this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation

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Hey, I've been looking at what I'm subscribed to on Lemmy and it really grim, and not really what I want from a social media. I'm into tech, but the tech subs talk about evil things companies do, a lot of linux meme and programmer humor, and it's all cool and all, piracy talking about how it's bad what certain company do. And when you go in global it's "Amercan Politics" "Elon Musk Bad" "Stealing data", "our world ending"

Recently my brother and I where bored, and I went to show him we moved to lemmy, and said we had memes and all the stuff here. And looking at top memes, it was "complaining about big tech", and "complaining on windows".

And, I miss a bit all I had on Reddit not going to lie.

So is there any active community with some positive things anywhere you'd recommend. I just feel like I'm in a bad angry environment.

I've got:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Edit: Wow! If you come after, I'd truly, truly invite you to look around in the comments, people here truly changed the way I see Lemmy, its way different now! Way better!

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[–] Candelestine 76 points 1 year ago

I'm guessing it has to do with our early-adopter status still. Gotta remember, we're still the scrappy little underdog that only the weirdos know about. We are all weirdos, you, me, everyone else. Being here is sufficient to make that true. Over time that'll change, but for now we're just too unknown still.

So, what you have here is a lot of idealists that disapprove of reddit, a lot of people that got banned from reddit and can't go back, and a lot of tech bros and excited young people in general.

You can probably see how these different demographics can kinda come together to create what we see around us here, while a lot of the more "normie" content is still mostly back where we came from. (for us reddit refugees anyway)

That said, you can find a small handful of support group communities for things like alcoholics, and the food and cat subs tend to be fairly active and not so much of a constant clickbait downer. The various AskWhatever subs aren't bad either, though activity is still very light.

We're still in the very early stages though, a phase that'll probably last another year or two. Give us time, we don't even have our software at full functionality yet.

[–] mob 56 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just want some reasonable and active communities. Those "wholesome" based communities often end up feeling really fake.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, forced wholesomeness can be exhausting too. I just want normal convo where people aren't cramming their doom shit down your throat.

I replied to an ask lemmy post about how I stay positive with things going to shit, so I said how and people literally were trying to drag me down into doom. Like: "how dare you think this way, this is why you're wrong and should be feeling more negative."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, for most people it's "God it's terrible out here. I'd like to do things that make me feel better." And some folks hear that and go, "yeah you're SUPPOSED to feel bad because the world is bad and you should actually be MORE angry and upset so that you'll join my political project."

Which, like, has some truth to it. Capitalism is bad, true enough.

But if someone is just looking for connection, entertainment, and some good times to carry us through the bad... probably not the best time to recruit them into a political cause. Well, you could, if your political project has a big component of joy to it.

But I get it. I also get burned out just trying to stay informed. And maybe I just wanna talk about the new jazz album I found yesterday (black classical music by Yussuf Dayes) or the new game I'm stoked about (Sea of Stars). Good art would exist under any political system, after all!

[–] oogles 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I really agree. I want to like Lemmy, I really do, but every post is doom filled negativity. It's like a big negativity circlejerk where people are only ever posting about stuff they hate, like Elon and Twitter/X and Chrome and capitalism. There is very little content that actually celebrates something. Perhaps this is the issue with social media in general, as that has been the vibe I've gotten from Twitter and why I've never really been much of a user of it. There is definitely a similar thing on Reddit but Reddit is large enough that you can find pockets (usually smaller niche communities) that are more filled with positivity. But maybe Lemmy doesn't have enough of a critical mass to foster those sorts of communities yet.

[–] Tag365 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What happened to Lemmy? In June people were saying it was all positive and better than Reddit...

[–] mightyfoolish 5 points 1 year ago

Being niche worked against it's favor. For example:

Lemmy.ml used to ban "anti-tankie" people while Lemmy.world openly mocks them. The mods on Lemmy seem much more open to disrespect than your average Reddit mods.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Well i'd invite you like me to look into the comments and subscribe to those places, some look wonderful!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (5 children)

If you are a Trekkie, you can join the premier meme community in the fediverse, [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (4 children)

As a 40 something, I tend to find memes tedious, boring, and unoriginal. Like, to the extent that I actively block every meme community that pops up on my feed.

Except Risa. It's my favorite community on Lemmy and makes me laugh multiple times per day.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Same here. 90% zero effort memes, not worth it for the 10%.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Lemmy memes are pretty bad on average, to be honest. Like... tons of "le outdated le cringe" from the least funny parts of Reddit about 10 years ago, actually about as funny as rage comics (which I think I've seen posted here, actually)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Everyone is agreeing with you on the first point, but I have to agree with you on Risa! It's my favorite part of the fediverse so far, by far.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Seconding this, great original content

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[–] Hangglide 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All of my subscribed lemmy communities have no new content.

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

Posted from an account that has created zero threads.

No one is obliged to post new content but an account that does not complaining about a lack of new content comes off as very hypocritical.

Why is no one entertaining me?

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You gotta browse through the list of communities and go more niche lol. For example, I'm subscribed to stuff like aquariums and plantscaping, travel, NFL, horror movies, awwducational, 2000snostalgia, food, ramen, true crime. Of course local communities, my state and local area for example. I like birds, so birding, why not? I'm watching kaiju movies now, so I subscribed to a kaiju community. Specific games I like. Specific music genres I like, shoegaze for example, but alternativenation's an easy start. Explain like I'm five (ELI5) and Today I Learned (TIL) are popular and not full of downer stuff. I'm subscribed to stuff even if there are no\few subscribers, because one day, there will be more.

The only thing that sucks is that I'm also subscribed to tech and news, and being that those communities are the most popular, they're always flooding the top of my feed. Sorting by "hot" helps.

[–] IonAddis 11 points 1 year ago

Basically this.

I'm subscribed to frugal, archaeology, science fiction, stuff like that. The communities are still growing so it's still a dice roll which will grow or die, but I try to help out by finding or making content.

The upside is that your voice doesn't automatically get lost now.

But Reddit dismembered a lot of old niche forums by stealing their members tho so it'll take a while to regain a similar amount of old niche knowledge.

[–] burnso 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can you give tips re: plantscaping and aquariums? They were some of my favorites on reddit but I’m not sure what they’re called over here.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey! There's [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. The lemmy world one's a bit more active, but I don't care, I just subscribe to them all lol. I haven't found a substitute for r/PlantedTank or r/Aquascape yet though. Someone's created [email protected], but it's dead.

Edit: I just realized there's [email protected] and [email protected] if you like saltwater!

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm not well versed in Lemmy so this might be totally incorrect but I think if you share a link, instead of the c/ you put "!" at the front so people of different instances can open them community on their own instance.

I'm basically just regurgitating what I've read and it could be wrong.

Also just for the sake of conversation, one of my favourite wholesome Reddit subs was mum for a minute where people without mother's would go for motherly support and congratulations. I haven't seen anything like it here yet.

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

I've changed it, thank you very much!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

No problem at all haha. I'm glad it worked tbh. Nothing worse that offering up advice for it to just be wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I can't speak for any of the apps but all these should link to the community through your own instance

/m/ /m/[email protected]

/c/ /c/[email protected]

! [email protected]


Interestingly, Connect is formatting all of them with an exclamation point instead of the first slash, like !m/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ah ok, I'm using an android app so that may be why I don't get a clickable(tappable?) link unless it is an exclamation point to start it.

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[–] eochaid 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I get you, but this is how people are today - and the internet feeds it. We get a lot more positive feedback from negativity these days and the internet brings more people together which means there's more chance for a spontaneous negativoty circlejerk. And honestly, it's harder to be positive against the grain in such a situation than it is to join the circlejerk.

This behavior has nothing to do with Lemmy or Reddit or Mastodon or Twitter or whatever platform. Yes, each has a "culture" but those cultures are easily changed as more people join. And that's the problem with Lemmy. What you remember is a smaller community with enthusiasm for a new platform. Over time, as Lemmy gets more people and the "newness" dies down, negativity will surface. The only difference between Lemmy and Reddit is the management and federation, the people are always going to be the same.

The only thing we can do is be the change we want. Create your own positive posts. Interject negative circlejerks with positivity. Run against the grain. What you'll find is that, whilr you'll get hate, people will come out of the wordwork to join in your positivity - but only once someone else does it first. Misery does love company, by positivity is infectious and sometimes needs a patient zero.

Think about your contributions to this goal. You saw a lack of positivity and your immediate response was to complain about it with this post. You're feeding the thing you hate with this very post. If, instead, you had posted something positive, then you'd be woking towards a more positive Lemmy. But instead, this post is pulling it down and forcing everyone to wallow in the very negativity you think is destroying Lemmy.

Now, of course you did it because it's a much easier way to force a conversation. You see a problem, you want to talk about the problem. But that's exactly why you see more negativity. It's way easier to see and react to the negative than to react with positivity. And that's why no matter what platform you're on, you're always going to have this issue.

The best anti-war stories are those that are set during peacetime, because they show the alternative, rather than glorifying the violence of war. At the same time, you cannot fight negativity with negativity.

If you want Lemmy to be a more positive environment, you'll need to add some positivity of your own. But I promise you, your investment will pay dividends. People will come out of the woodwork to join in whatever positive message you put out. Sure, you'll have haters, but others will defend you. You just have to start the ball running.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The /c I found relaxing include:

Well, there are a lot to list (I only got to 'c'). One of the best things you can do is, post positive things that make you happy on the /c you follow for your fellow lemmies. The happiness this generates are multiple times worth the posts you read. Try it. Be a positive content relayer / originator yourself.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Thank you, those are great!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Andfinally is a great find, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

If you like art there's...

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

also

[email protected]

[email protected]

I've curated some other art communities in the side bar at [email protected] including watercolour, art share and one of the photography communities

There are also lots of science and nature communities on mander and beehaw, if you search by 'all' in the communities tab at the top, type and just go down a few rabbit holes...nudibranchs, orchids, botany, minerals, geology, animals and pets etc all exist, you just need to start searching

Happy trails :)

edit forgot [email protected] and [email protected]

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[–] Codandchips 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pop over to [email protected] There's a few non-Brits signed up, so you'll won't feel left out. Bring some chocolate Hobnobs and we'll put the kettle on.

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

Great idea, I'm moving there in one week, so that's a great idea

[–] TeaHands 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

At least we don't have fightporn justiceserved and all that bullshit

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods? Where's the streetwise Hercules, to fight the rising odds?

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

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night, I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

[–] SnoopyGirl09 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] Papanca 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know if these were mentioned yet (didn't check the entire thread), but since i really liked the question, i wanted to add some more:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected] (this will melt your heart, i promise)

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[–] iforgotmyinstance 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you find the wholesome, funny lemmy let me know. For months this site has been like 80% porn, Linux autofellatio and making safe spaces for extremists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I would 100% advise you looking in all the comments and subscribing to stuff. Truly changed my day today, feels like a whole new social media

[–] Papanca 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I feel ya, a few of my personal favorites when it comes to escaping all the politics are:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

And then of course all of the ImaginaryX communities, which I'm sure there exists a register of somewhere, but I just sub as I stumble across them.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Upliftingnews on Lemmy.World is a good one. I'm on kbin so not sure how to link:

@[email protected]

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[–] TeaHands 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are some surprisingly active craft communities here that are by definition pretty wholesome, but I guess probably not that interesting if you're not into the specific hobbies themselves. ymmv. You can find a sticky thread with a ton of them listed here https://lemmy.world/post/1715954

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

To keep negative things to a minimum I have subscribed to a cat community, aww community, two dog communities, and have restricted myself to only one technology community. No news communities.

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