It’s almost exactly a copy of reddit issues but most people that use reddit haven’t heard about it.
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
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!!!”
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.)
We like it this way. Please stop pulling this thread.
I don’t know, but I like it this size. Feels homey. Except for the large communist presence.
👻 spooky scary communists! 👻
Hey I’m not a communist !
you should really fix that
The joining process is too cumbersome and a few things like cross posting across instances are way too complex for people to easily understand.
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.
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.
Reddit removes (or at least did at one point) any lemmy links or posts trying to get people to switch to Lemmy.
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.
Not yet during the api blackout thing. I saw Lemmy posted everywhere. I kind of thought a lot more people would move over.
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.
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.
☭ Join us! ☭
You are a conservative.
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.
If I were conservative I think this site would drive me crazy.
Good
Yeah that’s a positive feature
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…
On top of the myriad of things others have mentioned here, it hasn’t gotten bad enough/inconvenient enough for the average redditor to switch platforms en masse.
The API fiasco moved the needle a little bit, but not by enough. The multiple ban waves moved it even less. Theres still millions of people on reddit and that disincentivizes anyone to make the first move.
My hope is that when they get rid of old.reddit, it will cause another mass migration that could tip the scales a bit more, but I’m not holding my breath. Because now, reddit has hundreds of thousands of bots creating fake engagement that simulates human activity to those unaware of LLM-pattern speech. So that’s another unknown unknown.
Here’s to hoping, though.
This is the main reason I think. Enshittification of Reddit hasn’t fully happened yet so people aren’t looking for an alternative.
I think that those who would tolerate the additional “effort” of solving the puzzle of joining Lemmy have already done so. Reddit may drive more people away but unless Lemmy becomes somehow more accessible there won’t be an influx, IMO.
That said, I think it is a good thing. I know I don’t want Lemmy to be a clone of Reddit. I like the smaller communities and the higher quality interactions I get with Lemmy users. The Reddit “circle jerk” meta was fun but got tiresome and felt like it was spiraling to a lowest common denominator.
