Memes

Honestly a lot of it is probably people getting comfortable lurking again, Lemmy only counts post and comments as active users

Let's look at some numbers and do some napkin math:

Currently, the top post of Lemmy can usually get a little more than 2K upvotes, which puts Lemmy at about late 2010 to early 2011 reddit level of activity, which is right before reddit hits its explosive growth phase in 2012 with SOPA, Kony, and the Obama AMA. While active user count has been going down, the amount of post and comments have both been steadily going up.

You also have to realize that in more than a decade, there was never a reddit alternative that has EVER hit this level of activity. (unless you count 9gag or the_donald for some reason.)

It's very simple, most of the posts here are circle jerks (Linux, FOSS, boy howdy aren't we better than Reddit, communism) or rage bait.

I only come here when I'm having a good day and I want to reel myself in a bit

Edit: see below to see how far Lemmy users will go to circle jerk how much better they are than Reddit

Personnaly, I'm really enjoying it. You can interact without the Reddit toxicity. I miss a few specialized communities but I can live without it.

I won't lie. I mostly don't engage with content I see here. I didn't do that when I was on Reddit either and mostly for the same reason: I don't really have much to say and, even when I do have an opinion, I don't usually want to engage in what's often a protracted debate about something that will probably just end up being frustrating.

That's not to say I haven't had positive experiences on the Fediverse - I've had more here than anywhere else - I'm just not particularly motivated most of the time.

Lemmy is neither popular nor heavily advertised, so people join at a slow rate

On the other hand, the amount political discussions, Hexbear, and lack of content result in disinterested people leaving Lemmy and joining Reddit

So the user count is decreasing because Reddit refugees are leaving faster than new people are joining

We need more idiots who can comment "this" on everything

We should be more active to keep this ship afloat. Don't be stingy with the comments.

Edit: spelling

Coulda fooled me, the content quality has continued to climb, and that's all that matters. Look at this post, it's an original meme only relevant to this community, and it's blowing up.

Why does this matter? Do we need to appease the shareholders or something? Do we need endless month over month growth, lest the world completely stops turning?

Do we need SYNERGIES??!!!?

Less content, that is spread across multiple instances that can have duplicate communities.

You just can't keep doomscrolling here, the "active" search repeats all the time and the "best of the day" is like two pages.

And then there's specific communities that just... Stayed on Reddit.

I see more people complaining on Lemmy about problems than I do the actual problems they're complaining about.

Just use the thing, and put the content and comments you want on it? You don't have to be a passive observer just staring out the window as monkeys dance for you. Be the monkey. Dance how you want. Eat a banana. Fling poo if that's what you want. Just stop expecting everyone else to create your dream routine and then having a sook because they step-pause-turn-pause-pivot-step-paused when you wanted them to step-pause-turn-pause-pivot-step-step.

Lemmy is cool and all but the amount of communist obsession here is a bit much.

As someone who posts a ton, I've noticed that a lot of people seem to check the top posts once a day or so. Posts can be slow to get engagement and traction, but the ones that become super active still seem to hit similar peaks as before (1-2k upvotes, hundreds of comments).

But yeah, people aren't as actively engaged and commenting on everything all day like they used to on reddit. The framework is here, and I think if there were another big exodus, Lemmy is set up to be a great landing point.

I prefer social media not based on addiction. Lemmy has been much better for my lifestyle, than my reddit addiction.

You should have seen Lemmy before June 2023. All posts were from the same five people. For now the community seems to be alive and healthy.

There are too many dimwits who think Lemmy was made so that they can build their echo chambers. So, there is no discourse, just stupid people encouraging stupid people. Anyone that comments otherwise is immediately removed.

Most mods are dumdums. Most are obviously politically and ideologically motivated. It's their job to prune anything they disagree with, which means they can't help themselves and ban everyone. Most of the time it's a complete waste of time to comment in smaller subs. The dumdums have taken hold either by making the subs and controlling them, or by volunteering as mods with no oversight.

People are leaving lemmy because of the quality of the apps

They are used to using a terrible app that often breaks and spams you with notifications of random posts

Tbf, I have like 7 accounts and I'm currently only using 2 or 3 since Lemmy servers are much more stable than they used to be

Happened with Mastodon too, but that's thriving now. Users come in waves. Don't focus on the numbers, focus on the content.

In the early days of Reddit it's motto was fake it until you make it. It was a ghost town so they set up an army of bots to generate content and fake activity. Not much has changed tbh.

tbh its true: apart from my french instance where i like to hang out, most of Lemmy is just memes, Linux related posts, or self hosting posts. No meaningful content for ur average person really. In fact i scroll throu 'All' in new and reach yesterday's posts in just few minutes, given the amount of 'not so meaningful content' i am filtering ..

I love it here

I'm one of the people who has stopped coming here. I'll keep visiting occasionally but the lack of content and pro-east/anti-west rhetoric is just as irritating as the maga/conspiracy crowds on reddit.

Maybe it’s because nobody is interested in a platform that has a worse circlejerk than even Reddit of all sites?

I want Lemmy to succeed but we need to attract more normies and at the right time when Reddit does something stupid again.

as a realist, allowing porn would do wonders ngl

For me personally, I have less connection to specific subs than back in the reddit days, given its federated nature and all that. I enjoy scrolling through the homepage, but don't really have that specific moment of 'I thought of something nice! That would fit nicely into this one, specific subreddit!'

Which, don't get me wrong, can be a good thing in the long run. But it takes a bit of getting used to.

I like turtles. Can we have more turtle-centric content?

Lemmy was nice at first but the communities now are really unfriendly, there is 0 motivation to create content

Most people have never heard of Lemmy or the Fediverse and were not invested one iota in the API Fiasco because they don't know what API stands for and they normally use the official mobile app.

So the Fediverse has an uphill battle. For the vast majority of Reddit users, Reddit still does everything they need it to and there's no great call to migrate over. People that are only peripherally aware of the Fediverse may also think it has something to do with blockchain technology. The technological savviness divide grows larger by the minute.

i don't care. I came here because i'm so sick of reddit.

It was always bound to happen after a massive user gain. Frankly, we should be quite happy we can get over 400 comments in a thread. That’s not insubstantial for a very niche platform.

All the people constantly complaining about "tankies" and "commies": You are the problem. Normal people are repulsed by that shit. The only reason you don't see more pushback against it is because nobody wants to get inundated with pedo-nazis trying to draw them into a debate where they're either forced to side with literal nazis or the worst strawmen of socialism that they can think up, where if they back down or stand up for their values at any point, they get targeted for harassment. I deal with that shit regularly because I'm built for it. Most people aren't.

Its alright, we all have lives we live and sometimes don't have time for Lemmy.