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Hey everyone joining from the beautiful city of Detroit, Michigan

Hey, joining from the Metro East of the STL area. I browsed until I came upon this instance and took the plunge. Heard about Lemmy in a few places, including reddit.

Hello from the Joliet area of Chicagolandia...

Hello! I’m from NW Arkansas. Here because I’m getting frustrated with reddit and suspicious of it as well. Lots of bots, and fear mongering.

It’s important to me to try to keep my life in perspective. Touch grass. Go on hikes. I am looking for a place where information is not censored by billionaires so here I am… hello.

Hi! Joining the Midwest group from just outside the St. Louis area. I'm a mom of 3, working in STEM. I found Lemmy on Reddit and am working on slowly transitioning over here. I like it so far (but still feel like a noob). Being a progressive in the Midwest can feel pretty isolating and I've come to appreciate some of the like minds I've encountered on Reddit. Hoping I can still find that here while moving away from centralized platforms.

Hi everybody,

I'm a transplant from the Mountain West, moved out here for school and have been living in the Great Lakes region for just over three years now. Deleted my social media accounts at the end of last year and have been making an intentional effort to have a more engaging, thoughtful, and curated Internet presence.

I'm a bisexual, Spanish-soeaking immigrant, dating a trans man. Love learning and discussing science, history, and politics. Also into strength training (weightlifting and calisthenics) and looking for more cardio activities to rotate through. I was a chef in a past life so cooking and gardening are also big hobbies. Finally, I'm also getting into auto repair and photography in a big way, so hopefully I can meet some fellow enthusiasts in those realms! Glad to be here and thanks for having me.

hey midwest, I moved to the chicago "area" recently and I'm fucking miserable. So I'm fitting in well. Got my family to keep me busy, it's an OK hobby. Hoping to see some regional progressive activity to direct some energy in to. I fuck with fighting games. That's it, don't meet your heroes. Skreeonk

Currently living in Minneapolis, been here for....8 years after moving from WV. Making the jump since the other link aggregation site has starting warning and potentially banning people for upvoting comments about Lugi. Probably just going to lurk.

From Chicago. I made the plunge to Mastodon (and here) after the Reddit shenanigans and just seeing the repeated bad-faith policies by Twitter. I have been using redirector and libredirect for the last month or two to actively decide who I give my data to just as a fun experiment into best practices.

I think it's slowly starting to be clear that this type of setup will be the way forward for the more tech-savvy, privacy-focused users, and hopefully/eventually it hits the mainstream as well, but otherwise, it's just self-selecting into the type of people I want to be around, which will probably be better for my mental health anyways.

I'm into cycling, trading, sci-fi and FOSS. Currently reading The Expanse and taking a sabbatical year from work

Edit: Just want to encourage people to engage w/ and create content over the next few weeks. Activity and friendly faces are probably the most determining factor in whether someone becomes an active user or just browses for a few minutes

Sup nerds. I'm Miah, I'm from Western Michigan. I'm a UNIX/Linux nerd, Right to Repair advocate, and transgender woman. I've been working on our cars by myself and would love to make some car nerd friends. My wife and I have 24 chickens, and a budding garden.

Morning everyone. Chicago suburb native of 42 years who doesn't really feel like leaving. Working at one of the many data centers in the Chicago area, if you can call it work, because I enjoy technology in general. I joined because I've been migrating from legacy social media to the Fediverse; Reddit's API nonsense helped that process along.

Contrary to what my parents and sisters drilled into my head as I was growing up, I've been leaning more and more left as I age. At some point, someone decided that giving our children a better life meant making them suffer. Seems like teaching my kids to be grateful for the opportunities they have, respect others' beliefs, accept people from all walks of life, stand up for marginalized groups, foster positive mental health outcomes, not expect anything to be handed to them, and just be good people in general makes me a communist in the eyes of many, including my own parents. I'm gonna have to pass on whatever ideology came up with that and work toward dismantling it.

Beyond that ... I'm pretty low key most of the time. I like PC (Linux) gaming, physical computing, 3D printing, video editing, analog media preservation, listening to open source-related podcasts, road trips, dogs, glamping, grilling, beer, grilling while glamping and drinking beer and hanging out with my dogs, etc. I listen to metal but have been on a Sleep Token kick since the newest album was released.

I don't speak up often because someone else typically said what I want to say first, posting responses like "This" is annoying, and upvotes are silent. At any rate, nice to meet everyone, hope to be able to contribute something useful at some point.

55/m from the Downriver Detroit area, Michigan. 17-year R*ddit user, been around forever (started with BBSes, moved on to Usenet). Black Guy on the Internet. a2.mi.social member.

Used to run a freeform streaming radio station. Apple user since the ][+, love music.

Hey everyone, started exploring Lemmy the other week and really jumped in after the Apollo news broke.

I’m gamer/podcaster/dad/wannabe bourbon enthusiast from Michigan.

I have a tech role in logistics and am just looking for a chill community to be a part of.

Currently consumed with exploring Hyrule.

Hello! Quad Citizen reporting in, pretty active in the /r/Iowa and /r/QuadCities subreddits and poking around to see who's popped up in Lemmy.

MOST of our buildings are solid.

Yet another reddit refugee, but the only thing I will miss is the niche animal husbandry subreddits.

My main interests are critter genetics & habitat management, and a lot of husbandry n enrichment on the side. Always been a bit of a pain to be lefty & interested in livestock, most of the old forums such as they still exist are full of people that are pretty aggressive in their disapproval of my sort. But maybe I'll find a niche eventually!

I do other science n tech reading and cruise some of the hobby stuff (carpentry, mini terrain, jewelry making... I like a little bit of a lot of things) but don't usually post as much as lurk those areas.

Hello! I live in Kalamazoo, MI and grew up in Muskegon, MI. I'm a part of the mass exodus from reddit. So far I'm enjoying the fediverse and was glad to see an instance dedicated to midwesterners. I work in mental health and enjoy cooking/baking, crafting, painting, kayaking, gardening, gaming (DnD, Zelda, board games) and spending time with my loved ones. Excited to be here!

Former Reddit user who is jumping ship after 13 years, I live in the Twin Cities I’ve been in IT for more than 10 years trying to jump ship to programming interest our programming fanfiction litRPG‘s and audiobooks not necessarily in that order.

Here's my "me too" post.

Reddit refugee fleeing the third party app bullshit. I'm in IT, HPC to be more specific, at a well-known university in the Midwest. I play lots of video games, and by lots I mean mostly Terraria.

Thanks for your work @seahorse. I'm pumped to talk regional sports again. Big Ten, NFC North, NBA Central. Adios Reddit.

Hey, all. Like many, I'm bailing on Reddit given the drama and sheer disrespect for everyone, trying this community with a few friends.

I'm an Iowan, soon-to-be dad, equally-avid gardener and range time enthusiast, software engineer, gamer, etc. Based on the other intros, seems like I'll fit in well enough.

I wish I was consumed with exploring Hyrule; the pre-baby DIY crunch is too time-consuming.

Another former reddit user from the Twin Cities here. Enjoying learning about lemmy so far, still trying to figure out how it works! Big fan of disc golf, board games, books, and video games.

Howdy! I'm Evan, I'm from STL, and recently graduated from S&T with a BS in CS, going back for an MS. I'm a linguist, software engineer, musician, FOSS contributor, and Fediverse enthusiast. I build computers, run servers, write music, and get angry at the US/MO on the daily.

P.S.: call me scum, because I've only ever used Reddit via their official app, but at least I jumped ship!

Hey all, I live in Wisconsin and am exploring moving over from Mastodon because I like the Reddit-style interface better than Twitter-style. Like probably most here, I'm a tech nerd who is forever trying to get people away from the centralized internet.

Hi! Just joined because of the BS happening over at Reddit right now (RIP Apollo 😞). I've enjoyed my experiences on my friend's Mastodon instance and figured a Reddit-adjacent service on the Fediverse could be fun too. Librarian and researcher from Michigan, into social computing/inclusive design, hiking in the woods, collections development, Melee, Dwarf Fortress, etc. Nice to meet you all 👋

Hi there! I'm from Colorado, which is almost the midwest! I saw the community and decided to pop into Lemmy through here, though, since it seemed to be friendly and welcoming. I write queer fantasy romance and love a good book!

Hey all! Lifelong Midwesterner and current Chicagoan. Refugee from r/Chicago and Reddit user of 11 years. I love baking, gardening, and currently engrossed in the new Zelda.

Chicago leftist here! I like to play games, do Mutual Aid when I can, and read a lot of theory. Came over here to find a new community and more opportunities to network with other lefties.

Hi, Chicago resident primarily occupied with left-wing politics, board games, biking/public transit, and functional programming :)

Love the regional community server

Hi everyone! Like a number of new users here, I’m coming over from Reddit due to the recent changes there. I grew up in central WI, and currently live in Milwaukee. Work as a software engineer, and in my free time, I love to nerd out on rollercoasters, hike, and whatever tech projects I get myself in to.

Hoping to find a community as nice as people are in the Midwest, as well as a place to see pictures of everyone’s cats

Hello from /r/iowa!

Minnesotan and architectural designer here. I'm giving lemmy a try after deciding to leave that other site, and I feel like this midwest instance has the right vibe for me. Looking forward to spending all my time here instead of helping a faceless company make more money on their IPO!

Ohioan and electrical engineer here. Not exactly a refugee from reddit, since mostly all I did there was lurk, but excited to be here and distributed anything makes an engineer happy. At least this engineer.

Are folks from other instances welcome here? Still figuring out etiquette or whatever. I got impatient over the weekend and jumped into Lemmy through sopuli.xyz due to a lower barrier to entry.

I'm a Minnesota person living in St. Paul. I coordinate graduate programs, which basically means I'm a nanny for graduate students. Movie nerd and sweet tooth haver. 1 dog and 3 cats. I used to be a forklift operator and a freight railroad conductor. Formerly UFCW, BLET, and AFSCME. Now I'm IWW IU620.

Hello everyone. 26/m living in Peoria IL metro, working in a small evangelical church leading music and trying to not be outed as a leftist and an exvangelical. Interested in movies, Lego, urbanism, fantasy football, and craft beer with a new budding hobby of cocktails. Grew up in Champaign though, so by default I’m into college sports as well.

Hi there. Iowan leftist fleeing the mainstream platforms to help my mental health. Feeling disillusioned with national political action and wanting to focus my attention locally. I'm and avid gardener, war-gamer/mini painter, and forever D&D GM.

Hello, moved from Reddit like many others. Deleted my 8 year old and 12 year old accounts this morning. This already feels like what I always wanted Reddit to be.

Good morning, midwestern Lemmites! Actually a Hexbear refugee, I got banned when they found out I organize with Trotskyists. Don't worry though, my IRL organizing work creates enough personal irritation that I don't need to harass people who disagree with me in order to get it. I'm just here cuz its a leftish space of localish people, who post memes and stories I can comment on. I like Music, art, videogames, tech, books (history, social theory, sci fi)...well I actually have too many hobbies and interests to list. Thanks for letting me in your little instance!

Yet another long time Apollo refugee joins the instance. Greeting from Omaha, home of the Henry Doorly Zoo, Runza and… uh… Berkshire Hathaway? M/39 software dev with some young kids and a dog. Looking forward to the same bullshit on Lemmy I enjoyed on Reddit: D&D memes, programming, college basketball (Rock Chalk) and video games.

From a Wisconsin Exurb of the Twin Cities. I am an astronomer and instrumentation physicist, most of my day job is debugging software and electronics. But sometimes it is looking at galaxies and exoplanets. I am getting back into running after an injury and am currently reading about political economics.

Reddit user since 2011, already I feel right at home!

Fellow from Lansing, MI here. Joining as part of the reddit exodus, and because I like the concept of the fediverse.

Hi! I'm @slackadelic as you can tell! I've used this moniker for many years. The root of the nick comes from Slackware Linux many, many moons ago. I'm a father first, a husband second, and a gamer the rest of the time!

I like to play a lot of different games including #TheDivision2, #SeaOfThieves, #Battlefield (4 or 2042, either works for me).

My biggest hobby is streaming! You can always find me on #YouTube under my tag of slackadelicYT (yeah, whomever has my proper moniker never uses their account! ARGH!)

My main concentration right now for gaming is #TheDivision2 right now.

Other things I'm into:

• Information Technology - This is my primary field of study and have been doing it for many, many years My main concentration is networks and network engineering. I do have a pretty complicated setup at home, comes with the territory!

• Date nights with my wife! Love hanging out with my lady!

• Spending time with my kiddos. When they're not fighting each other and making a mess :)

I'm also a proud father to a recent high school graduate! Very, very proud of her!

Anything else, just ask!