non-existant. Other than that, I haven't encountered any other issues other than not being able to create a community
How's the universal community?
They are really helpful. At times even moreso then on Reddit. Again, I found more obscure and underrated things on this platform than I do on Reddit
Is this viable for casual people and would I reccomend it?
If they don't care about the specifics, then sure, this is a viable option. But if they follow obscure communities and care about the specifics, they would have to push through. I so far did, and it's a great experience so far. Would I RECCOMEND it, tho? Yes, I would. Again, tho, it depends on wether you care about obscure communities or the specifics
Conclusion
Lemmy is, so far, great for my experience. The communities are good, the platform is good, and overall it feels fresh that I don't have to be tracked by a centralized platform at all times to fuel their greed. I love the idea of it. I just don't think I'm gonna ever switch fully to it, however decentralized Reddit frontends like Redlib help with me viewing the obscue communities I follow without having to use ths proprietary platform directly
No bots you mean? X')
I appreciate the joke, though there are bots here as well. The upside is that the only topics they swarm in are political, e.g. about the US, and unfortunately there are two active posters pushing pro-Putin propaganda.
Other than that, it's clear though. And it's quite chill and pleasant without bots but with careful readers.
I think there are a few dedicated “bots” here, but they’re not the ones you’re thinking of:
3½ years of anti-China & anti-Russia news posts by several similar Lemmy accounts
Okay, but there are hundreds of times more posters pushing imperial core “propaganda” than “pro-Putin” propaganda[^1]. Which makes sense, since most Lemmings live in the imperial core, and in particular in the Five Eyes states.
[^1]: They’re not actually “pro-Putin.” Nobody on Lemmy thinks Putin is a swell guy, nor believes that Russia isn’t a capitalist oligarchy. Support for Russia is quite limited.
Do you have evidence of there being political bots, or is that just a hunch based on running into people with different political beliefs from yours?
I have circumstantial evidence of paid actors, but they’re not of the kind that BlueAnoners claim. https://lemmy.ml/post/39655060
I'm aware, though I do think there'a decent room for people in it for the love of the game. If there are nerds willing to propagandize for socialism without getting paid for it, there must be the liberal equivalents.
Most are in it of their own volition, but these particular accounts I suspect really are doing a job based in Germany.
Interesting, anything you can share about the Germany part, or no? I always safely assume its for the love of the game until seeing something that points otherwise.
Interesting, have you checked if they use upvote/downvote shell accounts too? Might paint a more organized picture.
I poked around for that about a year ago, but didn’t find any evidence. I’m not motivated enough to write a script looking for it.
I don’t think any amount of evidence would make a difference. They were chased out of a few communities in the past, but the remaining communities’ mods & instances’ admins seem content to platform them.
Makes sense. Thanks!
I don't have a proof in a mathematical sense. Nobody here would have. I have, however, a combination of observations here (posts, comments), and first-hand experience with the details of a working propaganda machine from back when I lived in Russia. They are details that unique, in my experience, to propaganda.
And the final give-away is... details. You can't be an expert in every topic, so from e.g. posts of a suspected propaganda worker, you take a claim that you feel unsure about, or that contradicts with someone you currently trust, or that contradicts just another group of people who's views is in any way coherent.
And then you dig into that topic. It works best if the topic was native to you to begin with, due to work or hobby or whatever. You drill down on this topic, you find answers and evidence, you fact-check claims. It's not simple, because "simple" you could rotate around. It's tedious. But it works.
The best analogy would be the famous text about Ilon Musk I think.
So in other words, it's just a hunch.
Just in case, the area of expertise for me and lemmy happened to be the war that Russia started against Ukraine.
If a person just says once or twice something from the usual pro-Putin propaganda texts, then so be it. Can be discussed etc, but it's not propaganda itself. But if you see that a person literally has a job, from the amount of time spent, posting memes or quoting other people about it, and they're constantly making logical fallacies, not seeing them, misquoting others etc etc, then well you have a propaganda worker. With years, it frequently becomes evident or proven that all this time they were paid money to say that.
In case of Russia the job of proving lies frequently becomes a bit absurd though, because the bad and good sides on the conflict are quite evident. But of course only if you know enough details, so if unsure, the path above is a good way to find out.
I'm curious. But you could consider this a tangent. Are there nazis in Ukraine? Was Bandera a Nazi? Were the living conditions of ethnic Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk better or worse before the Maidan?
It's indeed a tangent. The discussion above was about the existence of propaganda on lemmy. And I wasn't saying that there are bots here because of opinion X - I was describing the details of how it flows, and what makes me think there is political propaganda here. But as a side topic, I'm happy to answer.
There are nationalistic people everywhere, including in Ukraine of course. That does not give Russia any right to attack Ukraine and kill hundreds of thousands of people of course, but I'm trying to faithfully answer the question. I don't see what's the point in discussing the living conditions of groups op people. Why does it matter? Surely if people abroad are not living good enough, you either invite some of them to where you live or help them somehow, but don't bomb them? Do you have different opinions on these questions or with regards to my response?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯