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309

Why are so many people so fixated on Lemmy's growth? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by AstralPath@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

126 comments fedilink hide all child comments

...relative to Reddit's size?

I see so many posts and comments voicing disappointment with Lemmy's lack of massive expansion.

I too want to see Lemmy gain more users, but I do not want it to grow to Reddit's size. If Reddit is the yardstick, I'd say that a population that large attracts a lot of negative behaviours; degeneration of discourse, amplification of echo chambers and hive mind behaviour, etc...

I started on Reddit in 2010 and found that by 2016 things were really bad in comparison. A fun and engaging site was experiencing an obvious devolution that persists to this day, accelerated by Spez's enshittification of the platform. Obviously the fediverse insulates us from that occurring here but I think you get what I mean.

Do you you think Lemmy is too small? I don't. I've been here since the great migration last year and have had a really good time. I see a lot of familiar names in the comments on a daily basis. It actually feels like a community here. I guess I just don't understand the fixation on the size of Lemmy's user base. Curious to hear your thoughts.

[EDIT] Thanks for all the responses, everyone! Lots of perspectives I hadn't yet considered.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I've been having a nice time with Lemmy having ditched Reddit last year, and considering the changes that happened or have been conceptually floated over that time I'm happy with my choice.

One thing I would like is for the Lemmy framework to make it easier for the network to be "wider" than "taller" as it grows. By this I mean a wider array of separate domains with operators each with thriving niche communities, rather than a few tall generalist servers and a handful of outliers, and a fragmented myriad of inactive communities that are hard to find.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That is exactly the problem with Lemmy. Far too many niche communities with next to no members. That does not work. There are not enough people to have 5 separate communities about X.

[–] Blaze@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 months ago

Thanks. A topic we regularly discuss on !fedigrow@lemm.ee