141
Lemmy wouldn't really takeoff to replace Reddit until it's content is search indexable
(self.unpopularopinion)
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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Unpopular Opinion
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Why does Lemmy need to do anything but be Lemmy? I don’t want to see it turn into Reddit. I like it just fine the way it is now.
More traffic plus searchability means more niche communities start to develop actual value.
As in the Lemmy community is a resource of info to the real world hobbits.
[email protected] is that way.
Lemmy could absolutely benefit from a bit more traffic. Lemmy is a good Reddit replacement for the largest subs. Like if you're into self hosting, Linux and general tech there's a lot to offer. But if I need to engage with a smaller community or ask a niche question I know there just isn't enough people here to fulfill that. Either that or a lot of smaller Lemmy communities are just bots reposting from their equivalent subreddit.
I'm pulling a number out of my ass but it seems like for every 50 people to subscribe to a community, you'll get 1 really active poster and 49 lurkers. My hometown on Reddit has 23k subscribers it's safe to say it's got about 400 active users. On Lemmy it's 86 and as the assumption math goes, there's only 1 person posting there.
Even if our traffic doubled we'd still be tiny in comparison but at least the small communities would start to come alive
Reddit didn't become popular overnight. It took decades before small communities were a thing. The internet is even less discoverable than when reddit got popular. People don't search for new websites or move without a reason.
I mean, it kind of did. When Digg imploded Reddit received a massive influx of users over night. At the time and with Digg out of the picture there just wasn't a good alternative to Reddit (slashdot and fark to lesser degrees) so they had the whole market to themselves. Similarly a lot of us came to Lemmy overnight when Reddit turned off their apps. The difference is, Reddit for many many users is still good enough and fundamentally the same as it's always been.
The fact is though, without search traffic the only way to end up on Lemmy is knowing it already exists and that's going to hinder growth.
You worded the core understanding in a better way but finally someone gets it!
i don’t know about decades plural. maybe one.
also reddit didn’t have to compete with reddit.
No disagreement, I just would prefer to see it happen organically. I’m not against indexing Lemmy or getting new users of course. I’m against Lemmy trying to be Reddit. After all, we saw how Reddit turned out. Why aim to be the thing we escaped from?
Definitely. Luckily the fediverse by its nature is somewhat insulated from becoming a company with a CEO like Reddit.
I said search indexable which would only allow the OC of Lemmy to outshine Reddit (to which it holds its most pride on) and not become Reddit like adding snoovatars or awards anywhere in my unpopular opinion with valid reason expanded above.
More people means more discussions. But more people also means more chance of encountering idiots. It's a hard balance.
It's great besides some of the power tripping mods that do whatever they want and remain anonymous while doing it.