we need more users
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I'm trying to think of something to say in riposte in order to boost the comment count.
Riposte? What a fun word, I should incorporate that.
This thread is doing well for engagement, go sort by new and comment on something

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Just talk up Lemmy, the issue is most people doesn't realize there's another option to the popular toxic trash fires.
I just don't have conversations with people in which I proselytize internet aggregators. I just don't talk about this stuff to people.
Besides which, I disagree that the issue is that people don't know. They don't know because they haven't invested the 3 seconds to search "reddit alternatives" and they haven't done that because they're happy wherever they are.
Like "most" users think advertising is "good" because it might remind them about things they want. They think it's "good" that some algorithm might curate content they're more likely to be interested in. They think it's fine that there's a new AI chat bot.
Having an awareness that alternatives exist does not solve these fundamental impediments.
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Agreed. This seems like the lowest hanging fruit, the absolute minimal solution.
Given the emergence of Bluesky and the parallel rightwing echo chambers, the fediverse does not have the luxury of splittism IMO.
WDYM? That will just make the graph look less terrible but not address the problem.
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they should link to each other in the sidebar so people know how to find them
Lemmy communities could benefit from a webring concept.
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too complicated
This is an Us problem. Download jerboa. Create an account on world. Done. Simple as Reddit. We make it complicated by explaining federation, options, different instances, etc. None of that matters to the masses.
This. So much of this.
I see the same with any federated platform. People are excited to explain how complicated and clever and different services and integrations and... Shut the fuck up.
App, sign-up, post, like, subscribe. Done.
People will learn the rest if it is important enough to them to master
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too complicated
This is an Us problem. Download jerboa. Create an account on world. Done. Simple as Reddit. We make it complicated by explaining federation, options, different instances, etc. None of that matters to the masses.
We can make our decentralised network more popular by centralising it feels like an own goal...
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To be completely honest, Lemmy is kinda dead outside the politics subs and some of the tech ones. When I deleted my reddit account I came here and joined some of the communities I was using reddit for: Pathfinder 2e, RPG, memes, anime. Out of all of them I only see an occasional post from memes while the other ones are literal ghost towns.
Yep.
Even the politics stuff, it seems to lag behind reddit by a half day or so.
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Just wait and let Reddit have another controversy
You know, there was a great blog recently that wrote about this, that now is the perfect time to popularize the fediverse. That's because as tensions with the US are rising, more people in europe are looking for alternative internet platforms to communicate over. So the fediverse can jump in here and offer itself as an alternative.
We're actually seeing a rise in new user applications over at Feddit.dk. The hostile behavior of the US has gotten some Reddit users to seek alternatives to american platforms.
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I've been one of the people saying "we don't need more users. we need quality over quantity" and i was wrong.
the way it's going, lemmy needs active users who post content sothat the network stays relevant. networks like the fediverse benefit from network effects and that means that if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall.
So please, everyone, when you can, make advertisement for the fediverse in your personal area. Go talk to friends, make attractive stickers and put them everywhere, stuff like that. We would all benefit from it.
edit: source for the graph
Why does the y axis not start at 0?
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I was meaning to buy a bunch of sticker for all sort of cool stuff I support (lemmy/fedi being one of those things) and stick it around the city. Know its not much, but its fun!

Isn't this not much better than graffiti? I think advocating for the fediverse is great, but let's not plaster unnecessary and potentially illegal posters/advertisements everywhere.
If you want to display an appreciation for the fediverse, perhaps there are T-shirts with the fediverse logo?
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I've been one of the people saying "we don't need more users. we need quality over quantity" and i was wrong.
the way it's going, lemmy needs active users who post content sothat the network stays relevant. networks like the fediverse benefit from network effects and that means that if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall.
So please, everyone, when you can, make advertisement for the fediverse in your personal area. Go talk to friends, make attractive stickers and put them everywhere, stuff like that. We would all benefit from it.
edit: source for the graph
I think posting quality content (or at least trying to be quality content hahaha) and good comments keep the users visiting back.
I just try to post one or two posts a day (to not spam things), comment a little bit, it seems it grows some communities on our instance. Some communities were dead, now at least some people post at these places.
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@gandalf-der-12te. Trying to interpret your post.
Do you have any comparable data, from other other apps? stuff like engagement %, daily, monthly users and such?
Also also we we could aim for both more quality and quantity. Why not?
Trashy people can always join Trashy instance, or whoever and whenever. That's imo what's Lemmy is all about. A hook in every nook?Focusing on quality does not discourage quantity. On the contrary, the phrase "quality over quantity" is intended to imply that the best way to improve quantity is to improve quality.
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Why does the y axis not start at 0?
That's because it's not representing the beginning of Lemmy but rather a point in time after.
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I've been one of the people saying "we don't need more users. we need quality over quantity" and i was wrong.
the way it's going, lemmy needs active users who post content sothat the network stays relevant. networks like the fediverse benefit from network effects and that means that if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall.
So please, everyone, when you can, make advertisement for the fediverse in your personal area. Go talk to friends, make attractive stickers and put them everywhere, stuff like that. We would all benefit from it.
edit: source for the graph
If you ask me, users kind of suck.
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too complicated
This is an Us problem. Download jerboa. Create an account on world. Done. Simple as Reddit. We make it complicated by explaining federation, options, different instances, etc. None of that matters to the masses.
Yeah, we need defaults to get people signed up. When it's too difficult for the average user, they'll go where it's easier.
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i don't have any data on other fediverse platforms at hand rn, but from memory IIRC mastodon has close to 1 million users, and it's by far the biggest chunk of the fediverse.
- mastodon is people-centric, where you have person/user as the central element of organization, and they can have posts.
- lemmy is content-centric, where you have communities as the central element of organization, and they can have posts.
AFAIK, content-centric networks are only lemmy and piefed as of today, modeled after Reddit. lemmy is bigger (i think) with 30K (active) users.
AFAIK, content-centric networks are only lemmy and piefed as of today, modeled after Reddit.
There's also Mbin, which I'm using. And NodeBB and Discourse if we go beyond Reddit-inspired and include forums.
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I've been one of the people saying "we don't need more users. we need quality over quantity" and i was wrong.
the way it's going, lemmy needs active users who post content sothat the network stays relevant. networks like the fediverse benefit from network effects and that means that if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall.
So please, everyone, when you can, make advertisement for the fediverse in your personal area. Go talk to friends, make attractive stickers and put them everywhere, stuff like that. We would all benefit from it.
edit: source for the graph
Here's my approach: over the holidays I suggested lemmy to 3 people I know. I did so by emailing or texting them links to the following piefed feeds of lemmy communities:
The first is non-political, non-tech, low-meme communities (tho sometimes those topics sneak in.) The second is non-political, non-tech meme/humor communities. One peson said they thought it was neat, the other said they bookmarked it, the third didn't say anything. Dunno if they joined.
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Isn't this not much better than graffiti? I think advocating for the fediverse is great, but let's not plaster unnecessary and potentially illegal posters/advertisements everywhere.
If you want to display an appreciation for the fediverse, perhaps there are T-shirts with the fediverse logo?
graffiti is cool though

found a lot of cool projects and organizations through stickers. i prefer it over a big bright televisions plastering the city trying to sell you unhealthy things.
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We can make our decentralised network more popular by centralising it feels like an own goal...
It depends what you want. If you want lots of people to join, you need to make it easy to join.
That doesn't mean we need to get rid of decentralization. You could have a federated joining mechanism that assigned people randomly to any willing instance. Forcing the user to pick is the problem.
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I've been one of the people saying "we don't need more users. we need quality over quantity" and i was wrong.
the way it's going, lemmy needs active users who post content sothat the network stays relevant. networks like the fediverse benefit from network effects and that means that if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall.
So please, everyone, when you can, make advertisement for the fediverse in your personal area. Go talk to friends, make attractive stickers and put them everywhere, stuff like that. We would all benefit from it.
edit: source for the graph
I tell people about lemmy and send them links. Mostly people don't care about anything. Abstract or remote things like "should a platform be owned by one asshole?" just doesn't even enter their brain.