Does the Fediverse give you hope?

Oh, no. Not at all. All hope is lost, this is just a comfortable place to die.

Yes

I don't live in that country, but while I like Lemmy, no, I don't have hope any more. I've not had that for a long time now.

It's interesting though, to see the US slowly turn into our enemy, and to consider that Germany will be one of our strongest democratic, antifascist allies against the new axis of evil when the time comes.

Thankfully I'm too old to be forced to fight in the next war against fascism, but I suppose poverty and climate change might kill me before then anyway. There truly is no hope left for me.

Mark Zuckerburg was up there at the inauguration because he is one of the richest men alive, and he became so mostly because of the platforms he owns.

By using the Fediverse and not his platforms, I'm denying him revenue from ads and data, even if its an infinitely small amount.

Use open platforms, give your money to ethical businesses and keep it from these assholes. Money isn't the only way for someone to have power, but there's no denying that the net worth on that inauguration stage was the most concentrated anywhere on earth. Don't give them a cent more.

Using the Fediverse feels like a small step in the right direction. Big changes are built on lots of small steps. I would say move in the direction of using the Fediverse more, the old alternatives less, and think of more small steps in the right direction you can do. I don't think just using the Fediverse is enough, but it is an important step to take. Keep going.

Nothing gives me hope.

At least there is some small respite.

There are a few specific people on fedi who do give me hope.

Yes. The fediverse is a pretty difficult thing to be controlled by a single group: that's sorta the idea. I see it as almost a refuge from all the bullshit. The lack of ads, tracking, content farming, censorship and control etc is refreshing. Here's to hoping the fediverse continues to spread.

It gives me confidence. I know that now that I host my own lemmy, I cannot be randomly banned because I triggered some automatic spam filter with my scripts (happened in reddit), or banned because I talked back to the wrong mod. I know that our internationally distributed nature makes it harder to control top-down, so takeovers like Musk-Xitter are not possible. We can still be affected by disinfo campaigns and troll farms, and we unfortunately have weakened defenses against that, but I'm confident that a lot of smart admins and tooling providers will bunch together to figure out the countermeasures that will work.

The Fedi is the only hope right now.

I like Fediverse because I get much better engagement with people here than anything else

I don’t think you’re dramatic.

For me it’s about reclaiming my right to participate in online discourse on my own terms. In a way the fediverse is freedom.

I plan on trying to self host a mastodon instance for myself and rebuild my blogs.

I don’t think I’d ever want to self host a lemmy, I like being anonymous to a reasonable degree. But I like that lemmy lets me have a voice without acquiescence to reddits enshittification.

Also the community is largely great. I love the memes, I love the comments and discussions, and I like that I learn things from fellow internet users again.

it does. as an mbin cheerleader, its heartwarming to see the disparate AP based servers communicating with my server. lemmy/friendica/mastodon etc.... knowing that no entity could control all those products. the key of course is the protocol and maintaining ActivityPub as functional, standardized service.

For me it does. I'm really enjoying Lemmy, and have curated a bunch of communities that I follow and participate in in a way that feels helpful, hopeful, and not toxic.

It seems like the only semi-viable alternative to oligarch run social networks.

I am not American, but behaviour exhibited by oligarchs such as Zuckerberg/Musk (and these are just the ones that get in the news) is not at all surprising.

…abd this goes on anticorporate. Thank you very much. And yes, I think it does and we do make a difference. Keep it up. Organize and search for people like yourself. Instead of turning the naysayers one by one and burning out, find your allies and spread the word efficiently. Think of the ideal situation and make it happen. I‘m here, lets fucking go (same mission, different continent)!

As someone who suffers from CPTSD, I feel safe, definitely. No one has ever insulted, harassed or trolled me here, compared to reddit, where even safe spaces are overrun with trolls. The design of Lemmy also makes me less attached to my device, I don't feel anxious about notifications and interacting with people, which was very common on reddit. When I signed up, I tossed a coin that it was either the place I'd been looking for or a repeat of the past. I'm also on Bsky, although I've never been on Twitter before because some people I follow on YouTube went there. I plan to host my own community in the future to escape the mainstream platforms. I have been banned from many social media sites for no apparent reason. I long for the days before mainstream media took over the internet.

Fediverse? Maybe. It will stay small and not monetized. For some that's good.

Lemmy? No hope. Lemmy and the pessimistic world views here give ME no hope for anything on this planet. I want to leave, but keep finding myself back here doom scrolling. Some communities seems good though. The platform is good though and seems to be picking up.

set up a monthly contribution even if it’s just $2/month

I remember somewhere on the fedi, some instance admin saying that on average it cost $2/month per user. So, if you are relatively active on the server, $2 monthly recurring donation might cover your share of expenses. maybe not a very good idea

how I can make a difference

https://blog.elenarossini.com/supporting-the-fediverse-one-small-act-at-a-time/

Yep. I think that we're on the precipice of what's to come.

Absolutely.

It gives me memes and that’s close enough

Not particularly. History is long. And history tells us people don't have any self-respect. Even when doing something as simple as NOT doing something, like using an abusive platform.

Numbers are going up, yet I don't know a single person who has made the switch. I made an appeal on Facebook and several dozen people liked and commented and agreed and expressed interest, but not one of them switched.

I have, however, seen dozens of people firing up accounts on the VC-backed centralized platform that is BlueSky, and hundreds of millions of people switching to Meta-owned Threads, proving that they've learned absolutely nothing.

Hopeful that some parts of the population won't be giving all their data away. There will always be bootlickers (apple fanboys, google lovers, reddit aficionados, Musk-worshippers, ...) , people who just don't know better (too old, uninterested, ignorant, unexposed, ...), and people who can't join due to things like censorship, internet speed, or whatever else.

Its nice as a place to talk to mostly like-minded people and avoid the increasingly common AI bot slop, but it is too spread out internationally to be a useful communication tool for organizing local activities, which is a bit sad.

Fediverse as a technology yes but the userbase here does the opposite. By definition someone commenting on a message board is not a normal person because normal people don't do that, but to be commenting on a niche platform like this makes you hyper not-normal, and yes, that applies to me as well and I'm well aware of that.