Lemmy is slowly dying while Reddit is thriving - eviltoast

Isn’t it?

  • orangeNgreen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So, I’m going to stick with Lemmy. But I did check out Reddit the other day out of curiosity. I was disappointed/envious over the many active posts in my former favorite subreddits, and realized how much I miss that level of engagement. At the same time, I was also appalled at how terrible their mobile site is. I couldn’t even read comments because of how terribly they were displayed.

    Ultimately, I’m hoping that Lemmy catches up in some capacity. I refuse to go back to Reddit, but really do want that type of community discussion again.

    • Apollo2323@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I am really a hardcore against corporations and Reddit is the worse. So if Lemmy dies I am not going back to Reddit no matter what.

    • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      My mobile app (Joey) still works for me. I think it’s because I’m a moderator on a subreddit. I occasionally visit Reddit, but not nearly as much as I used to.

  • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I wouldn’t call what reddit is doing “thriving”. The experience of what used to make Reddit, Reddit (the deep focused communities) is already quite decayed and has been decaying for some time.

    Curate your Lemmy communities better and make an effort to interact as much as possible. Lemmy always feels super dead if you don’t actively look for new communities and instances to subscribe to, because the Fediverse is inherently in a changing state of flux of where the activity is. Lemmy does not auto populate your feed with a bunch of algorithm crap, you have to MAKE it show you what you want. I’ve built up a nice list of 40+ subbed communities and see lots of content.

    • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Well said. And let’s not forget the shitty power mods, ridiculous inconsistent arbitrary posting rules, shadow bans, and easily triggered hive mind that are all still on reddit.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Curate your Lemmy communities better

      You can filter out more but I’ve been hitting bottom a lot lately. Example:

      “Oh hey! It’s a post from (some community) I haven’t thought about lately! I should actually click in to that community and see what’s going on there.” Then I click, and it’s just the first post in weeks. I’ve totally seen the second post before, just last month :(

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have not had that experience. Reddit has more users than Lemmy, sure, but I went on Reddit literally yesterday and most of the content was trash. Lemmy has some trash, but a lot less than Reddit. A much bigger ratio of good:bad on Lemmy than Reddit has been my experience.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s what I noticed when I first gave Lemmy a try: significantly fewer users, but higher quality content overall.

      • Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        There’s a closer knit community than Reddit due to the smaller size, and advertisements and paid agenda posts are few and far between. We have momentum and lot of potential- as long as Reddit keeps up the downward spiral, people will join lemmy and tell others about it. If you want to increase activity on lemmy, it starts with you! Remember to upvote and comment, and post something you found that was interesting, even if it’s to a community you don’t usually post to.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I find that the quality of content is totally different here. The level of engagement is similar for me. Most of my posts and comments get about the same engagement as I saw when I was on Reddit, and often a better quality. There are some niche communities that just don’t exist (yet), and there are some crowdsourced communities that don’t really transfer without huge numbers of people (things like AITA, mildly interesting, oddly satisfying, etc.). I do miss some of those aspects, but the interactions and information here are just better and less troll-y.

    • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Anything vaguely allowed near the front page is instagibbed by propagandbots, spambots, and users so stupid they can’t be readily discerned from same.

      Stick to subject-specific subs and it’s not that bad.

  • DrownedRats@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s not dying. It’s smaller for sure but a social network doesn’t need to be big or have a ludicrous number of users to be healthy. Many of the posts I’ve made have gotten 10x more engagement than equivalent posts on Reddit simply because there’s less for it to get lost among.

    Personal opinion, but I think generally the users here are nicer and more chill than Reddit. Again, simply because the sheer number of trolls is lower and I don’t think bother as much when there’s less people to piss off

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Personal opinion, but I think generally the users here are nicer and more chill than Reddit.

      That was my experience for a while. Then recently I got blocked by someone who kept downvoting me and getting mad because I didn’t think “kill all republicans” was a healthy way of thinking.

      So…I guess like all social media it depends on where you go and with whom you engage.

      • Redsven@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I just went and read that exchange, and the person who blocked you never said what you claimed.

        You went to an article about someone who stabbed a child 26 times after killing his mother and told people to be more understanding of republicans and not blame them for all the hatred they promote. You’re suprised people got mad at you?

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yes. I was surprised to receive that response when I was decrying killing all republicans.

          Calling for the death of nearly half of the people in the United States is despicable.

          • Redsven@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, that’s not at all what the person you were arguing with said. It sounds like you went there to troll and got the reaction you deserved.

            I took the time to look through the rest of your comments and, holy shit you suck. Just days ago you were condescending and patronizing gay people for being impatient in gaining equality. I think the best advice I’ve seen on lemmy is to block you.

            • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That’s not at all what the person you were arguing with said.

              No, but it’s what my original (albeit sarcastic) reply was regarding. So their response to me was still framed by my response to calling for murder. I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one though.

              I took the time to look through the rest of your comments and, holy shit you suck.

              Wow. That’s always a great thing to hear first thing in the morning.

              Just days ago you were condescending and patronizing gay people for being impatient in gaining equality.

              Edit: important note here, that post is no longer visible unless you go through my page because the person I replied to, who was mad at the judges for their decision, has deleted their post. This is something important to remember about Lemmy when going through a user’s history. Now continues what I said originally.

              If you’re talking about what I said regarding India’s courts, I wasn’t trying to be condescending or patronizing. I was literally saying the courts made the only ruling they could given the laws they had to work with, as shitty and terrible as those laws are. Fuck those laws, but it’s not India’s courts’ job to change them and we shouldn’t be mad at the judges who can’t do anything about those laws. I’m not saying we shouldn’t push for equality as soon as possible, just that those judges aren’t the ones to blame.

              I think the best advice I’ve seen on lemmy is to block you.

              This genuinely hurts. Seriously. I try. But I guess I can’t please everyone.

      • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        at least the blocking system doesn’t silence you here. you can still say whatever you want in any thread you want.

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          at least the blocking system doesn’t silence you here. you can still say whatever you want in any thread you want.

          That is quite nice. And how Reddit used to behave before they got stupid.

          However one thing I’ve learned is that when someone deletes their post it doesn’t put a “deleted” placeholder in, it completely removes it. So then if someone goes through your comment history they just see you saying something apropos of nothing, which can be missing important context.

          I’m thinking about saying goodbye to this site. It’s not been a good few days mentally for me, and my usual retreat (the internet) has just made it worse. I miss the glory days before Reddit became shit.

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Reddit is certainly busier. But is it better? Every time I peek back into Reddit I’m overwhelmed by ads and karma-farming reposts. Was it always that bad, or did I just not notice when I was immersed in it? Either way, I’m happier here.

  • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Not really I think. Lemmy losing users in a slow manner may be true (probably is, if https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats is a representative site) but Reddit thriving, I’m not so sure. I’m only seeing that Reddit is in stagnation currently and I don’t mean this in a negative way, it just didn’t get new followers. If someone is more active on Reddit, please educate me about your experiences, because I’m only visiting just 1 subreddit basically for some minutes and that’s all.

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Lemmy losing users in a slow manner may be true

      I think you see a clearer picture if you zoom out to before the spike in June: https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=150 .

      It’s a typical pattern for growing sites: there are sporadic spikes in new users, followed by a leveling-off where about half the new users are retained. So the trend over the past month isn’t a long-term decline, it’s the tail end of the leveling-off phase.

      [Edit: the above link doesn’t work unless you manually remove the “amp;” to yield “https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=150”.]

    • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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      1 year ago

      Lemmy is bleeding users, but post and comment count is still growing. I think the multi account migrations have settled down and people are getting used to the new UI.

      • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        If you’re basing that off solely on the fediverse observer, that may be false. The “Average comments by day” graph is pretty misleading, since it actually shows all the comments that was made on Lemmy on each day. How do you perceive the density of the comments in practice?

        • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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          1 year ago

          The “Average comments by day” graph is pretty misleading, since it actually shows all the comments that was made on Lemmy on each day.

          I’m sorry, I don’t follow. Don’t all the comments made that day show an increase?

          How do you perceive the density of the comments in practice?

          I think it’s great compared to what it used to be and just under what I’d like it to be. It’s very subjective, but I think that was the question.

          • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            I’m sorry, I don’t follow. Don’t all the comments made that day show an increase?

            That’s correct and that is why it’s misleading. The numbers are way too high to assume it refers to the daily comments only.

            I think it’s great compared to what it used to be and just under what I’d like it to be. It’s very subjective, but I think that was the question.

            Yeah it’s pretty good, although I would like a bit more convo on nicher posts, but it’s already amazing how active the Lemmy community is compared to it’s userbase size.

            • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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              1 year ago

              Fair enough, I see your point now. I wonder if that’s a flaw in the observer, bots or stat manipulation.

      • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Check onto “Average Lemmy Active Users by Day” and observe the monthly active users. It’s really subtle, but it’s a loss.

  • Rottcodd@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Personally, I think that Lemmy hit rock bottom relatively shortly after the main Reddit exodus in early July, and has steadily improved since. And more than anything else, I attribute that to users leaving.

    The thing is that at least some significant part of the people who have left are people who couldn’t or wouldn’t appreciate the threadiverse for what it is and instead spent their time whining about the ways in which it isn’t the same as Reddit.

    And honestly, good riddance to them.

    There are always going to be people who can and do appreciate the threadiverse for what it is. Those who are already here will stay and at least some of those who haven’t discovered it yet will, and will move here. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      By now, it’s become a point of pride. I get annoyed when someone posts a link to reddit. I’m like “Come on. Just show me a screenshot. I’m not going to that cesspool.”

      • qupada@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, it’s joined Facebook and Twitter on that “do not click” list for me.

        You’d think that quitting cold turkey would have been hard, but it somehow just hasn’t been.

  • kux@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    if you want a 1:1 replacement for reddit like .world seems like it wants to be, cloning the interface (https://old.lemmy.world) and the subreddits (e.g. this one) then of course you you will find it lacking, it’s the same thing but with only a fraction of the users. lemmy was not made for that, it was for disgruntled communists, you are on their turf

  • finally debunked@slrpnk.netOP
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    1 year ago

    Let me prop up my complain. I look for an English community where I can ask questions about the language, and I found one. I put several questions there and have received zero answers in span of a month. Given that it is the largest such community here, I have no options as to turn to Reddit.

    • hperrin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m sorry that happened, but that’s just one community. That’s not enough of a sample size to say anything about Lemmy.

      • small44@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The only subs that are active are memes, politics and technology subs, everything else is desert

          • small44@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I do, but i don’t really find a lot more content that interest me in all. The subs that promote other subs are my main discovery method

            • hperrin@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              There are a lot of science communities, there are some local communities, sports communities, hobby communities. The ones I’m subscribed to seem pretty active to me.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Okay, now I have more of an understanding. For broad, general, casual use (like the way I use Lemmy) things are better here. For narrow, specific subjects (like what you need) reddit can still have an edge.

    • ForestOrca@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Which community? Remember, 1. Ask, 2. Ask someone who can help, 3. Ask until you get the answer you need.

    • PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Yeah that’s absolutely understandable. Probably most of the Lemmy users here could easily present atleast 1 community which is pratically dead in here compared to Reddit, which he/she/they misses.

  • V17@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    My experience so far has been:

    • “default” reddit, like /r/popular etc. has been worse, because reddit started using some form of “the algorithm” which pretty aggressively pushes controversial subreddits with high engagement, and those tend to be dumb and toxic. Amitheasshole, twohottakes etc. are the most obvious ones.

    • customized, highly selective reddit with as much crap from the frontpage as possible unsubscribed from is not significantly worse than a year ago, but then again, it was already pretty bad a year ago. Since the API changes I’ve had 3 people block me to get the last word in an argument, for simply disagreeing with them, without me being an asshole. This is quite annoying in a small subreddit where such a person posts regularly, but it may have just been bad luck.

    • Lemmy… Well, 3 things that I probably dislike about reddit the most, not because they’re the worst things that happen there, but because they’re so damn prevalent, are overmoderation (heavy handed deletions of posts and comment trees, unnecessarily locking threads that are even mildly controversial, things like banning people for ever posting in a controversial community etc.), strong american partisanship where if people realize you don’t agree with them on everything with regards to society/politics/culture wars, they immediately assume you’re from the opposite american camp and that you must have bad intentions, and finally simply people not being very smart on average.

    Well, all three of those problems seem to be just as prevalent on large Lemmy instances, the first two even more in some places. And whereas on reddit many people understood that you’re probably not realistically going to be able to create an alternative subreddit to some huge default with hundreds of thousands of users, so the “go make your own subreddit” copout is not very practical, here “go make your own instance” seems to be one of the default reactions to any criticisms.


    That said, Tildes seems to be doing okay. It’s even smaller and it doesn’t really try to be a reddit alternative, but it’s considerably smarter and more sane on average than both Reddit and Lemmy.