this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
309 points (93.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27257 readers
1549 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

...relative to Reddit's size?

I see so many posts and comments voicing disappointment with Lemmy's lack of massive expansion.

I too want to see Lemmy gain more users, but I do not want it to grow to Reddit's size. If Reddit is the yardstick, I'd say that a population that large attracts a lot of negative behaviours; degeneration of discourse, amplification of echo chambers and hive mind behaviour, etc...

I started on Reddit in 2010 and found that by 2016 things were really bad in comparison. A fun and engaging site was experiencing an obvious devolution that persists to this day, accelerated by Spez's enshittification of the platform. Obviously the fediverse insulates us from that occurring here but I think you get what I mean.

Do you you think Lemmy is too small? I don't. I've been here since the great migration last year and have had a really good time. I see a lot of familiar names in the comments on a daily basis. It actually feels like a community here. I guess I just don't understand the fixation on the size of Lemmy's user base. Curious to hear your thoughts.

[EDIT] Thanks for all the responses, everyone! Lots of perspectives I hadn't yet considered.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

I would like particular communities to grow but the Facebook/Instagram/tiktok people can stay where they're at.

[–] ABCDE 7 points 4 months ago

Subs which are huge in other places don't exist here. So growth is needed.

[–] iLL_Behaviour 7 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I just joined. What’s some good sub communities with good engagement?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Welcome in from the cold. We've got hot cocoa and marshmallows.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why are you so fixated on people who are fixated on Lemmy's growth? 🤔

[–] DerpDerpingtonIsHere 6 points 4 months ago

Why are you fixated on them being fixated on people who are fixated on Lemmy's growth 🤔🤔

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean, Lemmy is pretty much news and... That's it. I loved the smaller communities of Reddit. And Reddit was really nice, you just had to get off the subs with millions of subscribers.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I see lemmy as a sort of test-balloon: Can we overcome network effects? And in a larger (and maybe slightly hyperbolic) sense, can we become a rational civilization or are we doomed to fail as a species?

On a civilization level we are currently seeing a massive downward trend due to news and social media become completely... well wrong. And it's getting worse. The main media aspects of the internet have done the exact opposite of what we wanted it to become. And most of it is because it's run only for profit.

So lemmy and the fediverse is a pretty good attempt at trying to break that and replace it with something more democratic and sane. But I think it's likely that lemmy is going to fail to achieve that. The synergy through network effects is just too strong. Reddit, youtube, facebook, google, twitter will never be replaced. At least not without a massively funded alternative (e.g. tiktok that funded creators for a while) and that just ends in the same way again. Seeking profit instead of serving the users is a kind of insanity for our "means of communication".

Of course that is a bit hyperbolic and lemmy is fine and fun to use as it is, but I wish it would fully replace reddit as a sane alternative.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I saw a bunch of new people join recently because of Reddit saying something about potentially pay walling subs. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been having a nice time with Lemmy having ditched Reddit last year, and considering the changes that happened or have been conceptually floated over that time I'm happy with my choice.

One thing I would like is for the Lemmy framework to make it easier for the network to be "wider" than "taller" as it grows. By this I mean a wider array of separate domains with operators each with thriving niche communities, rather than a few tall generalist servers and a handful of outliers, and a fragmented myriad of inactive communities that are hard to find.

[–] Eheran 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That is exactly the problem with Lemmy. Far too many niche communities with next to no members. That does not work. There are not enough people to have 5 separate communities about X.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I dunno but I'm not. I'm just having fun

[–] Etterra 5 points 4 months ago

Too many people are just competitive. I didn't get it either, just ignore it and post memes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

One day, this too will turn to shit. But when that day comes, people will just drift to different instances. Not including federation and niche communities, this is functionally equivalent to reddit for me

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

People just want what they gave up and what they know, it is that simple.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sir_pronoun 4 points 4 months ago (7 children)

You can insult and annoy more people with your comments when there's more users, so..

(People on lemmy are way too nice. I love that, but I miss old fashioned trolling here. It's just part of the internet for me.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

(People on lemmy are way too nice. I love that, but I miss old fashioned trolling here. It's just part of the internet for me.)

Hey, Fucko. While I also miss that a bit, I find the positivity that I encounter more in the Fediverse to be much better for my mental and emotional health. Plus, it's inconveniencing you in particular 💕.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] artemisRiverborne 3 points 4 months ago

I guess for me it's disappointing to see how much nonsense ppl will put up with from reddit, when so many ppl made noises Abt how they wld leave

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›