I just saw this post over on r/modcoord which is basically a massive list of subreddits participating in the blackout protest. If I’m being honest I haven’t seen this much anger and coordinated frustration since the era right before the digg exodus.
Assuming more and more subreddits join in, it’s going to send a pretty massive message to the users who interact with a blacked out subreddit. Then I’m trying to imagine what happens if after a massive coordinated blackout, Reddit continue on the current trajectory. Is Lemmy even prepared to handle the amount of potential incoming traffic that API closure could lead to? It’s absolutely bonkers to me that the Reddit team might just stay the course…
I do have to wonder if Reddit knows something we don’t… This is… wayyy too much to ignore. I assume they’ve done analysis of the worse cases and mass user departure. The only reason I can assume they’re not backing down is due to the very high upfront costs of Reddit. Less users = less costs which theoretically means more profit. You have a very good point, and its something all Lemmy server owners need to be prepared for, which is a huge influx of users joining on the blackouts, even then, it may not be enough, unintentional DDOS attacks are still DDOS attacks. This is a golden opportunity of a lifetime for Lemmy, but I fear with even a 10th of Reddits current userbase, Lemmy admins won’t be able to keep up… I feel for all the developers and admins that make Lemmy possible, and I really hope it goes well for everyone involved. Donate to server admins and the main project if you have a few dollars spare, or if anyone is comfortable with coding I’m sure they need some devs.
I hate to say this but Lemmy is way less user friendly than Reddit. I doubt anything close to 10% of reddit will come over here. This site should focus on improving new user acquisition.
Not a good name for a social media site. Google/Youtube searching “Lemmy” just gives results for a guitarist
The average joe doesn’t understand how federation works
You have to decide which place to make an account
You have to write an essay to join (I’ve seen people complain about this)
The top instances look very political/left wing
If you’re persistent, educate yourself, and make it through the process, you can join a site with ~1000 active users.
Following remote communities is unintuitive. You have to search the link from your instance to subscribe to another instance (e.g., if your account is on beehaw, you have to search [email protected]. You can’t click their subscribe button on lemmy.ml.)
You and I know that different instances of Lemmy are mutually accessible and so #3 and #5 are not a problem. But for the uneducated all the above are significant barriers for entry/retention.
they know that they can circumvent moderators’ lockdown and make subreddits public at will and sack the mods who don’t agree with the change, and they’ll still have tons of people willing become a moderator for the sense of pride and accomplishment that you get from ruling your tiny little castle.
I’ve got my popcorn ready for whatever happens down there.
popcorn tastes good.