this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2023
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Asklemmy

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I'm just another reddit refugee to be honest

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[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The outlook of having to use the official Reddit mobile app. No thanks. Even if the Fediverse only has a tiny fraction of the user base of Reddit, I'll still encounter more original content in an hour on here than I'd come across during a whole day on the ad-infested active battery-drainage that is Reddit's sorry excuse for a mobile app.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

"Just in case" is a little optimistic. Come 1 July, RIP.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I made my account about two years ago, same with mastodon etc., because I switched to Linux back then and was looking for more Open Source and Privacy Friendly projects. But back then Lemmy had pretty much no users, so it was so boring that I quickly was on Reddit again. Now I saw how many people started to switch to Lemmy, and I remembered that I already have an account here, sooooo yea I try to be more active here than on Reddit now again.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

As many have said and will say, the recent Reddit changes (at least to an extent). In my case, the announcement really just accelerated my plans. I've been interested in the "Fediverse" for a while now, and I've been largely convinced it may be one solution to what I see as the malfunction of our modern internet. When I was younger, I was convinced the access to information and the ability to connect with others from across the globe would reap great rewards for all involved. In more recent years, I've come to wonder if social media was a mistake and whether the internet as it is will do more harm than good. But the "Fediverse" - decentralization - gives me some hope.

So, I've been keeping an eye on ActivityPub projects. I've been messing with PeerTube for a while, but not much else. I could never really get into Twitter, so I couldn't really get into Mastodon (I tried a few times). "Reddit alternatives" were on my to-do list. I kept putting it off, but like I said, the recent announcements finally inspired me to start looking more closely. I was actually surprised to find an alternative as good as Lemmy, even if it isn't perfect. Kind of kicking myself for failing to find the motivation sooner.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I came here 3 years ago when I started looking for reddit alternatives, for a while i lurked here then i eventually visisted it less and less until now

Tbh i feel a few weeks ago the site was basically dead with most posts on front page having less than 10 upvotes and low engagement on all the posts so the new people joining gave the site a revival in a way or something

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

The API changes were what pushed me over the edge. I had been sick of Reddit for years, but every other service I tried to move to was basically just getting its links and news from Reddit a few days later, so I just dealt with it so I could be informed.

I needed a critical mass of people to pick a service, and it looks like Lemmy is the place!

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

The decline of reddit.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Been looking for an alternative to Reddit for awhile, and I only view them with third party apps. So if that goes away I need for find a new place.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

been interested in the fediverse for a while now, the decline and recent events of reddit pushed me to create a lemmy (and mastodon) account

[โ€“] TheDude 5 points 1 year ago

For those old enough, we've been through something similar before with Digg. Now its reddit's time. I believe Lemmy might be the most logical next step

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I joined like a year or so ago when I first heard about Lemmy. I haven't been too active but the nice UI and pretty interesting posts keep me coming back.

Recently decided to create two communities for things I'm interested in:

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do you create a community, I'm on jeroba and there's something I wanna make

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you. Gonna make it now

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Share a link once you do? :)

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For some reason of takes long for the website to let me in. I'm using the right password

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

lemmy.ml is currently a bit slow due to the influx of new users. Maybe try again in a little while. https://lemmy.ml/post/1147770

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Alright I'll try tonight. If I make a community am I responsible for modding it?

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

The API changes will threaten boost which is the platform I used to access the app and have done for years, this was the trigger. But my general desire to get off the platform was what pushed me to make the switch. Reddit has become increasingly difficult to enjoy for anything other than a meme site. Which I didn't really mind but the people made it hard to want to post anything of substance. I also discovered Lemmy as an active ish community and I like the structure of the fediverse. Overall I saw Lemmy as a good alternative with a strong enough user base. I hope that we don't get seen as outsiders when we inevitably crash servers with the numbers that will be arriving soon.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The new Reddit design and API fees. It's ironic because the entire reason I joined Reddit was because of the Digg redesign. Digg almost sold for $200 million before the redesign, but eventually sold for $500k a few years later. Reddit is just speed-running the same story, and hoping the sale happens before the fallout.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My very first comment on Lemmy :)

I am looking for a social network that has the interest of its community as a top priority.

Reddit (similarly to Stack Exchange, these days) prioritizes its business goals against the best interests of the users and the volunteers that provide, moderate, consume and discuss the content.

These companies are nothing without the community, while the community can live without these companies.

A business that operates the platform that supports a community is entitled to profiting from it, but it cannot happen at the expense of the commuinity itself.

The recent changes to Reddit's API policies are worrying on their own, and have significant impact on users, moderators and the creators of the third-party services/apps that have made Reddit much more enjoyable. But I feel these changes have much more profound implications about the balance of power between the platform provider and the community, as if the former pretends to own and control the content and how the community is allowed to consume it, which is not even remotely acceptable.

I hope Lemmy is the place I am looking for.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm making an account here just in case Reddit actually ends up killing third party apps.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I found out about Lemmy a few years ago when I started looking more at the Fediverse, but I never really felt a need to create an account here as I could just browse around. It wasn't until recently due to Reddit's announced changes that I wanted to start interacting here more.

Apart from the inevitable performance issues at times and some weird UI issues I've found (lack of error messages when things silently fail, unable to navigate away from a page when something hasn't been saved, no dedicated community settings page) I'm enjoying my time here.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Formerly part of the Digg exodus. Now it looks like I'll be part of the Reddit exodus. Fingers crossed that we can get traction started here!

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What did the digg exodus happen?

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In late 2010, Digg (which was a popular news/link aggregation site similar to Reddit) released "Digg V4", an update that added a bunch of ads and put sponsored/power user content front and center. In response, Digg users flooded the site with Reddit crossposts and within a very short period of time it seemed like most of the Digg userbase had moved to Reddit. Digg died out not long after.

History is repeating itself. There was an attempt in like 2015 or so with Voat when unpopular Reddit admin decisions led to a partial migration, but it sort of failed and Voat became a conservative hellscape when everyone else went back to Reddit.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I used to use digg (and deli.cio.us before that) but I probably moved to twitter and FB before the exodus.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I left Digg probably 13 years ago. So I've been a redditor for a long time. It has changed enormously in the last few years though.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I joined lemmy.ml maybe 6 months ago as I was exploring the fediverse. Fell in love with it, and spun up an instance with my partner. It's been sitting here quietly most of that time, but has exploded recently!

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I jumped on the Mastodon train last April when the population started to grow more quickly. I've always been more of a forum/message board user than a microblogger, though, and was hoping this space would take off in a similar way (if not for similar reasons, or for them, as the case may be).

I'm very bullish on decentralization for the forum/aggregator space, since that's fundamentally where these types of communities have their roots anyway, so I'm excited to see people showing up.

Hopefully we're nearing a population size where significant quirks can get ironed out, but with an audience that is technical or avant-garde enough to put up with them for a bit.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been posting on message boards forever (Game FAQ, IGN, RealGM to name a few), and reddit was my next foray. I was pretty sad to hear about the API news and I saw Lemmy mentioned in one of the threads, so I decided to join.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I think I found out about it from stuff like open-source news in 2022, and made an account but never really used it. Now, with the Reddit API changes, I gave it another try and I love it!

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I don't remember. First of all, I knew about fediverse thanks to Elon Musk, when he decided to buy Twitter on April last year. So, I went to Mastodon (my first instance was a tankie one, by the way, and I didn't notice it on first sight). Afterwards, I was learning more about fediverse services, like Pixelfed, PeerTube, Lemmy and others. So, I've a Lemmy user since the 28th of April, 2022. But I've also a kbin.social user since yesterday.

I think these reddit news had nothing to do with my decision to create an user on Lemmy. But they do have everything to do with my decision to be more active here.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty sure I heard about lemmy before, and I was interested, but there just wasn't enough activity to sustain my interest for more then a minute. Now I've come here from reddit, there's a lot more activity, and I feel like contributing is worth more than on reddit, like maybe we can build something good.

Also reddit is just an obnoxious rage machine. I've kept deleting my 3rd party app and then reinstalling, unable to finally quit. But swithing to this seems easier than fully quitting social media altogether. I hope, anyways.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've been waiting for another aggregator / tree comment community to form with enough popularity to sink time into. Once I started getting frequent combative messages on a regular basis in even niche subs, over what should be lukewarm takes, I recognized Reddit had reached the end of its use. Online pop culture is toxic as hell and being on reddit since the near beginning it was pretty obvious how that was seeping in

Not that reddit was ever a great place, but it was at least silly, and informative

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Reddit was my primary content aggregator. I'm from the old days, though, and they almost lost me with the redesign. With old.reddit.com though I could keep the experience I preferred, so I stuck around.

Now that they're pricing out third party mobile clients, though, I'm done with it. I do like that experience, though. I've use Diaspora for years now (after similarly jumping off the FB ship) so I when I found out there was a fediverse alternative with a similar feel I jumped at it. Doubly so when I saw that it was mostly associated with those of the leftist thought. I'm not that active on Diaspora because of all the alt- and far-right shitheels that migrated there when fucking FB got too "woke" for them. I've blocked more people there than I've followed. Lemmy's socialist bent is refreshing, though I'd like to see more libertarian socialist (e.g. anarchist, bookchin communalist/Rojava's democratic confederalist) discussions happening. I'm new though so maybe I just haven't found them.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd heard about Lemmy a good while back, but there wasn't much interest in it until the Reddit API kerfuffle.

I really like the concept of federated social networks and breaking free of the big tech rage-baiting algorithms. Just give me a list of topics I can follow and let me sort and filter them how I want. Don't suggest or recommend things to me, especially if they're designed to make me angry just for sake of engagement.

Lemmy seems like it has a lot of potential in that regard, and I'm hopeful it's able to build a respectful user base. I'm primarily here to feel out the landscape and be the change I hope to see in the world.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I joined Lemmy for the same reason. I'm not ok with the way social media companies use recommendation algorithms to increase engagement and make their users feel shitty. Since Reddit is going public soon, I'm sure they're going to start coming up with new, manipulative ways to increase engagement, which means it's time to jump ship.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm not on Lemmy (I'm on Kbin) but I'm a fellow Reddit refugee.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I came over about a year ago. Reddit has had big issues for a while, so I was lurking through alternative frontends, and when I learned a Fediverse alternative was getting pretty decent, I felt an obligation to help make it happen. I might have come from lurking on /r/piracy when they started banning piracy more actively.

Ultimately reddit is a for-profit capitalist venture. Has been from the very start, and that profit motive has directly driven it further from the userbase year after year. Advertising, badges, money-grabs, abusive staff, blocking high-quality communities, API blockages, all this was basically inevitable and it's only going to get worse.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The same reason that I left Digg.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Pretty much this. The Reddit exodus is looking similar to the Digg exodus did, but it hasn't fully happened yet. If Reddit's bullshit API changes actually go through, and especially if they kill off old.reddit, I suspect we'll see a real site-killing exodus. Reddit is incoherently stupid for doing this. They literally have a well documented example of exactly what happens when you do this hyper-capitalist shit on a userbase that doesn't want it. That's why Reddit exists today without much competition. Too blind to see so they'll gladly let history repeat itself.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

voice in my head

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The less epidermic censor reaction, especially on these stupid boo-boo words: M$ for microsoft in Linux subreddit might get you in trouble or using inoffensive slur. It does not mean I'd shit everywhere on Lemmy but I just don't like language policing "ร  la" Demolition Man. :)

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not sure when Lemmy first entered my social media walkabout, but it was quite some time ago now. I have been searching for a place to replace Reddit for years. It has been a slow search. That search has now speeded up since the latest changes. At present, I am using Kbin to gain access to the Fediverse. It feels the most user-friendly. Not that I have been here long, minutes. But I have lurked for some time.

I am not looking for a direct Reddit replacement. I think many are, so lack of users. Different rules, jargon, etc.... Do not bother me.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I've been looking for a reddit alternative for at least a year now, although I wasn't too focused on it. I did try one (I can't remember the name) but didn't stick around because there was so little activity. The API change was the last straw. I actively looked for alternatives and someone recommended lemmy.

Had I known about lemmy before, I probably would have been here since last year, at least.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

it looked neat, works pretty well at current scale

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The twitter diaspora instantly led me to the fediverse all

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The thing that gets the cats killed.

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