Lemmy's active userbase has been stable since September 2025
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Has anything changed since a year ago in this regard though? Tankies are still here, lemmy.ml not defederated from anywhere, hexbear almost disappeared but managed to come back. We made discuss.online a better landing space for newbies, but now the shift is more towards PieFed, which I mentioned several thoughts about in a separate thread.
Not only on Reddit, even on Lemmy there are a bunch of people bashing on the tankies being present on Lemmy, in that community e.g. in the recent discussion at https://piefed.zip/c/fedibridge/p/795307/r-redditalternatives-comments-ask-for-alternatives-piefed-and-lemmy-are-mentioned-a-few-ti, like this comment:
That’s the problem, they do manipulate it. There was a thread a while back that showed how ml basically shows up as one of the random instances to join, like 95% of the time. So it’s not actually random.
We can say all we like how we wish that it were not a problem, but people on Reddit seem to disagree and not want to join regardless. Though I have noticed that either positive or negative opinions are very rarely delivered these days in r/RedditAlternatives. I wonder if people are simply tired of the subject and now just tune it out like noise. If so, then we missed a major opportunity to offer a true alternative to Reddit. Hopefully there will be more, and I am not suggesting to give up, only trying to highlight a major issue of concern so that we can move forward.
Chiefly imho, by recommending PieFed rather than Lemmy instances (and strongly preferably one that defederates from hexbear).
!meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works is a very toxic community as well, you don't see SJW defederated from most instances.
Lemmy.ml is defederated from infosec.pub and lemmy.cafe.
Piefed having actual instance blocking at the user level make defederation less of an issue.
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@Blaze The last 3 things you mentioned are good tips for the fediverse in general, not just lemmy/piefed
Indeed, but on this community we tend to focus on the Threadiverse
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It’s been 6 hours, may I out of friendly nature inquire after the hopefully most entertaining intercourse with @Klear@quokk.au? I trust it was most fulfilling?
Nah, he kept screaming and it kinda ruined the mood =/
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it's going to take more than that
the lemmy line is going down much faster than the piefed line is going up
looks like losing 1500 users per quarter when you take both into account
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The difference, one would assume, is that on the whole, Reddit's political biases influence more what is not shown (much like lemmy.ml banning people for any criticism of Russia, China, or North Korea, or the echo chamber in hexbear), whereas Lemmy's tankie issue also manifests as people actively sea-lioning (e.g. Cowbee) and (especially from hexbear) overt trolling, which shows up more in people's faces. Both are issues, neither are good.
Your Don Quixote RP in this thread is going really well, congrats!
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I honestly like the small, eclectic vibe better.
I don't know what the number is, but I'll arbitrarily say, anywhere under a quarter million is perfect.
I know the federation model provides a strength against the cascading list negatives that plague popular platforms, but I don't doubt that with a large enough user base, exploits would certainly seep in, particularly with ease of AI bot manipulation and astroturfing.
It reminds me of the Linux saying "security through obscurity".
Reddit has so much more content and frankly 80% of their real non-bot userbase seem to be ok. Wouldn't hurt at all to get like 10% of the best of them here. That'd be about 5 million people.
Ok, now that I think about it, 70k => 5M would probably hurt the servers a bit.
Let's go for the top 1%, we all love the top 1% right?
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A post from 2 days ago presented a graph that showed an important variation in the active userbase: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/52565659
Using the daily rather than monthly view on https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 shows a much stable line (especially if you take into account Piefed's growth: https://piefed.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 )
Going through the comments in the other posts, a few recommendations that can help with the overall experience
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use different feeds: either using different Lemmy/Mbin accounts (one account per type of content), or Piefed personal feeds, but being able to browse different feeds such as "Good news", "Hobbies", "Art", "Life advice" help to see more content than politics and tech
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discover communities: subscribe to !communitypromo@lemmy.ca, !fedigrow@lemmy.zip and !newcommunities@lemmy.world to add active communities to your feeds
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go to general communities rather than specific ones: the current user base only allows so much specialization. Your favorite city builder community may not exist, but !citybuilders@sh.itjust.works does. !stationery@lemmy.world and !pen_and_paper@lemmy.world may be inactive, but !journaling@sh.itjust.works is not.
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use a client that allows for comments consolidation: I don't remember which mobile apps does it (Sync, I think?), Piefed has that feature built-in too. It allows to see all comments on a cross-post in the same view: https://piefed.zip/c/privacy/p/928874/worst-in-show-ces-products-include-ai-refrigerators-ai-companions-and-ai-doorbells#post_replies
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report toxic users and avoid communities that do not handle your reports: quite a few comments mentioned that issue in the other thread. Mods can't see everything, reporting helps to keep the atmosphere of a community enjoyable.
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use a client that implements keyword filters: quite a few mobile apps and alternative Lemmy front-ends do, Piefed has it built in. It can really help avoid the "doom and gloom" overwhelming your feed.
Finally, a few communities recommendations for lighthearted communities
- !casualconversation@piefed.social
- !goodnewseveryone@piefed.social
- !wholesome@reddthat.com
- !nicememes@sopuli.xyz
- !dullsters@dullsters.net / !dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
- !twogoobers@lemmy.zip
Lemmy is the only Corporate social media replacement I've stuck to for years. I've never gone back to reddit. I don't need it. I like the vibes here and it's just busy enough to suit my needs without allowing me to doomscroll nonstop new content.
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A post from 2 days ago presented a graph that showed an important variation in the active userbase: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/52565659
Using the daily rather than monthly view on https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 shows a much stable line (especially if you take into account Piefed's growth: https://piefed.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 )
Going through the comments in the other posts, a few recommendations that can help with the overall experience
-
use different feeds: either using different Lemmy/Mbin accounts (one account per type of content), or Piefed personal feeds, but being able to browse different feeds such as "Good news", "Hobbies", "Art", "Life advice" help to see more content than politics and tech
-
discover communities: subscribe to !communitypromo@lemmy.ca, !fedigrow@lemmy.zip and !newcommunities@lemmy.world to add active communities to your feeds
-
go to general communities rather than specific ones: the current user base only allows so much specialization. Your favorite city builder community may not exist, but !citybuilders@sh.itjust.works does. !stationery@lemmy.world and !pen_and_paper@lemmy.world may be inactive, but !journaling@sh.itjust.works is not.
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use a client that allows for comments consolidation: I don't remember which mobile apps does it (Sync, I think?), Piefed has that feature built-in too. It allows to see all comments on a cross-post in the same view: https://piefed.zip/c/privacy/p/928874/worst-in-show-ces-products-include-ai-refrigerators-ai-companions-and-ai-doorbells#post_replies
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report toxic users and avoid communities that do not handle your reports: quite a few comments mentioned that issue in the other thread. Mods can't see everything, reporting helps to keep the atmosphere of a community enjoyable.
-
use a client that implements keyword filters: quite a few mobile apps and alternative Lemmy front-ends do, Piefed has it built in. It can really help avoid the "doom and gloom" overwhelming your feed.
Finally, a few communities recommendations for lighthearted communities
- !casualconversation@piefed.social
- !goodnewseveryone@piefed.social
- !wholesome@reddthat.com
- !nicememes@sopuli.xyz
- !dullsters@dullsters.net / !dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
- !twogoobers@lemmy.zip
Wow a blurry graph...I cant read a single thing on this is it just me or something?
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People who keep using reddit are idiots, simple as that.
No, they just don't have the same principles as us. I love Lemmy, but it doesn't have the same level of smaller active communities. There is more work for us to do.
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Always claims of sea-lioning, but never any evidence. You've had me blocked for over a year now, why continue this crusade?
I've come across some people who have no idea what "sealioning" even means. There used to be a hb user "Ulysses" or something, like three years ago, who accused me of doing it after I replied to their reply to my reply, and that's the only conversation we'd ever had. I pulled up the definition of sealioning and the comic which the word originated from, and they just say "no that's not true, stop sealioning".
I feel like some people just think sealioning means "this person keeps replying to my posts", as if conversations on a public forum are somehow uncalled for, or unusual.
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No, they just don't have the same principles as us. I love Lemmy, but it doesn't have the same level of smaller active communities. There is more work for us to do.
No, they just don’t have the same principles as us.
Reddit has being shit for a decade, if you have the wrong principles is because you are fine with that
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I've come across some people who have no idea what "sealioning" even means. There used to be a hb user "Ulysses" or something, like three years ago, who accused me of doing it after I replied to their reply to my reply, and that's the only conversation we'd ever had. I pulled up the definition of sealioning and the comic which the word originated from, and they just say "no that's not true, stop sealioning".
I feel like some people just think sealioning means "this person keeps replying to my posts", as if conversations on a public forum are somehow uncalled for, or unusual.
It's a real thing, for sure, but more often than not is used as a conversation terminator.
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!meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works is a very toxic community as well, you don't see SJW defederated from most instances.
Lemmy.ml is defederated from infosec.pub and lemmy.cafe.
Piefed having actual instance blocking at the user level make defederation less of an issue.
Meanwhileongrad is only a toxic community if you go into the community to argue in favour of tankie talking points or otherwise defend them.
If you believe that violence and bigotry isn't okay then you won't encounter toxicity.
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A post from 2 days ago presented a graph that showed an important variation in the active userbase: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/52565659
Using the daily rather than monthly view on https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 shows a much stable line (especially if you take into account Piefed's growth: https://piefed.fediverse.observer/dailystats&days=120 )
Going through the comments in the other posts, a few recommendations that can help with the overall experience
-
use different feeds: either using different Lemmy/Mbin accounts (one account per type of content), or Piefed personal feeds, but being able to browse different feeds such as "Good news", "Hobbies", "Art", "Life advice" help to see more content than politics and tech
-
discover communities: subscribe to !communitypromo@lemmy.ca, !fedigrow@lemmy.zip and !newcommunities@lemmy.world to add active communities to your feeds
-
go to general communities rather than specific ones: the current user base only allows so much specialization. Your favorite city builder community may not exist, but !citybuilders@sh.itjust.works does. !stationery@lemmy.world and !pen_and_paper@lemmy.world may be inactive, but !journaling@sh.itjust.works is not.
-
use a client that allows for comments consolidation: I don't remember which mobile apps does it (Sync, I think?), Piefed has that feature built-in too. It allows to see all comments on a cross-post in the same view: https://piefed.zip/c/privacy/p/928874/worst-in-show-ces-products-include-ai-refrigerators-ai-companions-and-ai-doorbells#post_replies
-
report toxic users and avoid communities that do not handle your reports: quite a few comments mentioned that issue in the other thread. Mods can't see everything, reporting helps to keep the atmosphere of a community enjoyable.
-
use a client that implements keyword filters: quite a few mobile apps and alternative Lemmy front-ends do, Piefed has it built in. It can really help avoid the "doom and gloom" overwhelming your feed.
Finally, a few communities recommendations for lighthearted communities
- !casualconversation@piefed.social
- !goodnewseveryone@piefed.social
- !wholesome@reddthat.com
- !nicememes@sopuli.xyz
- !dullsters@dullsters.net / !dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
- !twogoobers@lemmy.zip
Personally I still relate to the other graph. Lemmy posts can sometimes be much too focused on negative things, so I sometimes take pretty long breaks before coming back when it gets too depressing.
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I could criticize China right now, here in this community on Lemmy.world, but if I did so in a community on Lemmy.ml I would get banned from not only the entire instance but from communities that I've never so much as heard of. We have censorship here too.
And we have toxicity here as well. As too does Reddit. It is a little odd to hear Redditors of all people complain about toxicity:-). Maybe they were used to smaller communities on Reddit, avoiding the big ones, but then here with far less content you pretty much have to subscribe to the large communities (like is there another one talking about the Fediverse besides this one that is more worthwhile?), where the toxicity is more visible?
I don't know, I haven't wanted to actually talk to people on Reddit for several years now:-).
I would get banned from not only the entire instance but from communities that I’ve never so much as heard of
That's not how it works. You get banned from the instance and all communities you have commented or posted in. And it wouldn't be any different if it were to happen on .world or .zip.
(I know OpenStars and piefed.social users cannot see this, however I wanted everyone else to at least understand how bans work)
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No, they just don't have the same principles as us. I love Lemmy, but it doesn't have the same level of smaller active communities. There is more work for us to do.
Updoot to that! When I am checking for technical solutions or suggestions on the internet, Lemmy has barely any info while Reddit very often has the answer I need. But when it comes to "your typical social media site", Reddit sucks donkey balls in that while Lemmy gives me nice small community vibes. Reddit is still good as long as you dont step into mainstream subs shit.
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Meanwhileongrad is only a toxic community if you go into the community to argue in favour of tankie talking points or otherwise defend them.
If you believe that violence and bigotry isn't okay then you won't encounter toxicity.
I just had a look to find an old thread to show to @openstars@piefed.social : https://lazysoci.al/post/39100205/20292399
But I just noticed you banned me 5 days ago for "brigading"? What evidence do you have for that claim?
Edit: just found this thread: https://lazysoci.al/post/39736457/20699113
Well, I'll let openstars decide what to do.
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It's a real thing, for sure, but more often than not is used as a conversation terminator.
The sealion in the original comic is completely correct, which makes me very suspicious of anyone who dismisses someone for "sealioning" and as you say, it usually is just used as an excuse not to engage with what someone is saying.
The sealion in the comic overheard someone being racist against them, and stepped in to say, "Hey, why are you being racist?" And for some reason is wrong because... they're persistent? Or because they're annoying? How is that not literally just every "anti-woke" argument?
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I just had a look to find an old thread to show to @openstars@piefed.social : https://lazysoci.al/post/39100205/20292399
But I just noticed you banned me 5 days ago for "brigading"? What evidence do you have for that claim?
Edit: just found this thread: https://lazysoci.al/post/39736457/20699113
Well, I'll let openstars decide what to do.
You regularly post threads you comment on to YPTB's chatroom so others get involved. YPTB and other such Tankie places also regularly use alts, and as soon as you posted the thread, a few alt accounts popped up arguing with Tankie talking points. That's brigading, and I'm not going to allow it in my community.
Trying to prove you don't brigade by posting to a brigade community is certainly a move. Why should I unban you when you continue to manipulate threads and engage in snark communities?
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The sealion in the original comic is completely correct, which makes me very suspicious of anyone who dismisses someone for "sealioning" and as you say, it usually is just used as an excuse not to engage with what someone is saying.
The sealion in the comic overheard someone being racist against them, and stepped in to say, "Hey, why are you being racist?" And for some reason is wrong because... they're persistent? Or because they're annoying? How is that not literally just every "anti-woke" argument?
Agreed! They take issue more with the argument style to dismiss the substance.
![алсааас [she/her]](https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/9c0939f5-3c93-4ef4-b173-e4463a7fd26b.png "алсааас [she/her]"){kind=avatar}
![Cowbee [he/they]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/c18ce632-5fb5-4888-8226-3dc55a07acc4.jpeg "Cowbee [he/they]"){kind=avatar}
![∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/1adef085-c064-4ad2-9fc8-1c860e1aaab6.webp "∞🏳️⚧️Edie [it/it/its/its/itself, she/her/her/hers/herself, fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself, love/love/loves/loves/loveself, des/pair, null/void, none/use name]"){kind=avatar}