It’s almost exactly a copy of reddit issues but most people that use reddit haven’t heard about it.
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Even Reddit wasn’t “popular” on the levels that it has been for over a decade. It is more about time and people finding it like they did with early Reddit (and Digg before that). New people will come as long as they see active instances and as more helpful (or even funny) posts/comments show up in search results. Kind of like how a lot of questions in search engines will show basically the same questions being asked on Reddit. Also Lemmy is a little bit confusing to new people that aren’t used to how Fediverse/Lemmyverse sites work. Not very hard, but does feel a bit overwhelming since stuff they are used to are super centralized.
For now most instances kind of feel like BBS/forums back in the 90s/00s, but with a Reddit (or similar sites) kind of layout/interaction style. Which I like since I had a lot of great times on old forums. The subs are still small enough to actually see familiar users show up and have better vibes on them. Though it does mean that new/niche subs have the chance of not getting enough people to get going, and have more people join and post new things.
I came here during the Exodus. I just did a search on similar sites to Reddit. Lemmy was at the top. Been here ever since.
Exactly the same with me.
I’m here because I like the way the upvote/downvote feature works on here better than Reddit. Theoretically you could have equal upvotes and downvotes on a post on Reddit and it would look like there is almost no engagement at all. Here it’s far more honest.
It takes time for network effects to build up and I suspect they (the entrenched, the silos) know that
You can fuck a community and it takes years to recover
My latest complaint about Reddit: old reddit (old.reddit.com) is so broken that clicking on your inbox doesn’t make the notifications go away
Endless VC hype cycle. Fuck your users, returns are all that matters
popular
How popular is it?
more popular
How much more popular are you thinking of?
website
Just the one instance?
but most people that use reddit haven’t heard about it.
Phew! ;)
Why should it be? Embrace this moment when it is both active and not yet destroyed by the mindless masses. For me this is the perfect size of community
I don’t know, but I like it this size. Feels homey. Except for the large communist presence.
👻 spooky scary communists! 👻
there’s a specter haunting the fediverse 😎
The specter of COMMUNISM!
Hey I’m not a communist !
you should really fix that
i’m content being a marxist informed anarchist :)
Where do you depart from Marx?
It’s almost exactly a copy of reddit
The magic of reddit isn’t just the structure of the website, it’s the fact that there are so many people posting to diverse niche subjects. Although one structural thing lemmy is really lacking is the wiki and post flare components; those help give experts a reason to make effortful contributions as they do not fade into the ether after a few days.
That said, if reddit was new in 2025 or 2020, I don’t think it would take off as much. It gained popularity in a previous time of the internet and is now coasting off that.
Reddit greatly benefitted from the DIGG implosion (Reasons include issues with power users, censorship, redesigns, etc.) around I want to say 2012 +/-. Similar to how this site benefitted from the Reddit API implosion the other year. For social media applications, success usual comes from a halfway-decent platform + lucky timing. (This is all from memory, so apologies for any inaccuracies and generalizations.)
Well it’s not all that great here let’s be honest. “Why aren’t more people under the bridge doing crack??? It makes me feel so alivee!!!”
We like it this way. Please stop pulling this thread.
The joining process is too cumbersome and a few things like cross posting across instances are way too complex for people to easily understand.
Like the early internet. It gatekeeps by requiring a certain level of technical know how. I like it, it keeps out a lot of stupid.
I think a “join default lemmy instance” should be an option. Let the people experience the fediverse and have time to pick the instance that best fits them.
Not sure why you’re getting down voted… These things are true. Maybe amended to “way too complex for most people to easily understand” would be less controversial.
The vast majority of people’s relationship with technology ends with an email address and a credit card. Here on Lemmy there tends to be a more sophisticated understanding of social media and the underlying social and technical aspects. But the idea that you have to do anything more than decide to join something and at most you need an email and a credit card would be a significant barrier to entry for most.
Or they see .ml and downvote or all those that hate the user because Geneva isn’t liberal
Most people downvoting probably haven’t ever questioned how Lemmy works.
For example: posts are duplicated across instances. But usernames and accounts are not.
The hard-core leftist/communist/anarchist slant scares a lot of people away. Im a left leaning liberal but not a leftist. If I were conservative I think this site would drive me crazy.
makes me wonder why libs would be scared of leftists honestly…
You are a conservative.
You are a head of iceberg lettuce.
And you’re what drives them crazy. I doubt they’re a MAGA Trump supporter, they probably get tired of the “capitalism bad”/“eat the rich” rhetoric that constantly gets thrown around.
☭ Join us! ☭
If I were conservative I think this site would drive me crazy.
Good
Yeah that’s a positive feature
Reddit removes (or at least did at one point) any lemmy links or posts trying to get people to switch to Lemmy.
Not yet during the api blackout thing. I saw Lemmy posted everywhere. I kind of thought a lot more people would move over.
My posts and comments linking to Lemmy have stayed up, and received comments.
Maybe it’s true for some subreddits as a mod choice, but it isn’t true for all subreddits.
I wonder if other platforms do the same.
Not the only case of this happening; Corporate Social Media providers do not want the Fediverse to succeed at all.
Instagram (and Fascbook, and WhatsApp, and Threads) all censor references to PixelFed.
If you cross post, it is best to watermark your photos with your PixelFed address.
Watermarking is great when there is a strong enough community to make original content. I’m sure there are communities like that, but I’m not in many of the hobby communities here.
This isn’t an issue of Lemmy itself, but I realized after I made the switch that I personally am a bit burnt-out from the Reddit model in general at this exact moment.
I’m using other Fedi apps more at this moment in time. I’ll probably be more active later in the year, but it’s a nice little break being on the smaller Fediverse apps where things are a bit more personal with the people I’m interacting with, which has been fun for me.
I think Lemmy/Piefed will grow to get more Reddit sized with time. Personally, I get like 10x the engagement on comments and posts here than I ever did on Reddit, which to me makes it much more joyful to be around.
I’m feeling the burn out as well. It’s refreshing to see that there are actual discussions on here compared to sifting through all the joke comments on Reddit.
Came here to say that.
Because in my opinion people are used to reddit, and is the biggest one, baiscally everyone else is there, why changing for a platform where you have evem to choose " an what? An instance?"), with a fraction of the users.
I stopped using reddit after the api rules changes, i quit twiitter as sson as that nazi guy bought it.
The main socials I use are mastodon and lemmy.
How many of my friends are on madtodon? 1 or 2, how many of them are active there? 0. And i think my nbers are even higher than wjat i think they should be because most of my friemds works in the IT
People unfortunately just wants everything quickly, without hassle, and are not prone to change.
A question on reddit? Probably you’ll get an answer in few hours. On lemmy? You are luckynif you’ll get one.
I have a small crafting page, that I’m trying to spread using only mastodon, it’s much harder. These are the reasons I think.
And most people don’t even care about the content of if their timeline is 85% ads and suggested pages.
They will just scroll. Algorithms are shitty, but who cares. Everyone is there…
