I like having the conversation organized around topics instead of people

Do you prefer the style of Twitter, or Reddit? Tweets or threads? That's the big difference.

As a side option: Kbin. It's a Reddit alternative like Lemmy (and pretty much works the same way for the purposes of this), but it also has better federation with mastodon, and every community has both a 'reddit-like' half and a 'twitter-like' half so you kinda get the best of both worlds.

Mastodon is organized around individuals. Lemmy is organized around topics.

The Lemmy way is far superior.

I dislike Mastodon for the same reason I dislike Twitter. It seems to me like it's more centered around individual people and what they share rather than building multiple communities around multiple things that interests me.

Sure, I can craft my own community, but then I have a feed where I only encounter posts from the same people, and chances are, opinions that I already agree with. It's not as easy to switch from a tv show to programming, for example. Yes, hashtags exist but they don't even come close to communities on Lemmy.

The worst part are the types of posts that only reiterate how stupid "the other side" is without seriously trying to understand their arguments. This is not only true about politics but many other topics as well.

That's a bit like asking "twitter or reddit"; different tools, different purposes. A single person may prefer one or the other, or use both in approximately equal measure.

Lemmy feels like Reddit to me and Mastodon feels more like twitter

so to me they're both decentralized versions of popular social media

i just think of them as my new reddit and twitter since those companies are sitting at their desks jerking it all day

Lemmy if you vibe with Reddit.

Mastadon if you vibe with Twitter.

I prefer Lemmy because it's more like the *R site....whereas Mastadon is the little Blue Bird site. I like having a discourse with others in a single page thread.

I never really 'got' Twitter-style microblogging, and still don't really get Mastodon for the same reason. But I could some use for it if I represented some kind of group or organization that needed to publish regular updates.

Well, you asked about our preference. As already said, the use case is totally different, so it can be a bit difficult to really compare.

However, I prefer long form discussions most of the time, which gives me a lemmy preference overall.

That being said, mastodon is very well developed and supported overall. Switching between the two on my author account is kinda like going from a nice, new sedan (mastodon) to a five year old economy car. Things are smoother on mastodon overall, there's less bugs, etc that show up to an end user.

I am more interested in following topics than following individuals, so I use Lemmy way more than Mastodon.

I find good content much easier here on Lemmy. I actually find it pretty frustrating to try to find engaging content on Mastodon. I appreciate the "algorithm-less" design of Mastodon, but I think users need a choice. The algorithm on Twitter was what kept me coming back until it really went to shit.

I like both so I use both. I find myself much less “active” on Lemmy though.

I find the community aspect of Mastodon to be much better as you get to know people. Less likely to get that on Lemmy in my opinion as it’s content/topic oriented.

Lemmy for sure! Its hard to get interaction on Mastodon

I prefer reddit-esqe to twitter-esqe too, but I also think fediverse suits reddit-esqe better. The only reason I used Twitter was content from people I was interested in, and most of them aren't on Mastodon. Here, I don't care about any individuals, so Lemmy being fairly small is fine.

I prefer Lemmy because things are separated by topic thanks to communities. I also hate character limits, it so dumb

I like them for different reasons. Mastodon is somewhere I check on my phone for updates on things I care about, random posts, memes, or interesting topics that make it into my feed.

Lemmy on the other hand is somewhere I actually hang out. Sure, there are the memes, but there's more room for in depth discussion here, and I can spend hours here while I usually browse mastodon in minutes. In a way they are both how Twitter and Reddit used to be before they got massively popular and I find it refreshing.

In the end, I went with kbin because it combines features and integration of the two platforms while having stuff unique to it. I definitely recommend it if you like both platforms.

I tried Mastodon in November but in March I had to quit as I noticed it took almost all the free time I had as I tried to be an active user there. It also had an effect on my personal life and mental health.

Lemmy seems so much better for me as the threads remain visible in the communities and I can get back to them anytime I want. In Mastodon it was difficult to find the thread the next day as there was so much conversation after the previous visit. I'm so happy I discovered Lemmy.

Having tried both, I think I prefer Lemmy

Just use both and be done.

I have a Kbin and a Mastodon

I use Mastodon because there are accounts I follow that are pretty cool, like @lowqualityfacts who is pretty funny.

I use Kbin less because of specific people but more due to having different magazines/communities which I find pretty nice too.