Please indulge a few shower thoughts I had:
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I wouldn’t worry about Lemmy having as many users as reddit in the short term. Success is not just a measure of userbase. A system just needs a critical mass, a minimum number of users, to be self-perpetuating. For a reddit post that has 10k comments, most normal people only read a few dozen comments anyways. You could have half the comments on that post, and frankly the quality might go up, not down. (That said, there are many communities below that minimum critical mass at the moment.)
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Lemmy is now a real alternative. When reddit imploded Lemmy wasn’t fully set up to take advantage of the exodus, so a lot of users came over to the fediverse and gave up right away. There were no phone apps, the user interface was rudimentary, and communities weren’t yet alive. Next time reddit screws up in a high profile way, and they will screw up, the fediverse will be ready.
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Lemmy has way more potential than reddit. Reddit’s leadership has always been incompetent and slow at fixing problems. The fediverse has been very responsive to user feedback in comparison.
My problem with Lemmy is the lack of activity in niche communities. You’re right that there needs to be a critical mass and arguably Lemmy has it, but only for the most mainstream, generic type of content. It doesn’t have the mass to sustain any sort of niche, outside of maybe tech related topics because of the way the userbase is slanted.
I find myself going back there often because of that, but I hope that the userbase for generic content enough to sustain and grow, from where more active niche communities can spring up.
Someone the other day referred to posting in niche communities as shouting into the void currently, which I thought was apt.
I run one of that niche communities and right now things are quiet, but I’ll keep at it and grow it over the next few years.
Removed by mod
Oh, I see you have zero posts, ever. Well why don’t you go and contribute to that niche community you are nagging about. Maybe that’s what it needs to grow.
Ad hominem
Wait let me do it right so you know I know it’s Latin
ad hominem
Wait, I can’t read your comment because I keep seeing ads.
Ads for hominy? Weird.
Lemmy needs both content generators and content consumers. Not everyone needs to do both if that isn’t what motivates them to come to the site.
I don’t really love comparing to reddit because what reddit became isn’t what I hope for lemmy, but to make the point… What percentage of people do you think made content on reddit? I’d guess it was a fraction of a single percent.
I’m trying to, reached 300 subscribers, but three of them posted once, several commented once and that’s it.
What community is it, maybe I’ll try to plug it whenever it’s relevant to my comments.
It’s rare that it could come up in conversation outside the topic of photography, but here it is: !streetphotography@lemmy.world
Ah, nice, I’ll be a member and will be an OC poster as well though I rarely bring my sony mirrorless. It’s it okay to upload mobile photos?
I am of the opinion that cameras don’t really matter, beyond a certain technological level. Does it take pictures? Then it’s a camera, capable enough to use. There was a quote in Michael Freeman’s book on visual photographic literacy that I found quite interesting. He wrote that only ameteur photographers obsess over camera technology and settings.
So you’re more than welcome to post on there!
Thank you so much.
I’m sure they’ll get right to it after reading your smartass comment.