Any tips for a new user?
Any tips for a new user?
I’m finally making the switch from Reddit. The Voyager app seems like a pretty seamless transition, but I’d love to hear any tips about using this platform, or what quirks distinguish it from Reddit as a whole.
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Welcome!
Lemmy.world is the boring “normie” instance and you’ll find it much friendlier than this place if you’re not a committed Marxist-Leninist ( that’s what ML stands for)
There are a bunch of Anarchists on Lemmy.ml, as well as liberals and Social Democrats. Lemmygrad.ml is the Marxist-Leninist instance, Lemmy.ml is more of a generalist instance, but the users, mods, and admins lean Marxist.
Just being nitpicky, really.
A place with Marxist mods will not be tolerant of non-Marxist views. This one certainly is not.
If we’re giving advice to new users, they should be advised to find a more tolerant instance.
I don't know what to tell you, other than that a lot of the most active users of Lemmy.ml are Anarchists, and most communities on Lemmy.ml are not affiliated with Marxism to begin with, even if you include communities like World News that are more politically focused as "Marxist."
Either way, I wouldn't call Lemmy.world more tolerant, but tolerant of a different set of views. Lemmy.ml is more broadly federated than .world is, while .world selectively defederates from instances it isn't aligned with politically. Even further, OP is on Lemm.ee, just asking on Lemmy.ml's AskLemmy community, which makes sense as one of the biggest AskLemmy communities.
I'm not even trying to dig on Lemmy.world or anything, I just want to point out that it's not really accurate to consider Lemmy.ml a Marxist-Leninist instance, unlike Lemmygrad.ml, or even Hexbear.net which is an umbrella Leftist instance.
So in case it wasn’t painfully obvious, I’m a total noob and don’t even know what lemmy.ee is haha. Do I need to make new accounts for each suffix or can I move it around—and what effect does my account being .ee vs .ml or whatever have on the experience?
Instances are like mini Reddits, many with their own unique flavor and focus (such as tech, LGBTQ+, politics, etc), with their own communities. You can stay within said instance by sorting locally. You can also see other communities on other instances by searching for them, or by browsing by all.
Does that make sense?
So if I were in a tech one for instance, the difference between that and just joining r/technology is that it aggregates all the sublemmies/posts that fall within that category? To kind of create a one size fits all home feed?
Not exactly, but close! Rather than pulling communities from other instances, it will have its own communities, but these local communities will usually have a tech focus, and thus so will the users. programming.dev is one example I know of. That doesn't mean they don't have other communities like for gaming and whatnot, but by virtue of being hosted on programming.dev, a gaming community there will likely have users more with a programming background.
That's why generalist instances are, IMO, overrated. You can visit other federated instances, so your All feed will cover you for diversity if you want to step outside your niche.
Different instances go for different federation strategies, though. Hexbear.net, as an example, likes to have generally small lists for federation and remain fairly self-contained, as it is a space generally for Communists and Anarchists and does a good job of protecting its large queer userbase. Instances like Lemm.ee, like the one you have an account with, see almost everything, and are designed more for their All sort than local (though some communities are definitely on Lemm.ee).
Does that make sense?
That makes a lot more sense! So can I move this account to a different instance or do I have to create new ones for each?
New ones for each instance. I have a Lemmy.ml account, this one, that I generally use to try to talk to people about Marxism or Marxism-Leninism (as you've found out by now), and a Hexbear.net account I use to relax, keep up with the news, and chat about gaming and cooking with other dirty commies like myself. Many people have alt accounts on different instances, the Local New sort is actually my preferred sorting method on both instances.
That being said, you can visit nearly any community from the account you're on, it just requires knowing about it or getting lucky in All sorting.
.world really isn't very tolerant of certain views. They are very quick to dismiss people as Russian shills/bots for instance. I disagree with this instance's views of China and the Russo-Ukraine war, and am not an ML (though I do kind of lean Leninist) and haven't seen much bad faith name calling. It certainly is prevalent in leftist spaces (CIA bot, NAFO shill, etc) but this place is surprisingly decent.
Don't mind me, just linking my introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list in case you want to learn more. 🥸
Any political instance is cringe
Most instances will have some political lean, but some will make it a focus, which is a good thing to have that as an option for those who want it.
It becomes unhealthy when there's a lot of biased instances, which I feel like there is currently
Every instance has bias, and will have bias, whether that bias is made public knowledge officially, or swept under the rug, at least in my experience.
There's small bias, and will to have neutrality; and then there's blatant bias and censorship. We're in the second option here.
All bias is bias, neutrality doesn't really exist in bias. Something being in the "middle" is itself a stance, not without equal bias for it.
I disagree. You can always aim to be neutral, stick to the facts, and not favor a specific side. You'll never fully achieve it, but you can come close to it.
Sticking to the facts doesn't conflict with taking sides, though. If someone says the sky is blue, and someone else says the sky is green, that doesn't mean that the sky must be purple.
Objectivity is a great value to have, but with objectivity comes bias. We would be biased in favor of the person saying the sky is blue, we would not be neutral, but we would be objective and rational.
Refusing to take any side out of a percieved inherent value in moderation is irrational and goes against objectivity.
The rational course is to remain objective, while recognizing inherent bias and working with that, rather than trying to feign impartiality.
If normie means neoliberal bootlickers then yes
There’s the ML culture I was talking about!
Thanks for the demonstration.
Bud “thinks” big words must mean ML. Bet you can’t even define neoliberalism without looking it up. Obviously not even an ML user.
Neoliberalism:
noun
Controlled opposition
Isn't lemmy.world very very USA-centric? And they are keen on name calling you as a tankie if you mention things that do not go along with their view.
I was banned from a community there, because I mentioned the Munich agreement and shared my view opposing what the community had in a discussion that centred around the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Yep.
Yeah I like sh.itjust.works. It seems to be a pretty balanced. North American instance.
Ha! I had no idea where I was, thanks for clearing that up.