I first joined Lemmy back during the big Reddit exodus of last year. I like many others wanted an alternative to Reddit, and I thought that this might’ve been the one. I made two accounts, one on lemmy.world and another on sh.itjust.works, in the June of last year that I used on and off for about 4 months.

At first Lemmy was exciting because it was so active. There were so many new users who were enthusiastic about turning this platform into a genuine alternative. There was a communal effort to create and interact with content, and for awhile it worked. Lemmy was truly interesting during the summer of last year. However, this stream of dedicated users started to slowly decline.

A lot of people hoped that if they were active, they would attract and retain more users to this place to the point where the community would foster interest specific communities like Reddit, but that never happened. After a few months, a lot of users lost interest and went back to Reddit where the userbase is so massive that there is an active community for just about anything.

With this reverse exodus back to Reddit, Lemmy ended up with the same groups that were active on it before hand: political extremists, tech nerds, privacy enthusiasts, and shitposters. To be fair, all these groups are larger now than they were a year ago, but that’s all this platform has to offer. If you’re into any of these things and primarly these things then Lemmy can be a good alternative to Reddit, but for the general masses? Lemmy is just not good.

For example, a NBA post on the NBA subreddit can get you thousands of interactions in a couple of hours. An NBA post on here will maybe get you a dozen over the course of a couple of days. The only content that will gain any traction here are tech news, political propaganda, and maybe some memes. I don’t see this changing any time soon. Even if Reddit implodes, I still think Lemmy will remain a niche platform. I think this evident by the fact that this platform hasn’t really progressed in a year.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1139·
    5 months ago

    Lemmy is missing:

    • Bots
    • Karma farmers
    • Ads
    • Insane mods
    • Fucking Spez

    You know you’re right, we’re nothing like reddit!!

      • marcos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        There’s an ecosystem of entire instances with crazy rules.

        The fact that Lemmy just doesn’t become unusable with all this brokerage tells a lot about the benefits of a distributed system.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      5 months ago

      I do kind of miss the private clubs. I had worked my way up through 100K, 150K, 200K and 300K karma clubs before I bailed and came here.

      Centennial Club was just the best. It was like Century Club, but way nicer!

    • Gorilladrums21@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1317·
      5 months ago

      I mean Lemmy shares a lot of the same issues as Reddit even if it’s decentralized. I think Lemmy as a technology is better than Reddit because it’s more privacy focused, but most people don’t care about any of this. People put up with Reddit’s shortcomings because it has a massive community that is always active and fills every niche. Reddit’s daily active userbase is over 73 million. That’s hard to replicate in general, but I don’t see Lemmy getting anywhere near that mainstream. I see it as a more stable and active version of Voat, but still a niche platform nonetheless.

      • chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.netEnglish
        25·
        5 months ago

        It is probably best to think nothing on Lemmy is private. Any instance with at least one user subscribed to a community will receive updates (messages and votes) on the community. Instance admin can go into the database to see any private message between any user on that instance.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
          16·
          5 months ago

          Lol dude got the exact things wrong about Lemmy - clear they haven’t spent much time here. Fediverse is NOT privacy focused, in fact it’s the opposite. You blast your content out to everyone. The only privacy is your username, and that aint much. It’s user owned, that’s the saving grace, that corporate doesn’t own it. We sacrifice fake corporate privacy for open standards.

        • Blaze@reddthat.comEnglish
          141·
          5 months ago

          Also, 73 million seems exaggerated, or that’s counting the bots

        • Gorilladrums21@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          615·
          5 months ago

          It’s not bad, but niche is just that. For a platform to become a genuine alternative to Reddit, it needs to appeal to the mainstream.

          • tyler@programming.devEnglish
            131·
            5 months ago

            You do realize that’s why Reddit went down the shitter right? Appealing to the mainstream is literally what got us to the point that everything is filled with ads and misinformation.

  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.netEnglish
    621·
    5 months ago

    I don’t think it is failed. It has reached self-sustaining levels for many topics. It will need further growth to make smaller, niche topics self-sustaining. Whether this growth will take place is an open question. I know my instance is growing in terms of activity, but I’m not sure how others are faring.

    But as long as it isn’t shrinking, I think it’s well-positioned to absorb more growth as users discover it or become disillusioned with Reddit or other sites in the future.

    • Gorilladrums21@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1415·
      5 months ago

      I think a big issue with Lemmy is that I think there’s a lot of people who become disillusioned with it, just like how a lot of users became disillusioned with Reddit. When users join this site, they’ll immediately notice that there’s nothing outside of extremist politics, privacy focused tech talk, and shitposting. Unless they’re interested in those topics specifically, a lot of people would rather either just go back to Reddit where there are active communities outside of these topics or find another, more active platform. A lot of people thought that Voat was going to rival Reddit when launched, but it ended up being a niche hub for extremist politics, tech talk, and shitposting until it shutdown. Now Lemmy is definitely better than Voat in every aspect, but I’m not sure how it can over come that big hump that will allow to appeal to general public

      • chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.netEnglish
        102·
        5 months ago

        There’s also the problem that sadly Lemmy is filled with vocal users with skewed view of the world, and they tend to be extreme polarizing. The “if you’re not one of us, who firmly believes the world should work a certain way, and if you’re not willing to shoot yourself in the foot with a shotgun to prove it as a point, then you’re one of them; you should get the eff off of Lemmy and crawl back to Reddit” kind of way. They’re so scared of losing that pedestal that they’re going to go out of their way to alienate anyone who doesn’t drink their koolaid and push them off the platform so they can remain dominant. Sadly, these people also never really learned much of the real world, so those that are more experienced / educated gets pushed off the platform, and we end up with a bunch of weird superstonk culty kind of vibe everywhere.

        I find myself more and more just make a comment and don’t look back. It’s quite literally futile and pointless trying to expect any discussion of any actual sustenance. You wonder why it’s just shitposting… well this is why.

        • mctoasterson@reddthat.comEnglish
          51·
          5 months ago

          This summarizes it pretty well. Two things can be true at once. Reddit sucks ass and I haven’t gone back since the API changes. Simultaneously, the default Lemmy experience is extremely offputting to all but certain subcultures. Not everyone is a antiwork activist, Arch Linux evangelist, open socialist, or actively transitioning. Totally fine that all these groups have their communities, but it gets kinda old seeing 90% of the feed filled with these topics.

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radioEnglish
    521·
    5 months ago

    I am part of the Reddit exodus. I’m here because I have no interest in promoting or supporting the atrocious policies that now govern Reddit.

    The pace here is different, but the interactions feel more measured.

    Based on being online since 1990, I’m comfortable with being an “early adopter”, even though I’ve only been here for a few months and Lemmy is five years old.

    Will Lemmy survive? Who knows. The horse and buggy didn’t, neither did Yahoo!, MySpace or Google+, but here we are nonetheless.

    I like it here.

    • Gorilladrums21@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      421·
      5 months ago

      I mean good for you, I’m glad you’re happy here. But here’s a question for you, do you honestly think that this platform has the potential to be more than what it is currently? Platforms come and go, true, but it’s very rare for a platform to actually appeal to the general masses. MySpace at its peak had 90 million active users, Google+ had 200 million users, Yahoo still has around 700 million people use its services. While these sites ended up being failures, they still reached mainstream status. I don’t think Lemmy will die, but I don’t see it becoming a mainstream alternative to Reddit. I see it as an upgraded version of Voat. It’s a platform that will remain niche unless something drastic changes.

      • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radioEnglish
        8·
        5 months ago

        I think that the missing link for the fediverse is the user interface that most users see.

        This is oxymoronic given that the original Reddit looks eerily similar to Lemmy today, but it’s not just looks I’m talking about.

        Moderation and usability tools, bots, blocks, filtering and spam control need to go through several iterations before we can actually grow this community.

        Search is another issue, as is post deletion. Right now a post vanishes, but all the stuff hanging off it is still there. This makes for a complex user experience.

        Finally, Lemmy appears to be run by developers who appear to be interested in their own issues and regularly appear to dismiss issues raised by users. This is not sustainable.

        I consider myself a user of the fediverse before I’m a Lemmy or Mastodon user. We have a way to go before this settles down.

        • nutomic@lemmy.mlEnglish
          41·
          5 months ago

          Finally, Lemmy appears to be run by developers who appear to be interested in their own issues and regularly appear to dismiss issues raised by users. This is not sustainable.

          I would love to fix all the issues that users report, but for that we would need about ten times as many developers. The way it is we simply don’t have enough time to work on everything, and need to prioritize things.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      28·
      5 months ago

      Right? Failed by who’s standards? For me, I’m pretty goddang happy here. I get enough content, I don’t feel constantly anxious or angry, the people are generally pretty nice. Is OP deciding it failed? Or are others?

    • KazuchijouNo@lemy.lolEnglish
      13·
      5 months ago

      I completely agree with you there, Lemmy is its own thing. People are nice and respectful, communities are more constructive and less competitive, mods actually like what they’re doing; the “vibe” is completely different here. No karma or awards incentives, pure cooperation and real social interactions.

      We’re open source! open hearts and open arms!

  • MikeOToxin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5013·
    5 months ago

    But why do you care about engagement with your online posts? Is your opinion that important? Or is it just your need for external validation from the faceless masses?

    Either way, some introspection may be good here.

    Or, ya know, just go back to reddit, whatever dude.

  • KazuchijouNo@lemy.lolEnglish
    31·
    5 months ago

    You might be right, Lemmy is not for the masses… I would consider myself a tech nerd, privacy enthusiast and shitposter; so migrating from Reddit was the best thing to ever happen to me. This place feels like a real home where I can share my interests with people who are incredibly helpful, kind and passionate about what they do. This place is a heaven for people trying to escape corporate and mass media. And I agree with you, Lemmy is a failed Reddit alternative, because it’s not a Reddit alternative, I don’t see it like that anymore. People here are genuine, I love that <3

    • Today@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      5 months ago

      Not a tech nerd or privacy enthusiast -just an old mom who occasionally shitcomments. I like it here.

    • land@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      5 months ago

      Exactly. On Reddit you get roasted for asking a simple question like wtf. Lemmy is the way.

        • KazuchijouNo@lemy.lolEnglish
          5·
          5 months ago

          Are you suggesting that they are individuals? I mean, have you ever seen every Reddit user in the same room? Exactly! they are all the same 3 people replying to themselves (or so they seem to me).

    • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      5 months ago

      Being mainstream is exactly what I liked about reddit. It was the reincarnation of usenet. It has attracted all kinds of people doing all kinds of thing. Are you interested in swastika knitting? Piano jumping? Bathsponge sculpting? You can sure as hell find at least 2 other guys already doing it there.

  • zecg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    5 months ago

    I thought I liked it and that it had enough users, thank you for setting me straight.

  • morphballganon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    253·
    5 months ago

    You are entitled to delete your Lemmy app of choice and return to the corporate-approved Reddit™ content-consumption experience.

  • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.meEnglish
    17·
    5 months ago

    Lemmy wasn’t ready and still mostly not ready for a mass Reddit exodus. The Reddit API fiasco wasn’t anticipated by anybody and the large influx of users exposed a ton of bugs and federation issues.

    But it’s not a failure, yet. I’m sure Reddit had growing pains after the Digg exodus too. Some platforms take years to become popular. Reddit was small for quite a while before it became more mainstream.

    In a way to me Lemmy feels a bit like Reddit must have been a few years before I joined it 12 years ago.

    The problem is the expectation that Lemmy could replace Reddit overnight, and would immediately be a 1:1 replacement.

    Although personally I like it more here, and I get more interactions than Reddit. But I am a tech nerd, so.

    • mbfalzar@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      14·
      5 months ago

      I was on reddit slightly before subreddits were added as functionality, so 16ish years, and lemmy to me just feels like that 2008ish reddit except most of the userbase is 40 instead of 18

      • I'm back on my BS 🤪@lemmy.autism.placeEnglish
        2·
        5 months ago

        I like Lemmy especially because it has not gone mainstream. I was already disliking Reddit around 2016/7 and tried to find alternatives, but nothing was good enough for me. Around 2018/9, the porn subs got pretty popular, then WallStreetBets. That brought on a massive amount of users, and the Reddit I joined in 2011 was definitely gone.

        It used to be interesting, unique, and respectful.It became repetitive, predictably standard, and rude. Many subs function as low-key advertising or propaganda without users awareness. It was a hive mind. I was wanting to leave, and luckily the API fiasco happened so that I was able to find a new place.

        I like it small like it is now. Users feel more familiar. Also, I love the idea of instances. If one instance has a shitty community on a topic you like, then find a community on a different instance. There’s none of that BS where mods control an entire topic. Maybe there are a lot of topics that aren’t popular here, so that sucks. Still, it’s no worse than reddit with 1+ million people all saying the same crap I don’t vibe with on a topic.