What's changed about Lemmy over the past year for you?

I peaked into r/communism and it's genuinely awful. Full of the most toxic people I have seen in the supposedly "Marxist" communities. Surprisingly Lemmy is way more chill than Reddit.

When I first came here, I was so jaded, with the expectation that every account was a bot or an asshole. Seeing the actual conversation among humans has been nice.

Yeah, that's something I really like about Lemmy. You can have actual conversations. On Reddit, on even an unpopular thread, any comment would be flooded by replies from other people. You couldn't just talk with one person.

I don't mind other people joining in, but reddit makes it impossible to do 1-on-1.

Would you say the doom and gloom is Lemmy specific, or more of a global thing, given the state of life ATM?

less prone to engage in polite conversation

What the fuck did you just say to me, you little shit lemming? I'll have you know that I graduated top of my class in online forum debates...

/jk

Among American users, this probably has a lot to do with the recent election.

That's interesting because for me it's the opposite, or maybe I just don't notice it anymore. But when I first joined people were almost always hostile to one another. I feel like that's not the case anymore.

I see that too recently. I just call them out, report, and block.

Some or most of the people upvoting this stuff is just part of the lucky 10,000

I feel that, too, but also...

There's a large number of news articles that it feels literally pointless to respond to with anything other than jokey derision because it feels like we've been talking to people about those issues for two decades (or more for some of us) and no one listened.

So, with a lot of it... what is there even to talk about anymore and instead crack jokes to try to feel less dead inside?

I fully agree, but at the same time find myself making jokey throwaway comments on the millionth thread about "turns out Trump was lying about his campaign promises!!!!" as if anyone with a fucking brain couldn't figure that out since at least 2015. It just feels pointless to engage with beyond comedy when the media continues to sanewash that guy.

I completely agree. It's tiring to ask a question and then have some low-effort absurd answer every time.

any advice on washing my cat without her scratching me?

is it two metres long and has orange and black stripes and are you in a jungle? try a tranq dart first

park it on the driveway and get a hose. oh wait u said 'cat' not 'car' #oops!!

ez bro just dress in a SWAT bomb defusal outfit. works every time.

yeah jeez thanks. It's worse than no replies.

Sorry, but... "broken arms"? What does that mean, aside from its literal interpretation?

Lemmy doesn’t need to "take off" or compete with Reddit to succeed. Growth for the sake of growth holds little inherent value. Unlike commercial platforms reliant on VC funding to survive, Lemmy thrives on sustainability. What really matters is that there are enough developers to maintain the platform, people to host the server, and users to create content. With these elements in place, Lemmy can continue indefinitely without the need for explosive growth.

In fact, rapid growth could do more harm than good. A sudden influx of users often brings toxic behaviors, especially those migrating from platforms like Reddit. When new users trickle in slowly, they adapt to the existing norms and culture of the community. But when a horde arrives, they risk overwhelming and reshaping the community in ways that trample over its core values. A slow, steady stream of users allows for organic integration, preserving the essence of what makes Lemmy pleasant.

Unlike commercial platforms, open-source projects don’t rely on profit motives to survive. They’re driven by people who directly benefit from their work and are passionate about their vision. When disagreements arise, projects can be forked, allowing different groups to take them in new directions. Even if a project is abandoned, it can be revived by a new team as long as there’s a dedicated community. This flexibility and resilience make open source inherently more sustainable than commercial platforms, which can vanish overnight if funding dries up.

The Fediverse, and Lemmy within it, only needs a large enough user base to remain self-sustaining. I'd argue that it’s already well past that threshold. There’s no rush to grow rapidly. Steady progress ensures the community retains its identity and values, while the open-source nature of the platform guarantees its longevity. Lemmy isn’t just another platform; it’s a sustainable, adaptable ecosystem built to endure. I'm willing to bet that Lemmy will still be around long after Reddit crumbles to dust.

I suppliment Lemmy with Imgur. That said, Imgur also forces you to use their offical app, and it also sells your data to 3rd parties, like most apps. But it's not nearly as shit as the offical reddit app, and you can always block the trackers with the DuckDuckGo app.

I still don't have a replacement for niche subreddits, though. So I only visit them on the desktop now to minimize that time on the site, and so I can use old.reddit.com.

I dream of the day when I can finally ditch both for good and just use Lemmy.

I mean, the vote happened and she's not running anymore, sooooooo not really a reason for them to keep talking about that issue?

Also, I remember a couple usernames from some of the most vocal and I just went and looked and it's not like they up and deleted their accounts or stopped using Lemmy. They're still active, so they didn't "disappear."

@queermunist@lemmy.ml was pretty loud about that opinion and they're still here, for example.

I know reddit being flooded with bots for 10 years has made y'all jaded but real people with real opinions that differ from ours shockingly still exist.

I will

NEVER

log off!

The election ended, the Leftists are still here. What were you expecting to happen?

I'm still here posting about the flaws of the voting system that gives us two shit options to choose from.

Are you working to replace First past the post voting in your state? Now is that so venerated time to push for these changes at the state and local level.

Don't you care that your country men/women/and more are under represented by their options at the polls?

Upset over 3rd party voters? Best get back to passing electoral reform in your state then.

You wouldn't tell people how to vote and then do nothing to fix the voting system that is the source of the problem would you?

Is this a joke? They didn’t leave, the election cycle did.

You shitlibs are still whining that leftists didn't want to vote for your genocidal ghoul?

Wonder why? /s

I will always link Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of "Brainwashing" when this subject comes up, haha.

Hey dude, I just wanted to let you know there is an option in your settings so you don't see upvotes or downvotes.

Lemmy (AFAIK) doesn't even show you your total upvotes (karma... whatever it's called) by default either. None of these imaginary points fucking matter.

So why don't you do yourself a favor and uncheck these boxes and not give a fuck what others think about your comment.

I know I have.

(Lemmy is rad as fuck)

As for the reposting content, are you referring to cross posting? I've noticed people doing it to my posts.

I think it's a good thing as maybe some people have lemmy.ml defederated and I still want people who use lemmy to have content so they stay and grow the federation.

Again, the points are made up and the updoots don't matter. Peace.

Definitely seeing some people doing mass downvotes. By that, I mean they disagree so much with a person's post that they then downvote other, unrelated posts by the same person.

It's not great, but at least downvotes barely affect anything other than visibility of top level comments on popular posts, and are easy to hide. Better that than people disagreeing using lazy insults and tired truisms.

Hey bud, you dropped this

Here's one from me to help.

Leftists existing and being critical of liberal right-wingers was not an organized campaign, rather, it was a salient discussion around the US Election. The Leftists are still here doing what they always do.

I think a lot of people have gone back to Reddit.

Different opinions are not welcome, quick/ angry comments

I feel like Lemmy is consistently hostile to different opinions. It's a real disappointment.

I believe you misunderstood why you were banned.

You were banned because of incivility and ableism. You were making derogatory comments about the mentally ill as though having a illness was a bad thing.

I can see why you were confused, as homophobia is also listed under rule 1.

I mean the nice thing about Lemmy is you can always create your own community, and if that's not enough, your own instance.

It removes a bad mods ability to completely dominate, because there's always an escape hatch for folks who are just done with their shit.

Yeah. Lemmy's biggest strength (decentralization) has also shown to be one of it's biggest flaws when micro-managing admins/mods turn their instance into their own personal fiefdom, inflicting their "justice" broadly and without discernment. I've been banned more here in under 2 years than on reddit for over 13, almost exclusively for voting "wrong" according to what feedback I can find, which is a a seriously treacherous practice in communities like these. I have no real sense of loss over it, but I do worry the Lemmy-verse will end up with tons of siloed off instances instead of an interconnected community if it goes on unadressed.

Lol I didn’t even know this community existed. To be fair their description even states that moderation is heavy handed.

Edit: Pretty sure that’s a troll community or something? Every single post there is kinda crap and is being downvoted.