this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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I’m not trying to cause an argument but when Reddit pulled it’s bs - I said that’s enough. I gave up my Reddit addiction and didn’t open it or visit the site for over 30 days.

The tone and people on Lemmy is great. I don’t miss Reddit. But I miss the content types. For me Reddit was a topic related news source, a place for great discourse about those news pieces, a place where community members asked constructive questions or shared ideas/projects - and lastly a place for some very specific community types.

Over the last few days I noticed that the first 2 categories of content came over to Lemmy no problem. But the second 2 types I outlined above don’t seem to have come. I went back to Reddit this morning and it’s all still there. Certain types of posts just don’t happen on Lemmy, and on top of that many communities never came over (street_photography is a great example. They literally shut down a subreddit with thousands of users and created a new location in Lemmy/kbin, and instead of coming over the community just evaporated). Other communities are also non existent and some that do exist are simply just not enjoying the same types of posts. I like it here, I want to stay - but it’s difficult. Is anyone else having this issue?

Thanks for hearing me out.

TLDR: all of my communities seem to link posts only, many types of posts just don’t seem to happen here.

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[–] JTheDoc@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think I was partially addicted after having used it routinely out of boredom and free time for over a decade...

But once RIF and the other 3rd party apps got strangled out, and RES went into a state of no longer being updated, I couldn't power use Reddit anymore. So once those were uninstalled and removed, I had given myself no choice. Out of principle I couldn't support them and how they treated their mods or communities, nor could I use the site in their epically stupid vanilla default way, I had to just quit.

Cold turkey since.

Will admit, I have to search online for technical help, and a lot of discussion did and still does happen on Reddit, so I'll still occasionally have to use the site for reference. But no interacting with it at all.

I still feel the twitches and urges to use it from so many years of habit, and it's difficult, but I've managed to do it.

Shame there's not as many people so inclined to use Reddit just a little less, doesn't even need to be cold turkey; it WOULD make a difference. But there's nothing wrong with using it, and you shouldn't be judged for it either. It's fine to be anti Reddit, but not anti user... in most cases ha ha! I'm pro voice and choice! ;D

I'm trying to use this as an alternative, and out of necessity as content does run thin sometimes on Lemmy I do end up using it less than I did with Reddit. But that's healthy for me personally.

There's less pressure and competitiveness on here for me, so I try to post better quality comments/content than I may have used to on Reddit. When Lemmy isn't down or breaking my comment/post submissions I'll have a better time engaging with the site, I don't find myself rushing to comment before 400 irrelevant (sometimes one word) comments wash it away and bury it like on Reddit. I don't find myself writing half a comment, and then deciding to quit half way as much.

Plus, people engage with posts and see them much longer than on Reddit, usually after a single day their posts would be entirely dead; guess it's mostly due to less users at this point though.

[–] ensignrick@startrek.website 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

No content issues for me here. Lemmy has completely replaced reddit for me. Been here since early June. The content is getting better and better. The one thing I do want is a multi-community interface where I can have say all my "news" communities all show up on the same page. I'm a novice programmer but the API documentation doesn't hold my hand enough for me to grasp it or I'd do it myself. Tbf I haven't looked for a month or two.

[–] normalmighty@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I'm of the stance that it doesn't actually matter at all if you give a platform up, it's just the overall amount of time that does. So imo there's no reason to not keep going to reddit for the stuff you can only find there.

Hell, if everyone on Lemmy never went anywhere else, all we've done is doomed the site to die off as no new people ever hear about it.

[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 years ago

The use for reddit's general subreddits is completely gone for me, but I do still have some very topic specific (gaming) subs I still visit. I'm not sure if lemmy will ever reach that level of membership with specific topics.

That's not to say it can't, but I think it'll be difficult and maybe even take some concerted effort that wasn't necessary for reddit. I don't think Digg has anything like that.

But I do think reddit probably can't get more profitable if all it has is niche communities. Now if they could be content with whatever profit they get being a collection of niche communities, they'll probably be fine. But if they have demands to increase profit, which I think they do, then inevitably start doing dumb shit that damages the small successful communities, that would probably be the death knell.

[–] mindbleach@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Apropos of little - how long ago did Sean Hannity say he'd get waterboarded?

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[–] Nijuu@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Your reasons are why i generally still use Reddit (i didnt feel butthurt losing access to most 3rd party apps as im mainly desktop user - however i do frequent Tildes more than Lemmy) - most of the communities i use never left reddit (dont see intention to either) and there isnt comparable equivalents on Lemmy (not on Tildes either but i prefer the more indepth discussions there)

[–] ares35@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

just one sub. there's an alternative available but it would require associating a public forum account with a game account (my in-game name gets plastered on the web) and i won't do that

[–] Hypx@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

Reddit is still a year behind Twitter/X on its path of enshittification. So just wait another year or so and you'll probably stop going there.

[–] Zeozulu@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

The only thing I have been going back to Reddit for is the Tears of the Kingdom subreddit. Once I'm done playing through the game I probably won't touch it at all. I haven't logged in for weeks.

At this point Lemmy is giving me what reddit did in smaller, healthier doses. I'm not constantly scrolling like I used to.

[–] Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yeah, I get the same thing as you. What I've done so far is I made a few communities here and am trying to fairly reliability populate them with content. Some of those communities are niche and I feel like I'm posting into the void sometimes, but occasionally I've gotten someone else actually posting some content in them. It does definitely take some commitment to bootstrap a new community, as people just won't start posting on their own there until there's a critical mass. So you just gotta take the hit, post into the void a while, slowly increase that subscribe count, until finally others start to join in.

It's easiest with communities focused around memes or links, but I think it'll take more effort with more niche hobby or technical communities, e.g., for programming languages or niche hobbies.

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[–] bruzie@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

I still go back to Reddit - I don't spend as much time on there as I used to (especially as I don't use the app), but I'm also on lemmy, kbin, discuit (but no longer squabbles).

[–] sLLiK@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Only community I truly care about that hasn't budged is the Neovim subreddit still going strong without a care in the world. Everyone's still highly motivated and active there, so it's really the only place to go where I can keep up the the community's momentum.

I don't want to give up reddit. I use reddit and lemmy, for different purposes.

[–] CafecitoHippo@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

I'm with you especially since what I use Reddit/Twitter for the most is sports highlight clips/discussion during games. Those communities just aren't here. I love chatting with other Orioles/Panthers/Penguins fans in the game threads on Reddit during the game since none of my friends are fans of those teams other than my brother being a Penguins fan too.

Luckily a lot of the Twitter follows I had which were mainly for College Football are on Bluesky so I can use that more but missing out on the rest here. Once Boost for Reddit stops working (still works if you mod a sub) I won't be using Reddit anymore though. The official app is that bad.

[–] ThatBaldFella@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I feel the same way. I've been on Lemmy since the Reddit blackout, but went back to Reddit when it ended and barely used Lemmy since. I mean, I dislike spez as much as anyone, but that doesn't mean I suddenly hate the entire Reddit community. I don't know what I'll do once I'm finally forced to use the official app, but for now I'm still happily using Boost as a mod.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 2 years ago

No but my account is banned so it's pretty easy. I just spend way less time on the internet overall now.

[–] devious@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

No, but I still very occasionally check it but only every couple of days for the niche communities, but only because my reddit app of choice still works - but as soon as it stops I will not miss it.

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[–] Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

Yeah I have some niche interests that I still have to go back to reddit to find information on. Give it time though, remember reddit had years to grow and the migration to lemmy is relatively new.

[–] russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yes, and no. For me personally, I tended to use Reddit to follow a lot of tech news - whether that be about programming, Linux/Open Source Software, gaming, etc which from what I've seen personally, is certainly an abundance in The Fediverse. Otherwise I'll sometimes discuss some TV shows on Reddit, but most of mine are in their off-season so it hasn't mattered as much.

That being said, I do recognize that its a problem - but I don't know how to begin trying to do my part to fix that problem. I participate where I can. I don't really have many friends who would be interested in The Fediverse and they generally don't use Reddit (Lemmy) / Twitter (Mastodon/Firefish/Calckey/etc) / Instagram (Pixelfed) either way, aside from on the one off occasion that they're linked to something. I made my instance public in order to try to contribute, but no one is interested in joining small instances (and it was delisted from the join-lemmy site once they changed their user count requirement, which killed its only chance to organically grow so I don't think my "effort" will help much there anymore). The only subreddit that I created and moderated was r/moddedmc which I'm still surprised even had people posting on it (since I didn't ever advertise it, I suspect Modded Minecraft was a big enough subject on Reddit to carry its own discoverability) but a community for that already exists here and I don't play much Minecraft these days to contribute all that much.

I did a couple of small contributions to the Android Lemmy client Jeroba a few months ago, but my Android development experience is no where near equipped to provide any significant contributions to Jerboa or any of the other (amazing!) Lemmy Android (and from what I've seen, but don't own any devices that run, iOS) apps. Similar story for my knowledge of Rust to be able to contribute to Lemmy's backend itself... and don't even get me started on my absolute lack of ability to make anything that looks good on the frontend side of things. I created a small utility and a corresponding Grafana dashboard to allow instance admins to keep track of some stats regarding their instance, I see it has a few stars on GitHub though no one has provided any direct feedback on it so perhaps there are at least a few people getting some use out of it. I stay in the Lemmy Admin Matrix rooms to try to provide support to others where possible, but there are far more people who have way more experience (both professionally and on an instance level) than I do. Then finally, I do try to directly donate to Lemmy itself when I can.

So all in all, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what more I could potentially do to help. I don't mean for this to come off as a rant by any means, but I do honestly feel bad that no matter what I do that I think would help, it makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. There are way better devs out there, way bigger instances, people with larger groups of friends who'd be interested, people with more interesting things to share, people who can probably donate more than the $5 than I get to (and probably more consistently), people with more knowledge on how to help other admins, and people who speak/write anything other than English. I'd say that at least I'm "here", but as someone who lives in the US based off the things that I do see on the Fediverse sometimes I get the impression that even this itself isn't well liked. So in the grand scheme of it all it sucks that I really enjoy the Fediverse and I wish more of the internet operated on open standards, and yet I can't find a meaningful way to give back.

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[–] Melkath@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

I'm technically on Kbin.

I mod a sub, so I will still check in and do a scroll down my page every other day or so, but I was actually banned for horse shit reasons when the implosion happened, and my ban was reversed after the exodus.

During that time I got my "content cravings" in check.

Kbin is mostly feeding me enough memes to be satiated.

[–] xapr@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

No, I haven't logged into my main Reddit account that I had subscribed to all the subs that I was interested in pretty much since after the API debacle. I have kept logging into a secondary account only to help other people make the move to Lemmy, Mastodon, and the Fediverse in general. That account is only subscribed to r/redditalternatives, r/fediverse, r/lemmy, and r/mastodon, and I make it a point to not look at anything else. While I miss the niche communities that I had enjoyed there, I figure that they will eventually build here too. I can wait and avoid supporting Reddit and getting sucked back into it. For the time being I can spend my time enjoying what is already here, which is quite a bit.

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

I logged into reddit the other day, and it was worse than lemmy for content.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years ago

I still use Reddit, and I'm not trying to quit yet. You're right that Lemmy doesn't have the depth of content right now. My issue with completely switching is, I want to contribute to a much larger migration away from Reddit, so I want to stay in touch with communities there for now.

[–] tiny_tina_@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago
[–] Buzz@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I hear ya. There's just no one here. I don't like anime and I'm not a communist so there goes half of the subs. The other half are either news related or empty. I never engaged in conversation much on reddit but the comments were always where you got the best info and links. That was half the reason I liked reddit and lemmy doesn't have that at all. I'm still here because I'm stubborn but unless there is a growth spurt coming soon I probably won't be much longer.

[–] Unsustainable@lemmy.today 2 points 2 years ago

There are a couple specific Reddit subs that I use that haven't migrated. They are an app specific and a device specific sub. They are the only reason I still have a Reddit account. There aren't as many posts on Lemmy, but they are increasing. There are also other places like Scored, Raddle, Tildes, Rabbit Hole, Saidit, Kbin, Aether, and Minds. Some of them have seen some growth since Reddit took the plunge off the cliff.

When Reddit decided to backstab its app developers / community, I just full-on deleted my account. Makes it a lot easier to not go back when you actually remove the thing you'd go back to.

Think of it like recovering from alcoholism: are you more prone to relapse if you keep a bottle of some familiar brand of booze in your fridge? Or if you actually get it out of your house?

Sure you could go back to the store and buy another bottle (make a new account), but that hassle will help reinforce your decision not to. Keeping it in arm's reach - different story.

Delete your account. Delete your reddit browser extentions, saved passwords, bookmarks, mobile apps... scrub that shit from your devices. You'll find yourself much less tempted to relapse, and it's liberating as fuck.

I miss a few features from Reddit; but I'm not making a new account and setting RES and such back up again to get them. Fuck that noise.

[–] InvisibleShade@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Initially I too felt like I was missing out on content, but the more time I spent away from Reddit the easier it feels to stay away.

I have accepted that I will not get certain kinds of content and communities, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for Kbin / Lemmy. And I believe that slowly, eventually we'll have the quality of the communities we had on Reddit. It just takes time.

[–] KijanaBarubaru@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I am in the same boat. The sports subreddits I follow have very few users on lemmy, so it's pointless to follow match threads here. It makes sense to get to do that on reddit where you have thousands of people commenting on the game.

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