this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
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Asklemmy

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When I was on Reddit I felt like my opinion didn’t matter. But here it just feels more open and free.

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[–] [email protected] 124 points 2 years ago (9 children)

Every comment I would make on Reddit seemed to get challenged by someone looking to start a long-winded argument as they were, in fact, the main character of the universe.

I like it here because so far, people are nice. It’s like the first day of high school and everyone just wants to be friends and meet people.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No karma competition here. It has a bigger effect on behaviour than you'd think.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It’s like a little trophy or a symbol of validity to some people. You’d see big edits addressing downvoted as if people got personally hit in the head with them.

I don’t blame people though because viscerally, these things are little tokens of “approval” by others at large.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Reddit gamified participation, and the result was an addiction to trying to say things that people would click the updoot for. Here, the comment / post score is used purely to determine the relevance and value of the individual comments and posts. I think the result is clear: people feel less compelled to post the meme, the shitpost, the expected something and are more likely to express a thought they have, or think is valuable to the conversation.

The result is less stuff, but the stuff is more nuanced, interesting, and engaging (even if the engagement metrics are lower). It's also a less stressful environment to interact with, and is just kinda all around better since no one is trying to profit

[–] imaqtpie 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

God, I love this place. Instead of having to navigate through a mob of idiots to express an opinion or have a discussion, it's simply informed, quality discussion from top to bottom. What a good feeling, almost gives me hope for humanity

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Cherish it now haha. If this place ever gets a lot more popular, you’ll start seeing all sorts of dumb takes and behaviours again 🤪

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

Votes have a bandwagon effect, both up and down votes. Sometimes it just felt like arguing with an army of mute downvoting zombies; no reply, just downvotes. I completely understand some communities on Lemmy disabling downvotes, even if that means there is no mora a "controversial" vote.

My only fear is that as Lemmy gets bigger, the same botting, brigading and mindless bandwagoning, will also come here.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I feel like your characterization of Reddit users as long-winded and contrarian is inaccurate and frankly offensive. Let me write you several paragraphs about why you’re wrong, sprinkled with thinly veiled personal insults and outright harsh commentary about you as a person.

Sorry, just trying to make it feel like our old home :)

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 years ago (10 children)

Lmao this was good. You forgot to comb through my post history to see if you can make your comment even more hard-hitting by referencing a personal problem I have that was highlighted in a post or comment from 6 months ago 🤪

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

As the antagonist of this thread, I would have to disagree with this statement. I was, initially, very dismayed to see that no one had taken issue with this comment. Alas, here I am, to set things right. Being that most online communities seem to revolve around my person, I thought that I’d share these thoughts that so many of you had been patiently awaiting.

No but fr, huge fan of these communities. The voices that search out an argument don’t seem to gain quite as much traction on fedi (yet, at least). Probably due to them having a larger overall audience on reddit to feel validated by. Hopefully it stays that way!

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I like I can say the words Tiannamen and Square and not feel like bots are out to get me 🙂

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

The misinfo on Reddit is wild. Just shows people don’t understand federation and how the views of one instances’ moderators doesn’t impact what people can say or do on other instances.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I‘m way more active here. I want that place to survive and become the new home for former redditors.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago

Same here, forced me out of my lurker shell. 😅

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Yes. It’s far less hostile here and I don’t fear getting downvoted to hell for asking a question.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 years ago

Deleted My reddit account , tried all of the fediverse before but always went back to propriety for same reason as anyone else. Everyone is there. With the Reddit exodus I feel this will get the push it needs

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'm more active here. You can actually post comments without idiots being toxic about it for no reason. You can actually make posts without them getting removed for no reason. It's great.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago

When I joined Lemmy I decided I wanted to engange with the community here on Lemmy, since I on Reddit I just lurked, so I'm much more active here.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I'm not only commenting more (because I'm not afraid people will bite my head off for everything I say) I'm also reading a lot more comments in general. I think it's for the same reason, the comment threads seem to involve actual constructive discourse. It's funny that I read fewer posts here than I did at Reddit but I spend a lot more time per post.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

It feels like you can join in later. There are not thousands of replies in the first few hours. So commenting or participating was a waste of time before in many bigger subs. Noone would ever see your answer anyway or interact with you, so there was really no point.

Here it feels like you are actually participating in some way. I really like it.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I am because I feel it's great to be a part of the growing numbers of the platform. Everything is a bit rough around the edges and it gives it a 'far west' feel

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Reddit comments just get washed away by millions of other users. Where as in this place it's not as competitive so yea I understand what you mean.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Gonna have to buck the trend and say, no.

I had good experiences on Reddit, I was active in a few different communities and had good engagement without the 'avalanche of toxic responses' some people here are describing.

I'm leaving Reddit due to the changes at the top, not because of problems at the grass roots.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I made two post on Reddit in like 2008 or something. One day I’ll have made ten posts here.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Definitely.

For example, I've just written and posted a comment in this very thread. That's more than I'd ever do in a thread like this on Reddit.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Reddit comment threads are currently just full of groupmind wankery. I like being on a platform where I don't 100% agree with everyone and I don't have to hold "sanctioned" opinions that are approved by a mod team of 3.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (8 children)

Yea. Literally every reddit comment I posted resulted in someone replying to me in a toxic way.

I've only blocked one person on lemmy and that's because they were replying to me in a toxic manner. That's the first reply I've had that's toxic, and I nipped it in the bud. I don't care to have fighting matches back and forth.

Have you noticed if you go to Reddit and click on any thread, usually within the first comment thread, someone will be hating on another person? Fuck that.

I'd honestly suggest everyone block anyone who is being toxic. Not to mention, others don't want to see your drama while looking through comments.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

Lemmy still feels really easygoing, kind of feels like Reddit in 2011.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

Still trying to “find my place” here but I am enjoying the whole thing. Lots of awesome discussions popping up and great conversation here.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

I'm trying to be! I'm definitely voting more.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I find myself commenting much more here than I did on reddit. I think that is because I want this to be successful and I want to be able to he done with reddit.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I want to comment more but I often don't have much to say. I've made it a goal to comment more though, because I want to see this platform succeed.

I love the enthusiasm in this thread but if we the mass migration of reddit users that I am hoping for, the toxicity and annoying reddit behaviors are probably coming along with them. I am hopeful that this place will at least stay much more open and free.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm not as active as I was on Reddit, but to be honest, I like it. I went from spending 5/6 hours scrolling on Reddit, to 1 hour a day on Lemmy.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I was a 10 year lurker on reddit. Now I have my own Lemmy instance

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Here people actually react to what I post and write. And they react to the best possible interpretation of what I wrote, not the worst. And even if we disagree, we can still have a nice conversation.

Does anyone have a good theory about why the threadiverse is so much friendlier? Is it only because it's smaller? Is it because of the kind of people a new platform like this attracts? Because there is no karma? Maybe something else?

[–] Barbarian 8 points 2 years ago

My theory is that it's a combination of a few factors:

  1. Smaller communities mean you're likely to interact with the same people. Even if people don't consciously think about it, they don't want to be known as "that guy"

  2. The first wave leaving Reddit were those most dissatisfied with how it worked, and are more committed to making this place work

  3. Honeymoon phase. People are being far nicer and more considerate as it's a new platform

If we can keep maybe 1/4 of that as the platform grows and changes, I'd take that as a win.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

I used to be pretty active on Reddit and I kinda became more and more "sour" and unfriendly over there, because the whole community just dragged me down for some reason.

Here, it's like a breath of fresh air and most people are actually quite nice. Topics have finally become more interesting and there's no such thing as an echochamber. Critical thinking seems to be possible here, as well.

So yes, I became way more active again since I'm on Lemmy. Also, I host my own instance and I put a lot of effort into it, so I want it to be in good standing with other instances. Participating in friendly conversations will help with that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

Been trying to go out of my way to be more active on here. Help the platform grow ya know?

I usually lurk for months at a time then comment once or twice a year on any forum.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

I am definitely more active on here than Reddit. I’ve had the same experience as you but I’m tired of gawking at those know it all cockbags. They’ll be here at some point but yeah, it’s a nice community here.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yes. Got to the point on reddit where I almost never commented because of the ackshually types.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I wouldn't say I'm more active in terms of posting and commenting, though I wasn't too active on Reddit the last few years to begin with. Though the fact I haven't logged into my Reddit account of 10 years since checking out Lemmy speaks to how at-home I feel here, even after basically giving up one of the sites I used the most in the past decade or so.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I need some more time, I am pretty shy both irl and online and I kinda liked hiding behind tens of other users. But maybe I will grow to like this

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

After the reddit apolcalypse and blackouts. I became less active over there. I still check some subreddits from time to time. But, my activity is low. I only have time to be active in one social network at a time. I chose lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I feel like I can contribute more since the communities are smaller, but I haven't had much of value to say. Haven't really found my niche yet like I had on Reddit.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I was a straight up lurker on reddit, I feel like this environment makes me wanna be more active, reminds me of the old days before websites were a cash grab and there was true communities

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