I'm not old enough to remember the early internet, but I do feel like there's been a shift in how I interact with the internet in the last 6 months or so. Prior to that, most of my interaction was sanitized through the channels laid out by large corporations: twitter, instagram, etc.

While I still use those platforms to an extent, it feels as if it's become easier and easier to find interesting people and ideas that float below the broader internet waterline. They've certainly always been there, but I think it's indicative of some degree of rejection of oligarchic centralized platforms in favor of more democratic systems of interaction. It's early days, but the large platforms are showing their cracks and I think it's possible that more traffic could be diverted from them to places like Lemmy.

Personally, my problem with the more centralized platforms are that their adoption is so widespread that it becomes overwhelming to break in. So many opinions are flying around that it's impossible to engage in a meaningful way. The advantage of smaller platforms like Lemmy or kbin is that it's easier to engage and build community. As they grow, they'll have to figure out how to preserve that aspect, but I think their engineering provides an inherent advantage that other platforms lack.

This is a great Reddit alternative. I hope Federated platforms win over. Centralized BS is just no good! It does not work well, it is very focused on profit as well.

I’m a bit older and remember all of that and then some. The CEO-free Fediverse really does bring back a vibe of those good ok’ days of the internet (but with way better technology). Hopefully the recent events will help us all stay grounded and alert to ensure that this doesn’t get enshitified too. We have to remember that we, the users, are the value of any social media. Without us submitting content and putting our eyes on them, these sites are useless and worthless.

Right? Being on kbin makes me feel like a teenager hanging out on forums again, it's nice

This is exactly how I feel! So excited to be part of it.

This is my first time feeling part of an online community, it's amazing!

I'm a few years younger, but my sentiments are the same. I became a denizen of the Internet towards the end of the golden era of forums.
Due to scepticism, I didn't join Reddit until fairly late (~2018).

It didn't quite feel the same, but it did scratch the itch - but over the last few years it did feel like it was changing into something else. Quality content was getting buried under a sea of bot-generated reposts, and the sense of community kind died off. I ended up becoming quite the lurker towards the end.

Being here has awoken that old forum user in me, and while I may not be great at generating posts, it has made me want to reply and comment to stuff again.

I'm about your age, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. Lemmy has that old forum vibe and I'm all for it.

what is this website exactly? is it something new that was made in response to the Reddit API stuff? or has it already been around a while

You moved me.

this is cute

I have the same feeling. Sometimes not being the popular option seems to be the best 😀 I do want the fediverse to grow but I hope we will have the tools and features to retain this level of groundedness that we see today.