XYZinferno

I wouldn’t call it a matter of need. While I want to see Lemmy grow, I don’t think that we should rely on outrage on another platform to drive our own activity in the long term. While the number of users joining has slowed down, it certainly hasn’t halted.

All we can do is make Lemmy as solid and enticing of a platform as possible, and leave those on Reddit to choose between supporting a platform they don’t like and leaving. We shouldn’t be responsible for forcing their hand, but we should be responsible for maintaining a healthy community here.

I think even something like a indie video game developer hosting a forum on Lemmy instead of Reddit would do wonders for making Lemmy “mainstream”. Or even a youtuber, streamer, or some other content creator at that. But of course, it’s not something I’d go out of my way to do; just something that I think will happen in due time.

Honestly, a pretty valid take, all things considered. I can see why many people would find the headline outrageous, but reading through the article, I think it’s a message that a lot of people do need to hear. And I think everyone should read what OP is conveying before jumping to conclusions.

I’ve seen people on Lemmy with mixed opinions on how Lemmy and the Fediverse should be treated. Some want to expand Lemmy and siphon off as many users from Reddit, while others want to keep the gates tight. Some want Lemmy to remain a small, niche community for enthusiasts, while others want the Fediverse to be a new paradigm for the maintstream internet.

I agree, that Fediverse platforms built up with donations and little to no profit incentive will likely remain dwarfed compared to the tech giants that can afford to give the public the high-end, high-production social media they ultimately prefer. As OP said, that’s okay. The fediverse can remain a viable alternative, even if it doesn’t become the new #1.

I think this is a message people should hear if they think Lemmy has the potential to outright eclipse Reddit at the moment, or think the Fediverse will take over the entirety of the internet and give the top tech companies a run for their money in doing so.

Multiple distros and instances are a double edged sword. It isn’t as basic as having one site like Reddit or one OS like Windows, but has the advantage of not being at the mercy of one company like Reddit Inc or Microsoft, should they push some change people don’t like. These distros/instances allow for individuals to tailor their experience however they want without having to beg the developers or admins to listen to them.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you want to avoid the shitshow happening on Reddit now, you may have to make things too complicated for the “average grandma” to understand. That’s just how shit works.

Who the fuck cares about instances and whatnot when an average grandma just wants to make a post on knitting in a supportive community?

To put it simply, who the fuck cares about the average grandma when we want a forum that won’t turn into Reddit in the next decade?

At some point, I’m sick and tired of this notion that everything on the internet has to be simplified for the lowest common denominator. Lemmy isn’t hard to get a handle on. Either people learn how to use it, or they miss out. We can streamline the process as much as possible, but not to the extent of compromising on what makes federation valuable.

21 yo software dev here, so not quite older, but I’d say I fit the tech nerd bill lmao

While a lot of people are conscious about the software they use, I think being involved in tech, either as a hobby or career, ups the chance that a person will care about things like user privacy, how an app is run, algorithms that might manipulate the user, or even how technologically literate the rest of the community is

And that isn’t to be condescending towards people who are more apathetic about it. It’s like how a doctor might be more behooved to eat healthy; when you’ve seen and studied what can go wrong, you’re more compelled to avoid it

after making open projects struggle to keep up, they’ll drop it and kill the rest of the network in the process.

But are we trying to keep up? Lemmy as we know it is composed of instances run by small groups, with nowhere near the same backing that the biggest tech companies have. Meta, Reddit, whoever the company is- they can advertise, promote, bribe, and do whatever they want to boost their numbers.

I don’t think it would kill the network. As long as instances like these remain honest and working, with a dedicated following, people who want to escape Meta will have somewhere to go.

And as @Ignacio said in this thread, it’s the users fault if they decide to move to and depend on a platform that’s bad for them.

I mostly navigate it from my laptop, but in the cases where I use my phone, Jerboa is still my go-to

Buggy at times, but I like the UI. Definitely open to new apps though. Connect didn’t feel like my type, but I might try out

Boost once it’s done, since a friend of mine recommended it for Reddit.

Interesting take on the matter. Right now, I’m not sure which way I sway, since there’s valid points on both sides. On one hand, I’d hate to tolerate Meta, and I don’t doubt they have some plan for trying to bend and twist the Fediverse to suit their own interests. But on the other hand, as of right now, forcing them to play by the rules of the open source software we collectively use is leverage against Meta, and allows us to safely access their content without having to download their apps.

Definitely going to have to think on this a bit more, myself.

Unfortunately, there’s no real way of knowing. But for any community someone’s gotta take that initial leap of faith and build it up from just a few people, even if it sounds like you’re talking to yourself sometimes. At least until like-minded people start to show up and be drawn in to what you’ve built.

Even for the community that I’m trying to start up here, !presidents, it might just be my friend and I making posts, and it might stay that way for weeks, or possibly months. But that’s a possibility you have to be okay with when starting up a community.

Try and talk to other individuals who are as passionate about your community’s premise as you are. Friends you know irl, or people you’ve met in a similar community on Reddit. Having even just a few other people to engage with can make the process seem a lot less lonely and futile.

Malicious compliance at it’s finest! Screwing with the Reddit admins like that will always get a chuckle out of me

Keep in mind too that the expiration date for many of the mainstream third party Reddit apps is June 30

Just think of the spike in users when that rolls around in 10 days