IllegallySmolDogs

It's really up to you. Nobody will blame you for staying on Reddit, maintaining both, or only continue and build a community here on Lemmy (and hopefully become linked to all other Fediverse instances).

Even if you don't continue this community actively, it might still grow. You may want to assign some members as mods if you decide keeping up Lemmy is not your thing, just so the community doesn't die off.

I don't know how long it took to get to that 73k number, but there is plenty of time to rebuild on a platform that better respects the user.

think of it this way - will people who can't or won't use the official reddit app be able to see anything over there? i'm specifically talking about blind people. it's not fair if people are excluded for any reasons that they have no control over.

your position as founder of a large and successful community over there is not envious. i'm in a position of being a junior mod on a couple subs, and it's sad for me to see the website destroy itself, i can't imagine how much worse it is for you.

personally if i was in your position, this is what i would do. i'm not saying that it is what you should do, it's just what i would do, and what i AM doing in the two subs that i am janitor for

• prepare your users for the demise of reddit with announcements and a timeline leading up to the end of the month or whenever you decide to pull the plug
• put up sticky posts where you ask the community what their opinions are. let them have their say.
• put up other stickied posts where you suggest other places for the community to go to, eg here, and remember that you don't have to be the person who holds everything together and other people are willing to share that load.
• don't be too disheartened if the community splinters and goes to multiple various forums - each of those communities will grow from that seed.
• don't imagine even for a second that the good work that you have put so many years into will go to waste. it won't. the community that you helped to facilitate isn't going to die, there are too many people in it for that.
• deliberately go out of your way to look for the positive in everything around you
• tell the people close to you how much they mean to you. if you love them, tell them that.
• get a few good meals and good sleeps into you.
• take at least one "mental health day" where you don't get out of your pajamas or put shoes on

and also - thanks for creating that specific subreddit. i am only one person who got heaps of enjoyment out of it and i am sure that i'm not the only one. you enabled that. thank you.