Ask Lemmy

Diversity has increased by a lot. It's not just circlejerking about Linux anymore. Only positives in my book.

It feels more like reddit now, but still is populated by a certain type of person that would seek out Lemmy. Mostly techy, left of center+, over age 30+, etc. I enjoy it.

My main gripe with mainstream Reddit now is the engagement baiting that people are falling for all the time. "What are you thoughts on [Controversial Topic]?" If there is a new exodus from Reddit coming, I really really really wish all the baiting to be left behind and moderators to remove it on the Fediverse.

I like it here, I only lurked on reddit. There isn't much reason to comment when it seems that everyone was in a competition for "who can post the best zinger comment first"

I’ve been in fediverse since API debacle, I feel the same vibes as I do on Reddit, both the good parts and bad.

For example, same controversies on Reddit also exist here, and have the same talking points and flamewar nature. I had an opinion about Pitbulls (that an owner should be far more responsible than the average owner - I know, controversial take), which got me banned from that sub and several other furry related subs. Which is something that also happens on Reddit when you tick off a moderator of several subs

So for the most part, I’m just a lurker that comes here to get some memes. Sometimes I share my opinion if I feel like it. But I don’t necessarily feel that it’s an upgrade from Reddit in terms of communities.

I feel it's changing positively, as instance admins and our tool-sets mature, and more and more people are becoming permanent residents as they're either permabanned on reddit (so they have no alternative) or they recognize the value of a system that is not and cannot be controlled by a corporate entity and they US billionaire interests behind it.

However I'm also concerned that our yet small size has protected us from truly existential issues like dedicated spam and propaganda orgs, especially those who would utilize GenAI to be more covert. I've already published tools like the fediseer to help prepare for this, but I really hope to see more people per-emptively getting ready for this. I see way too many doe-eyed admins firing up instances without a care in the world, open registration, no captchas, no botnet protections etc and they either burn out and close shop after a few months of firefighting, or get defederated, or they have to re-learn a painful lesson the rest of us did.

This does give me an idea, we do need a more holistic "So you want to open a threadiverse instance" guide to give such pointers to new admins and way to get support from others. Hmmm....

Lemmy didn't have much content at first so you would run out of things to read after a while. It felt friendly at first, but certain topics still set off people at lemmy to the point I thought about leaving. Then lemmy seemed to improve and I could talk about those topics again, but now there are more trolls (even ones that seem to follow you around since they troll each post or comment talking about something) and spam bots that weren't there before. I think a lot of conflict on forums like this has to do with miscommunication, but sometimes people are just mean and there isn't a fix.

there are increasingly a greater number of nutjobs, spammers, and hostile/miserable/angry people. my block list is like 300+ now. 6-9 month ago it was like 12 people.

2 years ago it was mostly super nerds just nerding about.

Lemmy or Reddit?

Lemmy hasn't changed much at all.

Reddit OTOH is pretty unrecognizable now.

(and before you ask: This is a different account than what I initially joined with because my old instance shut down)

Basically the same. But with more users and communities over time

The extremists are a bit much but otherwise I like it here.

Lemmy feels about the same, but Reddit seems much worse.

Now to be fair I don't know if Reddit is actually worse, because when I browse Reddit now it's while I'm logged out and via a browser (force old.reddit.com and OldLander extensions). So the site is A) harder to navigate than it used to be and B) my experience is less curated and I see more crap and C) because my experience is less curated I've lost access to many of the niche communities.

As an example if I want to read some discussion about the recent Game of Thrones prequel series "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" I can find a small community here on Lemmy. Nice people, but too few of us.

So I go to Reddit. If I search I find r/AKOTSKTV which is fine, and I find r/GameOfThrones which is fine. But I have to know, as a previous Reddit user, that maybe r/ASOIAF is also a great choice. Or if I want some real shit r/freefolk is where the glory lives.

So for that universe I know where to go. But for a new series? For a new niche? For a new community? I don't know shit. I've found some of the more niche communities by luck. That's what I would have been subscribed to in the past. I would have been in the community and in the comments and discovery was natural.

But nowadays I just get the front page of Reddit, and the front page kinda sucks.

But Lemmy? Yeah it sucks sometimes too, but at least there is a community.

It has gotten much better. More content and general activity and nutjobs at .ml and similar got mostly isolated from the rest of the network.

I think fediverse is really shaping up as a strong reddit alternative. Most pop subjects are mirrored here and the vibe is very similar to early reddit so there no real reason to go to reddit other than super niche communities like of a tv show or something.

Most props go to the lemmy.world team as it kept a consistent big network running that keeps the project stable!

It's gotten a bit busier as far as new posts showing up go (been here since reddit api debacle) but we need like 4,000,000 more users, and then if we just held right there, we'd all be able to live happy little lives. There's still just not enough people to support smaller, more niche instances.

On a side note: Doubly fuck reddit again. I don't get on there to use it, but occasionally I'll hop into an old sub looking for info. Got a notification that /humor deleted my post of a funny poem thing from 15 friggin years ago. One of only 2 posting I ever made that still occasionally got comments on.

Honestly? Not much.

Its gotten significantly less optimistic and more cynical. Its in my opinion more of a reflection of the state of the world than a Lemmy specific issue but it affects Lemmy users more because this isnt a space that allows people to live in ignorant bliss.

I don't see any changes. Neither in Reddit nor here at Lemmy. Actually the only difference was in the abundant amount of moderators at Reddit. Lemmy's moderators are scarcer and lazier and therefore less dangerous than Reddit's. But their essence is the same. No other differences.

TBH, not much.

Which pleases me. I actually donate to my instance every month in order to help keep it ad and algo-free.

I arrived during the API debacle.

Some things are better, content and activity.

Some things are worse, spammers, AI proponents who harrass you despite the clear community-wide dislike of the plagarism machine, fascist chuds trying to mainstream rascism, misogyny, and ableism.

Basically each new wave is another usenet September equivalent, and it feels like we're approaching the eternal september epoch as lemmy becomes more widely used. Soon we'll have to deal with state actor bot-nets if we aren't already.

Been here since exactly the API debacle, and it's still kinda the same, just less attempts to make niche communities become a thing and more clustering on the big communities.

Significantly, and for the better. The is significant engagement, a large increase in new communities, and we have even had our very own memorable, memeable instances!

My account is 3 years and 5 months old. I joined Lemmy before it was cool, because I like open source things. In fact, when I joined, Lemmy.ml was the main/recommended instance. Now you all hate it.

Lemmy used to be a barren wasteland of content. Now it is not. I've noticed no further changes. The tankies, the in-fighting, the debates about whether to de-federate with instances, the arguing over whether it's becoming too much like reddit - it's all been here as long as I can remember.

Lemmy seems to have increased in userbase a bit and many communities are less dark with sometimes infrequent but not absent posts and engagement. It's looking good. Also we all hate Israel now. That wasn't a thing when Lemmy started.

Less lurkers and more people making comments over time. This thread is a great example.

Fewer people marveling about Lemmy itself, which is fine.

There are a couple of people who are now a constant presence. For better or worse. Some of y'all need help that Lemmy can't provide. I won't name a name but if you have to ask...

It's the same but I had to block a few users. Very Reddit-like in some ways. Glad karma isn't a thing though.

Population seems to have increased and become more diverse. There's always communities being created. It's not recognised as a desirable platform for businesses or influencers yet so upvotes aren't treated anywhere near as divine, but you still see some users with remnants of Reddit; massive psychological damage if they're downvoted. I mean, makes sense, people generally use social media to feel validated about their opinions. When it comes to comparing with Reddit, Lemmy has no monetised awards or such, bots are mostly rudimentary and live on a couple communities, and there's little toxicity, harassment etc. because the user has complete control over blocking anything and instance admins have complete control over banning and defederating. I think being able to close some doors is preferable to being wide open to all, and I don't think it causes any "echo chambers".

Overall, definite improvement over the years.