It doesn't need to replace Reddit. All it needs is a small active userbase which it got from the migration and just slowly grow into something new.
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Lemmy
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I prefer it this way vs a full-blown copy of reddit. Smaller communities makes for better engagement and far more fulfilling convos anyway. 🙂
@BrikoX given that all big subreddits are protesting instead of switching. Lemmy has not threatened Reddit even remotely close as Mastodon did forcing Twitter to block Mastodon links.
I 100% agree with you, Lemmy only needs to be a competitor, not a replacement.
But so far, that also hasn't happened
Wrong.
It has a way better chance because we don’t need to rely on popular people joining for it to grow. Anyone can start a community for any topic.
@trifictional I saw support for Mastodon and people moving to it.
Lemmy just hasn't had that yet.
And its apparent why.
Unlike Twitter, core functionality of Reddit has still not degraded
Here’s my point though:
You follow people on twitter. If the people you follow stay on twitter, you are forced to use twitter to see what they post.
You follow topics on Reddit. If the community doesn’t leave Reddit, that’s okay. You can still find the exact same community over here or start one yourself.
That single distinction will make this platform more successful than mastodon.
@trifictional People are what make a platform.
Users submit content to fill it
Mods make it liveable
Lemmy has enough mods. But given that 99% of redditors weren't affected by the changes, Lemmy just doesn't have the urgency.
Big subreddits are protesting instead of switching to Lemmy.
One adv is that Lemmy can tap into Mastodon users. But even that I have not seen happenning.
I will be happy to be proved wrong tho. Let's see...
Mastodon is easier to deal with as regardless of which instance you sign up for you are just following other users or picking up on global trends. There is also ONE OFFICIAL mobile app out there to make getting started easy. You just find it in your app store.
Lemmy is a bit of a mess:
- Bad name (yes I kind of resisted due to this)
- Communities you only see your instances and ONLY other instances that users on your instance have subscribed to. This limits your discovery of new communities if you are self hosted or on a small instance.
- Duplicate communities all over for common words just on different Instances. Subscribe to your local one, most popular one, or all of them?
- Need to pick your instance around moderation, but your instance may defederate what ever it wants.
- Nothing related comes up if you search "lemmy" in the iOS app store at this time.
Not trying to nit pick but comparing the two, Mastodon has a few things going for it that make adoption much easier
What's wrong with the name?
lemmy has a higher search hit for "Ian Fraser Kilmister" as it is a common name. Mastodon and Reddit are UNIQUE names. If you ask Google Assistant or Siri "What is lemmy?" you will get that result. Mastodoon has a better / more unique name.
I also just don't personally like how it sounds, sounds too much like lemming or let me when I hear it out loud.
More people use reddit than twitter. As there isn't another real alt to reddit they will either go to Lemmy kbin maybe minds but I doubt it.
Wrong. On the App Store (Apple), the official Reddit app is 1st while Twitter is 2nd. Reddit is extensively used.