I’ve been on lemmy for over a year now, and I just realized I used to read all those HackerNews articles + their comments, I haven’t done that in probably 6 months because the discussion here has gotten much better. What’s changed for you with Lemmy over the last year?
In my view, Lemmy ecospace became a lot more dark. People are snarkier, less prone to engage in polite conversation and divergent opinions get hounded.
I also sense an increased tendency for doom and gloom. Nihilism is on the rise, as well.
Would you say the doom and gloom is Lemmy specific, or more of a global thing, given the state of life ATM?
I’m only on Lemmy. Can’t speak for other places. On my day to day life, people are concerned with living their lives.
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It’s definitely not just a Lemmy thing just any site that grows a user base.
I kind off think of it like the difference between talking to random people at a local hobby space vs a national convention. Sure you’re gonna still find people with shared interests but you got more people coming in with an agenda or chip on their shoulder, Or just general trolls who target larger groups because it’s more people to get a rise out of.
But you’d have to consult some sociologist or someone for a in-depth factual answer, I’ve just been on a lot of random sites/forums over the years.
Honestly Lemmy has handled it’s growth a lot better than most places online I’ve seen. I’d say people on here are pretty raw but not actively spiteful (mostly), which I very much vibe with.
Great point.
“Doomers sure love doom scrolling”
does nothing about the amount of doom in the world
less prone to engage in polite conversation
What the fuck did you just say to me, you little shit lemming? I’ll have you know that I graduated top of my class in online forum debates…
/jk
Yeah, yeah, yeah… and Happy New Year!
Among American users, this probably has a lot to do with the recent election.
I can’t see a flag near the nick, so I just try to treat everyone with respect.
That’s interesting because for me it’s the opposite, or maybe I just don’t notice it anymore. But when I first joined people were almost always hostile to one another. I feel like that’s not the case anymore.
I see that too recently. I just call them out, report, and block.
Lemmy is teaching me things by accident.
Most recently; I’ve started learning media literacy and now I can see all the same manufactured consent and narrative shaping that exists in legacy media and social media like Facebook and reddit; but in .world and lemmee too
I will always link Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of “Brainwashing” when this subject comes up, haha.
I wish the .worlders & lemmee’s would open up a book to learn this for themselves.
Yea… 🫠
The hard truth is .world and .ee deserve to make their space exactly like reddit and/or facebook if that’s what they want.
They have their space, we have ours. The weekly feud posts at .world are hilarious. Desperate attempts to keep the barn doors closed so no one escapes to the better instances.
These sorts of people eventually show their hand and people will leave on their own. Most recently the Luigi related debacles.
Desperate attempts to keep the barn doors closed so no one escapes to the better instances.
i wonder if this is why .ee rose to prominence in user counts.
Lol
My goodness, that was a roller coaster. Although I found it lacking in cohesiveness (I’m not sure that the evidence supports the conclusions), it’s certainly a thought-provoking article. Thanks for the link.
No problem!
Your go to
Lemmy has become my main social media outlet. For better or worse, Lemmy’s just my kind of place. I’m off of all mainstream social media except LinkedIn, which I barely use, but keep around for work related reasons.
I do still peruse Reddit, mainly for TV shows and niche subjects I can’t find here. But I haven’t logged in or posted since the first major exodus over the API pricing, and have no plans of returning.
I do post on Mastodon from time to time, but the format is just too geared towards short form content, and ultimately just isn’t my cup of tea.
So yeah. I’m generally happy to be here with you all shooting the shit about politics, Linux, etc. Long live Lemmy!
Hey bud, you dropped this
Here’s one from me to help.
It’s actually had content for me now
It’s become clear that Lemmy is not about to take off. For most users, it’s probably a fine Reddit clone, but it’s not about to replace the big R.
I’m sure that will change in 2025. 🧌
Lemmy doesn’t need to “take off” or compete with Reddit to succeed. Growth for the sake of growth holds little inherent value. Unlike commercial platforms reliant on VC funding to survive, Lemmy thrives on sustainability. What really matters is that there are enough developers to maintain the platform, people to host the server, and users to create content. With these elements in place, Lemmy can continue indefinitely without the need for explosive growth.
In fact, rapid growth could do more harm than good. A sudden influx of users often brings toxic behaviors, especially those migrating from platforms like Reddit. When new users trickle in slowly, they adapt to the existing norms and culture of the community. But when a horde arrives, they risk overwhelming and reshaping the community in ways that trample over its core values. A slow, steady stream of users allows for organic integration, preserving the essence of what makes Lemmy pleasant.
Unlike commercial platforms, open-source projects don’t rely on profit motives to survive. They’re driven by people who directly benefit from their work and are passionate about their vision. When disagreements arise, projects can be forked, allowing different groups to take them in new directions. Even if a project is abandoned, it can be revived by a new team as long as there’s a dedicated community. This flexibility and resilience make open source inherently more sustainable than commercial platforms, which can vanish overnight if funding dries up.
The Fediverse, and Lemmy within it, only needs a large enough user base to remain self-sustaining. I’d argue that it’s already well past that threshold. There’s no rush to grow rapidly. Steady progress ensures the community retains its identity and values, while the open-source nature of the platform guarantees its longevity. Lemmy isn’t just another platform; it’s a sustainable, adaptable ecosystem built to endure. I’m willing to bet that Lemmy will still be around long after Reddit crumbles to dust.
Starting to see different people reposting stuff on similar communities, which reminds me a lot of that other site. Not a huge fan.
I’ve also started noticing people downvoting instead of engaging when they disagree with something as well, which is frustrating.
Hey dude, I just wanted to let you know there is an option in your settings so you don’t see upvotes or downvotes.
Lemmy (AFAIK) doesn’t even show you your total upvotes (karma… whatever it’s called) by default either. None of these imaginary points fucking matter.
So why don’t you do yourself a favor and uncheck these boxes and not give a fuck what others think about your comment.
I know I have.
(Lemmy is rad as fuck)
As for the reposting content, are you referring to cross posting? I’ve noticed people doing it to my posts.
I think it’s a good thing as maybe some people have lemmy.ml defederated and I still want people who use lemmy to have content so they stay and grow the federation.
Again, the points are made up and the updoots don’t matter. Peace.
Probably a solid idea - thanks for the suggestion.
Not sure how well it will work with my mobile app but I will look into it!
Definitely seeing some people doing mass downvotes. By that, I mean they disagree so much with a person’s post that they then downvote other, unrelated posts by the same person.
I suspect I have a bit of an “anti-fan club” these days, I’ll have the sole downvote in threads for a benign opinion that goes along with the rest of the comments, but I don’t pay it any mind.
It’s not great, but at least downvotes barely affect anything other than visibility of top level comments on popular posts, and are easy to hide. Better that than people disagreeing using lazy insults and tired truisms.
My participation has dropped a lot compared to when I only just joined. There is only so much us centric doomer content I can stomach, and Lemmy is so extremely political that it is impossible to just browse cat memes and have a good time. So I spend less time here I suppose.
I almost never see political content or cat memes. I think your experience comes down to your subscription list.
I just block those that post that stuff. Lemmy is small enough that that works to a sufficient degree 👍 it’s a small group of prolific posters
Don’t forget to block me as well! Peace.
I just started filtering all of it
This is the way. I am happy to hear you are taking control of your lemmy experience.
It’s so much better! Filter, report, stand up, and block. I’m so done with people being unnecessarily rude and I immediately stop contact with them here. If it’s me I try to apologize. All that garbage should stay on reddit
Sounds like you don’t understand how to curate the content lemmy has to offer. I understand the hesitation, there just isn’t as much content here as there is on reddit.
But if you don’t want to see most of whats here, just don’t visit 4 times a day like people do with reddit. The content turn over is slower, so adjust your usage accordingly.
With the end of the US election, there has been a bit of an ideological demographic shift, but more of a strong wind than a foundational upset.
I see a lot less but muh Media Bias/Fact Check now than I did a year ago.
Lemmy is my only social media interaction these days, the content has improved, and the communities feel more distinct than they did a year ago. That could just be me getting up to speed though.
It was a nice surprise finding out that the left wing instances on here are actually pretty chill, way more so than on Reddit these days.
I peaked into r/communism and it’s genuinely awful. Full of the most toxic people I have seen in the supposedly “Marxist” communities. Surprisingly Lemmy is way more chill than Reddit.
Well, I’m here now. So there’s that.
You’re welcome. /s
It seems more active now. Which has been great!
I feel like there’s less Canadian content. After the Reddit API Exodus, there was a fair bit, but that dropped off.
I think a lot of people have gone back to Reddit.
Not enough jeans. :(
Real answer: there’s been an uptick in the amount of content lately, which is great. I’ve also unfortunately noticed an uptick in belligerent comments, which often detracts from the conversations taking place.
People here have gotten progressively meaner and I am seeing more and more AI slop. Also the quality of memes have fallen off a fucking cliff in all meme communities.
How can you complain about the quality of the memes if you haven’t posted a single one yourself?
Show us how it’s done.
