I hate big tech controlling social media. I desperately want social media to be federated.
I really love community-driven social media like Reddit. Lemmy feels… too small. I really loved that Reddit let me jump into any niche hobby, and instantly I had a community. Lemmy, you’ll be lucky if that community even exists, and if it does, chances are nobody has posted in ages.
On the other hand, Lemmy is full of political content lately. I’ve basically been doom scrolling everything US election-related, and it’s really starting to take a toll on my mental health.
I know I can filter content. I know I can post and be the change I seek. Yet, it feels like an uphill battle.
Not sure what the point of this is, or if it’s even the right community to vent about this. I just really want to replace Reddit, but I find myself going back more and more (e.g. r/homekit is very active compared to Lemmy version).
I don’t want to simply repeat what others have said, but on a personal level, I’m actually enjoying the smaller overall community - it makes it a bit more personal, I feel. I enjoy that. Yeah, fair enough, it’s not great for niches, but you don’t have to be tethered down to one place for your content.
Back in my day, you had to go to completely different websites for your niche content! Forums were the mainstream!
Ya I don’t mind and I think it’s because this place reminds me a lot of old forums or old reddit. I really miss some of my old forums and the community that would be built there.
. The smaller feel also encourages contributing over lurking, because every individual’s comment can actually get read, unlike the huge megathreads of reddit.
I agree that, asking with the bad things OP mentions, there are good things about a smaller site. I remember a lot of times on Reddit when I had something to say, but when I went into the thread there were thousands of comments and I’d feel like there just wasn’t a point in adding mine.
On Lemmy, when I make a comment, it’s very likely to be seen (for better or worse), and I have much more of a feeling of adding to the conversation. It’s more like joining a conversation at a party.
I guess maybe the reason I fell into niche communities on Reddit was that I liked the smaller feel. So I do appreciate how many people actually see my comments. But I also appreciate communities that are focused on specific topics. Maybe I need to consider broader categories on Lemmy.
I think you’d be surprised how many people here share your interests. You may not be able to scroll through an album of other people’s projects relevant to your hobby right now, but I bet you can post to a more general community with a very specific question (or show off your own project) and get a good amount of engagement and feedback, maybe even with broader perspective than you might get in a subreddit with an established “meta” for your hobby.
I think the people who grew up a bit later may feel this more keenly than some of us olds who used to have to use the yellow pages.
Hmm maybe I should post to niche communities then repost to broader categories.
Or just assess whether your niche is sustainable at all, if not then just use the broader category
Thing is, it can be great for niches! The Star Trek instance is very Star Trek. The TTRPG instance has a lot of potential. If we try to build the fediverse out from these niche nodes first, instead of starting from the general and trying to branch out, it could work a lot better than what we currently have.