I’ve been on lemmy for over a year now, and I just realized I used to read all those HackerNews articles + their comments, I haven’t done that in probably 6 months because the discussion here has gotten much better. What’s changed for you with Lemmy over the last year?
Given that this website has experienced the Reddit migration (I am one of those migrants), it has definitely started to feel a bit like Reddit, but it still differs in a lot of ways. There’s less bots, actually engaging conversations, actual content. To me, this website continues to capture the vibe of the early Web2 days of the internet in a way that Reddit clearly moved away from, definitely so that its executives can make more of them monies. It feels a bit nostalgic in a way, and that’s what I like about this website.
Lemmy is my only social media interaction these days, the content has improved, and the communities feel more distinct than they did a year ago. That could just be me getting up to speed though.
It was a nice surprise finding out that the left wing instances on here are actually pretty chill, way more so than on Reddit these days.
I peaked into r/communism and it’s genuinely awful. Full of the most toxic people I have seen in the supposedly “Marxist” communities. Surprisingly Lemmy is way more chill than Reddit.
Election spam which filled the front page is mostly gone.
Started to participate in discussion more and pleasantly surprised actual conversations happen and the comment section is not flooded with generic bot shit within minutes.
When I first came here, I was so jaded, with the expectation that every account was a bot or an asshole. Seeing the actual conversation among humans has been nice.
Absolutely. The jadedness coming off of reddit is real. Took me half a year to slowly start participating
Yeah, that’s something I really like about Lemmy. You can have actual conversations. On Reddit, on even an unpopular thread, any comment would be flooded by replies from other people. You couldn’t just talk with one person.
I don’t mind other people joining in, but reddit makes it impossible to do 1-on-1.
On Reddit, on even an unpopular thread, any comment would be flooded by replies from other people.
Lemmy really does give the feel of “early reddit” where it was small enough for real communities, where you would recognize regulars and see them in multiple subs.
Agreed. Oftentimes I describe Lemmy as “reddit back in the day” whenever someone asks me wtf is Lemmy.
In my view, Lemmy ecospace became a lot more dark. People are snarkier, less prone to engage in polite conversation and divergent opinions get hounded.
I also sense an increased tendency for doom and gloom. Nihilism is on the rise, as well.
Still better than Reddit, where a divergent opinion is grounds for a permaban.
Not saying that makes it ok though, it still sucks, just a little less.
Would you say the doom and gloom is Lemmy specific, or more of a global thing, given the state of life ATM?
It’s definitely not just a Lemmy thing just any site that grows a user base.
I kind off think of it like the difference between talking to random people at a local hobby space vs a national convention. Sure you’re gonna still find people with shared interests but you got more people coming in with an agenda or chip on their shoulder, Or just general trolls who target larger groups because it’s more people to get a rise out of.
But you’d have to consult some sociologist or someone for a in-depth factual answer, I’ve just been on a lot of random sites/forums over the years.
Honestly Lemmy has handled it’s growth a lot better than most places online I’ve seen. I’d say people on here are pretty raw but not actively spiteful (mostly), which I very much vibe with.
Agree. The size of the community seems to correlate with the number of trolls, which can quickly change the tone of a platform. Trolls are more active, outspoken, and literally feed on negativity.
Great point.
“Doomers sure love doom scrolling”
does nothing about the amount of doom in the world
I’m only on Lemmy. Can’t speak for other places. On my day to day life, people are concerned with living their lives.
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less prone to engage in polite conversation
What the fuck did you just say to me, you little shit lemming? I’ll have you know that I graduated top of my class in online forum debates…
/jk
Yeah, yeah, yeah… and Happy New Year!
That’s interesting because for me it’s the opposite, or maybe I just don’t notice it anymore. But when I first joined people were almost always hostile to one another. I feel like that’s not the case anymore.
Among American users, this probably has a lot to do with the recent election.
I can’t see a flag near the nick, so I just try to treat everyone with respect.
I see that too recently. I just call them out, report, and block.
Getting a bit busier these days
For me, Lemmy was a place where I mostly found like-minded people. Even if we don’t always agree (and we shouldn’t) I have had some genuine feedback to the thoughts that haunt me or tickle me. Nevertheless, I was surprised at the interinstance drama which I mostly ignore. And I think that the base probability of transphobia is higher than the sidebar rules would implicate. I am always surprised when I see naive and uninformed takes.
Although I do have found a place to share such thoughts with less harassment and backlash than Reddit, there is some unearned harassment and hating here as well, eg there are some consistent downvoters, to the effect I have a single downvote to anything I post.
Although I think that here in Lemmy I enjoy a higher probability of getting thoughtful responses and well-intended humor to what I post, I feel that a number of people I have interacted with me were highly prejudiced I was a troll or a bad faith actor.
This lack of trust to other users is one of the greatest achievements of fascists and spooks, and they have successfully used it with freedom movements everywhere.
I was also surprised at how conservative the privacy community is. Compared to the amount of radical content posted on every other topic, I find myself among those who think that c/Privacy actively discourages newcomers from developing advanced privacy and anonymity skills.
The privacy thing and some aspects of the Democrats situation pre- and post- election make me think that there is some “manufacturing of consensus” bad faith actors among us. This can lead to disbanding of any project, so we need a solid mindset, in which we assume good faith, but have exact methods for handling disagreement and genuine questions, but also look out for bad faith actors and take steps to build healthy online communities for anarchist and communist free and private software enthusiasts.
Afterthoughts
- The sitewide rules ask us to assume good faith, be civil, and discuss thoughtfully. As it happens, we fail to adhere, and I am to blame as well. I am quite uncivil to people I disagree, but it is often forgiven because a lot of other people are cheering. This makes us a stupid crowd by the way.
- As a Disclaimer, I switched sides wrt to Democrats. Although I had chosen not to post anything pre-election, I was like “Quit this nonsense and vote Democrats already”. I was radicalized after the election, and now think that Democrats are lobbying grifters and can stuff it.
It’s actually had content for me now
It’s become clear that Lemmy is not about to take off. For most users, it’s probably a fine Reddit clone, but it’s not about to replace the big R.
I’m sure that will change in 2025. 🧌
Lemmy doesn’t need to “take off” or compete with Reddit to succeed. Growth for the sake of growth holds little inherent value. Unlike commercial platforms reliant on VC funding to survive, Lemmy thrives on sustainability. What really matters is that there are enough developers to maintain the platform, people to host the server, and users to create content. With these elements in place, Lemmy can continue indefinitely without the need for explosive growth.
In fact, rapid growth could do more harm than good. A sudden influx of users often brings toxic behaviors, especially those migrating from platforms like Reddit. When new users trickle in slowly, they adapt to the existing norms and culture of the community. But when a horde arrives, they risk overwhelming and reshaping the community in ways that trample over its core values. A slow, steady stream of users allows for organic integration, preserving the essence of what makes Lemmy pleasant.
Unlike commercial platforms, open-source projects don’t rely on profit motives to survive. They’re driven by people who directly benefit from their work and are passionate about their vision. When disagreements arise, projects can be forked, allowing different groups to take them in new directions. Even if a project is abandoned, it can be revived by a new team as long as there’s a dedicated community. This flexibility and resilience make open source inherently more sustainable than commercial platforms, which can vanish overnight if funding dries up.
The Fediverse, and Lemmy within it, only needs a large enough user base to remain self-sustaining. I’d argue that it’s already well past that threshold. There’s no rush to grow rapidly. Steady progress ensures the community retains its identity and values, while the open-source nature of the platform guarantees its longevity. Lemmy isn’t just another platform; it’s a sustainable, adaptable ecosystem built to endure. I’m willing to bet that Lemmy will still be around long after Reddit crumbles to dust.
I suppliment Lemmy with Imgur. That said, Imgur also forces you to use their offical app, and it also sells your data to 3rd parties, like most apps. But it’s not nearly as shit as the offical reddit app, and you can always block the trackers with the DuckDuckGo app.
I still don’t have a replacement for niche subreddits, though. So I only visit them on the desktop now to minimize that time on the site, and so I can use old.reddit.com.
I dream of the day when I can finally ditch both for good and just use Lemmy.
Can’t you just look at imgur through your browser? I just went there and it looks functional to me.
Perhaps you are referring to the mobile web version? Just another step in enshitification to drive you to the app. Don’t give in, use imgur only on your PC. Heck em
A lot more comments like reddit that are the quick (very tired) zingers. I was happy to get away from that but I’m sort of thinking of putting lemmy down if it gets worse.
I don’t need your “this.” Or “broken arms” or “that’s insulting to trash” etc.
It’s beyond tired. But it gets up voted and can dominate the comments section. I appreciate threads like this one that promote actual discussion.
Some or most of the people upvoting this stuff is just part of the lucky 10,000
I feel that, too, but also…
There’s a large number of news articles that it feels literally pointless to respond to with anything other than jokey derision because it feels like we’ve been talking to people about those issues for two decades (or more for some of us) and no one listened.
So, with a lot of it… what is there even to talk about anymore and instead crack jokes to try to feel less dead inside?
I fully agree, but at the same time find myself making jokey throwaway comments on the millionth thread about “turns out Trump was lying about his campaign promises!!!” as if anyone with a fucking brain couldn’t figure that out since at least 2015. It just feels pointless to engage with beyond comedy when the media continues to sanewash that guy.
I would love to slap down my copy pasta in every poltical post about how First-past-the-post voting artificially limits the number of viable political parties to 2 and is the greatest barrier to effective non violent change in the country. But people don’t want answers, they want to be mad.
And the mods kept banning me. Even when I ran the copypasta through chat GPT to get a unique comment every time I posted the pasta.
Why the fuck should my comment change at all when the solution hasn’t changed?
Sorry, but… “broken arms”? What does that mean, aside from its literal interpretation?
Famous story of a son who broke both arms and the mom felt bad he couldn’t masturbate so she started jerking him which led to more…
It’s very fucked up story. But whenever a similar topic comes up someone has to say “I bet he had broken arms” or something like that.
Similar one is “shoes came off so he’s definitely dead” whenever some fall or other force throws someone to the ground.
It was funny at one point… Maybe like 6 years ago. But like jfc there’s no original thought, just echo chamber zingers.
Oh another one: “I also choose this guy’s dead wife”
While I understand your sentiment, the coconut will never not be hilarious
I completely agree. It’s tiring to ask a question and then have some low-effort absurd answer every time.
any advice on washing my cat without her scratching me?
is it two metres long and has orange and black stripes and are you in a jungle? try a tranq dart first
park it on the driveway and get a hose. oh wait u said ‘cat’ not ‘car’ #oops!!
ez bro just dress in a SWAT bomb defusal outfit. works every time.
yeah jeez thanks. It’s worse than no replies.
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Starting to see different people reposting stuff on similar communities, which reminds me a lot of that other site. Not a huge fan.
I’ve also started noticing people downvoting instead of engaging when they disagree with something as well, which is frustrating.
Hey dude, I just wanted to let you know there is an option in your settings so you don’t see upvotes or downvotes.
Lemmy (AFAIK) doesn’t even show you your total upvotes (karma… whatever it’s called) by default either. None of these imaginary points fucking matter.
So why don’t you do yourself a favor and uncheck these boxes and not give a fuck what others think about your comment.
I know I have.
(Lemmy is rad as fuck)
As for the reposting content, are you referring to cross posting? I’ve noticed people doing it to my posts.
I think it’s a good thing as maybe some people have lemmy.ml defederated and I still want people who use lemmy to have content so they stay and grow the federation.
Again, the points are made up and the updoots don’t matter. Peace.
Probably a solid idea - thanks for the suggestion.
Not sure how well it will work with my mobile app but I will look into it!
Definitely seeing some people doing mass downvotes. By that, I mean they disagree so much with a person’s post that they then downvote other, unrelated posts by the same person.
I suspect I have a bit of an “anti-fan club” these days, I’ll have the sole downvote in threads for a benign opinion that goes along with the rest of the comments, but I don’t pay it any mind.
It’s not great, but at least downvotes barely affect anything other than visibility of top level comments on popular posts, and are easy to hide. Better that than people disagreeing using lazy insults and tired truisms.
I often think the place would be better with no downvotes.
If you think a post/comment is good, then upvote. If you think a post/comment is bad, then either get over it and move on or grow a pair and say why.
The freedom of expression means that you have to read/hear/see things that you might not like every now and again, but I’d much rather that than end up in another echo chamber.
Hexbear.net and a few other instances disable downvoting for similar reasons you describe.
I’m fine with seeing things I don’t like or agree with if it is a fully formed thought, but I still think downvotes are a nice trap for lazy inarticulate people to feel like they are doing the equivalent of dropping a low effort flame comment while actually doing basically nothing. I have display of vote scores disabled and don’t have to know or think about the approval of people who are only voting, which is nice. If they had something to say that isn’t already fully communicated by the downvote button, maybe they would say it instead despite downvoting being an option.
I’d be fine with the downvotes if they were used as you described, but as there is no realistic way to stop people using them as an “I disagree/I don’t like that” button which is in reality the way they are mostly used. I think we’d be better without.
Yep, downvotes are usually an “I don’t know how to counter what you’re saying but I don’t like it” button.
But what I’m saying is, they are good because they likely deter toxic thoughtless comments.
They also deter good comments that go against the grain for an instance. Labeling comments as “toxic” even if they are fine but controversial isn’t good. Such toxic comments can be reported and removed anyways.
I mean they deter comments from the people leaving the downvotes. Anyone wanting not to be deterred by downvotes can adjust settings to not see them.
From what I’ve heard, there are instances that don’t have downvotes. People should be able to vote how they want. Could you imagine… wanting to tell people how they can vote? I certainly cant.
I’m not telling anyone anything, I’m just saying it’d be shame to end up in another echo chamber, despite the knowledge that I know other people are absolutely fine with that idea.
I often think the place would be better with no downvotes.
I agree. Hate to mention the R-place, but some of the subs there that only allow upvotes are a generally more positive place.
When your post is downvoted, you’re sometimes left wondering why, and question yourself. That can lead to less engagement. Same can happen for disagreements of course, but at least then it’s clear what the problem is.
Hexbear.net is nice for this.
Lemmy has become my main social media outlet. For better or worse, Lemmy’s just my kind of place. I’m off of all mainstream social media except LinkedIn, which I barely use, but keep around for work related reasons.
I do still peruse Reddit, mainly for TV shows and niche subjects I can’t find here. But I haven’t logged in or posted since the first major exodus over the API pricing, and have no plans of returning.
I do post on Mastodon from time to time, but the format is just too geared towards short form content, and ultimately just isn’t my cup of tea.
So yeah. I’m generally happy to be here with you all shooting the shit about politics, Linux, etc. Long live Lemmy!
Hey bud, you dropped this
Here’s one from me to help.
Lemmy is teaching me things by accident.
Most recently; I’ve started learning media literacy and now I can see all the same manufactured consent and narrative shaping that exists in legacy media and social media like Facebook and reddit; but in .world and lemmee too
I will always link Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of “Brainwashing” when this subject comes up, haha.
My goodness, that was a roller coaster. Although I found it lacking in cohesiveness (I’m not sure that the evidence supports the conclusions), it’s certainly a thought-provoking article. Thanks for the link.
No problem!
I wish the .worlders & lemmee’s would open up a book to learn this for themselves.
The hard truth is .world and .ee deserve to make their space exactly like reddit and/or facebook if that’s what they want.
They have their space, we have ours. The weekly feud posts at .world are hilarious. Desperate attempts to keep the barn doors closed so no one escapes to the better instances.
These sorts of people eventually show their hand and people will leave on their own. Most recently the Luigi related debacles.
Desperate attempts to keep the barn doors closed so no one escapes to the better instances.
i wonder if this is why .ee rose to prominence in user counts.
Yea… 🫠
Of course, there must always be tribalism.
Lol
Your go to
More content and more comments. I basically only use mastodon and lemmy for my memes nowadays and as general social media.
With the end of the US election, there has been a bit of an ideological demographic shift, but more of a strong wind than a foundational upset.
