you know what would be really helpful? cross this with data from moderation. content removals, bans, permabans.

then, layer in mods/communities and you might find why users are leaving.

I think one huge missed opportunity is within sharing stuff from lemme… Other sites will allow you to share media, often with a banner or link back to the original content or source. For lemme I download the media and there’s no branding or linkage that brings you back to the platform (at least not through the Boost app)

it’s just a matter of time until the internet gets divided into spaces like US, EU, RU and China

I’m here, I just never comment :3

I’ve been using Lemmy less because it’s so depressing. It feels like a majority of the engagement is with depressing US politics and a strong left bias (to be clear, I also hate the current government). Unlike most, I really like most of the nerdy tech content.

Which is why I’ve been lurking more on Hacker News lately, it’s tech minded forums with an appropriate level of politics and more nuanced takes. And as a bonus the interface even less bloated (in terms of resource usage) than any Lemmy frontend I’ve tried.

Today is my first day here and I’ve mostly just been wandering hobby/interest groups!

I think the biggest barrier for new users is that the whole system here is pretty complicated with the “decentralized” model. I don’t really understand what it means or how it works, what the difference between the various servers are, or what to join or even which app to download. There are a lot of options and complicated technical terms (like “federated”, “fediverse”) you need to research just so you can sign up. The fact that you have to write all of these explanations about it doesn’t really help. A platform like reddit (which I migrated from) is clean, easy to understand, and makes sense to the casual user.

As for the political stuff, I think people here should engage more with positive content. We should make the wholesome, fun stuff popular because it’s appealing. Post about the cool/funny/awesome/interesting stuff you encounter every day; talk about the arts, your hobbies, your funny life fuck ups, your non-serious relationship woes, your pets, etc.! In my exploration today I noticed those kinds of communities barely get any interaction whereas the news/political ones are always active.

From my own experience with Lemmy, I can absolutely see why it’s declining.

Lemmy is packed full of miserable people constantly calling for violence. 90% of the feed is packed full of US politics, it doesn’t matter how many filters I use I still see that greasy orange cunt’s face every time I open Lemmy.

The amount of hostility towards outsiders just getting into Lemmy is astounding, and I’ve absolutely seen the whole “quality over quantity” crap that only drives people away from the platform. The IT tech snobbery is also incredibly offputting to people who aren’t tech enthusiests.

In short, Lemmy has a toxic shithead problem that a platform this small can’t afford if it wants to survive long term.

i remember hearing about when the empire State building was first built, the would light up some of the offices to make it look busy, to attract other people.

Can I ask a different, more difficult question?

Where are people going?

Lemmy Isn’t Quite It? Mastodon is too formal. Blusky is too political.

Lemmy was a clone of Reddit. Not an improvement on it.

I came here looking for something different than Reddit but I’m actually pretty done. I try to post, start threads and conversations but the ones that don’t get deleted because of some vague rule get questioned to hell as to why it exists that it makes me wish I hadn’t posted at all.

Reddit refugee here. I’ve been banned three times in 2 weeks for erroneous applications of nebula’s policies. They appear to be going through a self-destructive phase. All you need to be is a viable alternative to a dumpster fire and deliver a clear valuable alternative.

…I am drifting away from Lemmy myself.

Political communities are echo chambers like Reddit, in a different color. Discussing tech or helping others is better, but still feels like talking in circles.

Wholesome subs like /c/SuperBowl are sublime, but I mostly lurk there.

Information hygiene is awful. Big subs upvote tabloids and Tweets to the sky, as long as they align with their beliefs. I just saw a discussion on a not-obviously AI generated photo with the community sentiment of “misinformation? Who cares. It’s a pro-lefty meme, so spread it.”

Anyway, all this scrolling and impulse commenting eats time. I get the same feeling of shouting into a black hole that I get on corporate social media.

Much of this is my fault, though.

I have several niches I intend to make original posts for, but never do.

It’s somewhere in the giant pile of my IRL executive dysfunction :’(

Well, good news - I’m brand new and decided I’m not resubbing to Relay so I’m effectively off Reddit since the official mobile app is garbage.

The culture wars have reached the fediverse, and it’s making me less happy to be here. I don’t want to hang out in places where people use slurs and insults, even if they’re not aimed at me. I’m seeing more casual misogyny/misandry, more casual use of the r**** slur, more perfectionist gatekeeping, more assumptions, and just less good-faith comments in general.

I’d advertise, but I’m starting to look for an alternative to lemmy.

I’m feeling very burnt out. Lemmy is kinda an endless stream of political doom and gloom. For context, I’m in the US and already stressed out by our political situation. But I don’t come here to see more doom and gloom. It’s getting to the point where I think I need to get off for my mental health.

Then there are all the people who if you don’t agree exactly with their opinion they downvote you to hell. You have left leaning politics but not my flavor of left? Downvote! You hate enshitification and big tech privacy practices, but you use a single piece of software that isn’t FOSS? Downvote!

It’s so exhausting. I absolutely hate Reddit but I miss going on there and just laughing at how someone’s TV is too high. I miss laughing at how some restaurant serves food of shovels instead of plates.

And that’s not even getting into the lack of content. That part I understand requires users like myself to be as active as possible. But it’s hard being active when I feel so burnt out from the other stuff here.

Tbh, idk if these issues are specific to Lemmy or just the internet as a whole. I can only speak to the slice of the internet I find myself in. But I just wanna see people that are excited about things: photography, 3d printing, weird keyboards, etc. And that exists here, but it’s drowned out by all the doom and gloom.