I loved the old-style forums that were around before digg and Reddit largely took over their role. Today, Lemmy is the closest thing I’ve found to the same type of culture and tighter-knit community I felt on the older forums. Finding Lemmy has completely stripped any desire for me to want to use Reddit again as the culture there feels like it is constantly working to suck my soul out through my eyeballs.
While I understand everyone has different preferences than me, I also wonder why Lemmy users continue to frequent anything but the smaller, niche subreddits. Reddit feels as if it has been decaying for a long time and there is little substance left on the wider site, while Lemmy doesn’t feel this way.
So what keeps you going back?
Is it hate-scrolling? Is it niche subs? Do you feel differently about the cultures of Reddit and Lemmy?
Please help me understand.
lol sometimes I can’t help myself and post news about the west failing just to watch the freak out
Do they actually get a fair amount of interaction besides being removed? I’m assuming this is in the news subs?
Sometimes they take off and the whole comment section is just massive cope.
I don’t anymore. I deleted my account a couple of times only to come back, telling myself I’d stick to hobby subs but it never works out. Sooner or later I’m back arguing on the internet again, wasting my time. I’m better off deleting the app and I only visit Lemmygrad now. My real life sanity is more important than internet points.
I keep it around for a few reasons.
Mostly it’s for the hobbyspace subs. I have a few hobbies and some are probably a bit too niche for a smaller site like Lemmy. OBOSOB parked the ergo keyboard comm on a defederated server so reddit is my only real option there. Plus the Lemmy comm just felt dull. I see SBC and retro emulation talk on hexbear every now and then but not sure of a dedicated community for it. Not sure if there even is a horror community that we are federated with. I just need to have a steady feed of my things I like. Hexbear/Lemmygrad has been great for like-mindedness but they are a bit slower feedwise.
Also the ASD spaces over there are heavily trafficked and that’s one of my special interests(because of course). I still check the 2 ND comms I know of on Lemmy but it’s just slower.
But also I have a tendency of talking shit to the people on reddit subs that are deliberately being obtuse, reactionary, or contrary. I tend to argue with chuds in /r/lsc or dickbags in /r/vegan.
Also /r/thedeprogram and /r/communismmemes are pretty chill. Those subs feel a lot like what I like about Hexbear/Lemmygrad.
But also I have a tendency of talking shit to the people on reddit subs that are deliberately being obtuse, reactionary, or contrary. I tend to argue with chuds in /r/lsc or dickbags in /r/vegan.
I used to do that and still sometimes have that reaction to people in some of the .ml communities, but seeking those out ended up making me feel like I was purposely wasting time arguing with shitheads that would never listen. It just made me angrier and I think I’m happier without it.
My bosses give me plenty to get angry about so I don’t get bored. I’m just lucky I’m difficult to replace, so I can speak my mind more often than most can.
I used to like some of the commie subs too, but I find Lemmy fills those interactions better and our comrades here are generally better informed, so I don’t really miss them much. r/Deprogram and some others posted fire memes that I sometimes miss.
but seeking those out ended up making me feel like I was purposely wasting time arguing
Yeah I get that. I don’t really get angry about dumb shit people say and mostly do it out of boredom.
The content of Lemmy depends on your chosen instance. For Reddit, it’s just dying, except for video game and entertainment subreddits.
That’s how I feel. It’s definitely gotten aggressive in terms of quieting any dissenting opinion too.
Something I was always frustrated with was the extremely confident answers that were completely wrong becoming top comments while the correct answers were often buried and down voted.
I don’t.
I don’t actively boycott it, if it comes up as a resource when I am researching something (which is often the case for tech questions) I will use it for that. I don’t engage with it though. I am pretty sure I had been banned from most news subs already for being an Evil Tankie.
I miss a couple niche subs, like TalesFromTheFrontDesk, but not a whole lot else.
When I first migrated over here, I actually kept a second lemmy account that was more exposed to the broader lemmyverse, but I actually found it irritated me as much as Reddit so I have consolidated my online presence here. Any instance that would ban lemmygrad is one I probably didn’t want to see anyway.
I actually kept a second lemmy account that was more exposed to the broader lemmyverse, but I actually found it irritated me as much as Reddit so I have consolidated my online presence here. Any instance that would ban lemmygrad is one I probably didn’t want to see anyway.
I’ve had the same experience and came to the same conclusion.
I follow hobby subs and the few left leaning subs and a few shit posting stupid subs. I come here for news, commie memes, and to see intelligent conversations with communists. I go to reddit to see a few other funnies and see what’s happening with the fermentation, cast iron, woodworking, and canning subs. Also the Aldi sub cause I’m a fucking weirdo.
I don’t, unless I’m searching for a question about how to solve any particular tech problem and reddit has a post with a good answer.
I mostly left, but ended up back for a sub or two - mainly a thing of there not really being an equivalent to the given sub elsewhere. I try to avoid the larger subs though, I tend to find only misery and pain there. And even my attention on the small ones dwindles over time, they are not immune to the same crowd that frequents the larger ones, and I get little out of them.
Reddit is slightly less America-centric.
I just need these communities for my favorite games. The other option would be to hang around discords and that form of social media is trash.
Only go back when searching a techie topic and it links there. Most of the answers are old and out of date, though. Have a feeling a lot of techie folks left there after last year’s lockdown.
I don’t. Maybe when searching for an obscure answer to a question via search engine, but i definitely ain’t logging in and browsing
I was struggling with depression late last year. I disagreed with hexbear over a word definition. I got harassed about it every time I posted by one of their mods, and nothing I said was good enough for them. Eventually I told him to cut the shit or ban me. I got the ban. I just wanted to go someplace where I could be anonymous and write happy things.
There’s niche communities on Reddit that I really like. And the size of it leads to a certain level of anonymity. I can just be happy geeking out about something that makes me happy. Lemmy is just too small for such niche things to properly exist, and it got even smaller after the hexbear ban. I don’t care enough to evade it, and I want to continue writing my posts in daily us history once I’m mentally able again. If you enjoyed my posts, I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to continue. But things are improving somewhat, and I hope to be more active again.
Life in a small pond often leads to conflict, and I encountered it at a point when I just couldn’t handle it. Now I just want to talk to someone about chemistry (not really, but adjacent). I still keep up with the news, I still lurk here, and I still love you all. I’d rather just be anonymous right now for my own mental health.
Now I just want to talk to someone about chemistry (not really, but adjacent).
Chemistry adjacent? The science subs are actually something I miss. Mander.xyz doesn’t really hit the same. r/chemistry and r/labrats were some of my frequent subs.
What’s your adjacent topic?
Is there an instance for rechems? (experimental pharmacology is fun!!)
I don’t believe so, but maybe I missed it?
When I wrote that, I was actually thinking about a video game. Oxygen Not Included. It’s largely a heat transfer simulation, and specific heat capacities, melting/freezing points and thermal conductivities all play heavily into your planning. The late game becomes all about engineering contraptions to change the state of matter, and I find it to be very fun. It’s also fun to share and talk about your designs.
For actual science, I am most interested in physics. I like to watch shows on astrophysics and geology quite a bit, but I am not really qualified to talk about them in depth.
Science experiences too much gatekeeping and as an institution is designed to keep the “wrong” people out. It’s important to recognize when you don’t know enough about a subject to speak authoritatively, but the actual qualifications just serve to maintain the boys club. You should always pursue what you are interested in even if you don’t take classes in an institution.
I hadn’t ever checked out this game, but it sounds cool. Games, videos, and other alternatives to the classroom and reading are great ways to encourage interest in sciences and begin learning a subject.
If I’d taken a physics class before I’d gotten so deep into chemistry, I probably would have pursued a career in physics because it’s so interesting to me too.
Oh I’m not concerned about gatekeeping. It’s more that I don’t feel I have anything to contribute really. I am very much an applied sciences sort of person.
I have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, but have little interest in the academic side of it. I have taken many physics classes, but again, I largely steered clear of theoretical physics. I like to hear about them, and I do my best to understand them, but it’s not a career that I would be interested in. I would be far happier building bridges or designing aircraft.
Ultimately, my physics knowledge occasionally gets used to make computer simulations, or helps me to understand new achievements in science.
For dog pics, also I’m a mod there and if I give up the communities would get overrun with reactionaries
I really never go back myself, but I keep it around because first things first, there are more specific hobbyists and knowledge subreddits that still contain useful information.
Sleep apnea, vertigo, things like that where people aren’t talking politics at all, and they just want to talk about their condition and ask questions and get some help.
I still sometimes find it useful for tech questions and answers and in general might use it to look up some recommendations or reviews. But in actuality it is becoming worse and worse and worse for things like that. So I’m not sure how long that will last.
