Ask Lemmy

The fediverse is a "work in progress", and that is fine. All the other social media sites are a "collapse in progress".

It is much more fun to be on a small and growing platform, than on a big and dying platform.

I can interact with actual people and not get swarmed with ads and botted traffic.

My heroes? The instance operators and good mods, of course, along with everyone who contributes material.

Plus there’s more community when dealing with issues, such as problem instances and users. The fediverse doesn’t have the “old internet” feel, it’s still more restrained than that thanks to instance owners probably not wanting to host a lot of darker material thanks to the instances being under private ownership, but it feels more free than a place like reddit.

No billionaire owners and algorithms.

I'm banned from Reddit, but still want a similar fix like a drug addict.

My goal was to use something other than TikTok, facebook, etc.. Even with all its glitches and quirks, the FV has proven to be a great replacement for those corporate apps.

The vibe is a lot like "the old internet". Sure, you don't get a lot of responses most of the time, but those you do get are genuine and in good faith.

On reddit you can post the most innocuous thing and be met with ridicule or disdain. Most of the posts I made were commented on in a negative way. Even harmless things like "I found this funny product at the supermarket" in the appropriate subreddit was met with insults and a bunch of negative comments. Asking for advice on a popular advice subreddit got me a bunch of insults.

Here I have few answers, but those are genuine ones and so far they've been in good faith, no unprovoked insults, no sifting through someone's history to insult them based on a post from 3 years ago.

easier ability block right wing astroturfing, or shilling from politics.

because of what it’s not

i have honestly not noticed any difficulties

I'm not here despite what it is, I'm here because of what it is.

All social platforms get worse all around us. Fedi isn’t perfect or drama-free but around here every third post isn’t a targeted ad that knows too much about me trying to make me feel guilty or inadequate.

Because fuck Reddit

It mostly works well.

Plenty of good and garbage content. I want both.

I don't get the feeling there is a "motive" behind what I see when I am browsing content. It feels organic, like the old internet.

I don't find that commercial social services are free of bumps and difficulties; they're just different bumps and difficulties. They variously want me to:

• Log in to view this content
• Complete a captcha to view this content
• LOOK AT THIS AD
• Look at this other thing instead of reading through the rest of the comments on the post I opened
• Look at this other content instead of the people I chose to follow
• Consent to 237 different forms of tracking
• Pay for a premium account
• Don't post anything too spicy for the advertisers
• Install an app

And people think picking a server to sign up or using an unpolished UI is a hassle? It's a small price to pay to avoid that load of crap.

I use Lemmy and Mastodon because independent services that interoperate are how I want the internet to work. I still use some of the big commercial services because people or communities I value are there. It's not all-or-nothing.

Want to see the collapse of mainstream media. I’m thinking globally and acting locally.

Interactions feel genuine. I like talking to people here.