Idea for niche communities

There isn’t enough people on Lemmy to have niche communities finding someone interested in threads for example here is like finding a grain(Though niche communities like spec evo in for pages I own probably could take take off If I put enough effort into it) in the sand people will follow niche sub lemmings and they will upvote them because they like the idea of niche communities so they subscribe and they like the idea of niche posts so they comment even if they aren’t interested in the topic. It is hit and miss with mostly misses due to the random odds that the community will have enough people to join it that are willing to post or comment. That is not surprising for a site of 50,000 people(though some niche Lemmy communities may also be in the wrong instance). It is also not surprising that most discussions will be in larger servers. I think it would improve Lemmy if niche questions like my threads post here(though collapse community sounds more targeted) were redirected to the larger Lemmy communities . Even if 90 percent of the people do not understand the topic that would mean 10 percent and with percentage that could amount to hundreds of people even at 99 percent.

Saigonauticon,

I keep forgetting Lemmy has voting features. I never used them on Reddit.

Anyway, the key is attracting people who generate content. Finding people who consume content is comparatively easy. A good way to start is to generate content yourself, and leveraging that to convince other content creators to work alongside you. It’s a lot of work, takes time, and you can’t fake it.

I’m one of those weirdos that is happy to generate content somewhere like Lemmy even if no one sees it. I think I have two comments on my instance (and as far as I know, I run the only instance in my country, or at the very least the first). Although content only comes through when I have time to do interesting things. Feel free to link to it if that’s helpful to you, although it’s very engineering-focused.

I think that long term, native content is the only solution – things that originate here. Other platforms can scramble to repost our stuff if they want.

Deebster,
@Deebster@beehaw.org avatar

I think part of the problem is that even when you’re subscribed to the small communities, it’s easy to miss the posts. Sorting by Scaled helps a little, but I still often find a post from days ago that I missed.

I’d like an option where you could “super subscribe” or something which makes those posts show up first, or even in the inbox.

walden,

I wonder how this will change once lemmy.world updates to 0.19.x, enabling Scaled sorting for those users. My instance is quite small, with mostly the same handful of people talking about shaving and the occasional patent article (also about shaving).

cashews_best_nut,

Who’s shaving, what?

Blaze,

Even if 90 percent of the people do not understand the topic

If that happens too much, this people will just leave Lemmy

CorrodedCranium,
@CorrodedCranium@leminal.space avatar

That is not surprising for a site of 50,000 people(though some niche Lemmy communities may also be in the wrong instance

I feel like this isn’t as relevant as people think. A community on a small instance may take some additional legwork initially but once one person from a large instance joins a lot of people who sort by all will see it in that other instance.

I imagine people who sort aren’t sorting by subscribed are likely sorting by all rather than local because of how spread out popular Lemmy communities are.

I feel like a better solution is to link to other communities when posting in an already niche community. For example if I want to share a video about the lore of the Fallout games mentioning !fallout and !fallout at the bottom so more people are aware of them and they can both benefit.

dom,

Joined those two. Thanks for using those as examples

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

we have a chicken and egg problem.

people wont come to no content. need people for content.

how do we get traction? so far; generate content via bots, and attempt to teach other communities the benefits of moving wholesale here.

it took reddit 20 years and a lot more gimmicks to get to its size. the fediverse wont happen overnight, nor be an easy haul. need momentum, even if that means <gasp> reputation points.

danhakimi,
danhakimi avatar

Reposting content from other sources using bots >>>>> generating content via bots.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

Yes Sir. Noted.
.

some_guy,

The days there’s rep points is the day I sign off forever.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

called it! i win the pool! thanks!

sneak e.

some_guy,

I don’t see that function on my instance. And if you point it out to me, I’ll be sad, but someone still had to look for it. I regret that I feel a slight pleasure in having up points. That’s why I resent points.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

were all human, dont hate yourself for bein'

some_guy,

I don’t hate myself. I love myself. Regret is not hate. And if it is, learn to love yourself.

originalucifer,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

understood!

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