You can pick an instance that aligns with the way you like to be. But those instances are still kept in check because if they get too shit, they get defederated.
For example, feddit.uk can operate in a uk-style way for which words we do and don’t find offensive, and the level of piss-taking we do.
In terms of the more populous instances, I think Lemmy reminds me of old Reddit before the site went mainstream, minus the jailbait, incest-posting, rampant racism and other degenerate shit that Reddit used to be known for.
By default? A nicer UI. It still pales compared to classic Reddit, but having things like keyboard shortcuts built in is nice, and it doesn’t bog down/fire up a bunch of pop-ups like neo-Reddit.
I feel like that trope doesn't really ring true these days, as most of the "general purpose" instances are pretty moderate. Back when Lemmy was still just a small handful of instances, that was definitely the case, but I think the wider adoption has balanced things out a bit closer toward center, overall.
disclaimer: i am not a web developer or a programmer, so if the language use is semantically incorrect, i apologize—I am merely trying to provide a layman’s explanation.
it’s just a bunch of little “reddits” (general discussion forum websites) that are independently hosted, but have the ability to cross post with one-another (so long as they are “federated”).
lemmy is the underlying technology that lets that happen, not the top level entity (like how reddit is the name of the website that is the forum host). so what you have is a bunch of different independent websites running lemmy that users individually create accounts on, and a lot of those individual websites communicate with each-other to create cohesive “fediverse.”
on the front end, whatever lemmy website someone signs up on, they are able to see all the content created and posted across all the separate websites that have federated together with the initial website the user signed up with.
so in short, you may have signed up with Lemmy Server 1 that has 800 individual forum topics (communities/ or subreddits) but you can also post in and interact with Lemmy Server 2, which is separately hosted and a very specific forum that only allows forum topics about bunny tossing so there are two topics: /BunnyTossing and /BunnyTossingMemes. So long as lemmy servers 1 and 2 are federated you’ll see content from Lemmy Server 1 (your home server) and Lemmy Server 2 (rad tips on bunny tossing).
if in the future your home server defederates with another server, you will no longer see content from that server or be able to interact with it as your user profile from that home server (in this instance Lemmy Server 1). in this situation however there is nothing stopping you from creating a user account on Lemmy Server 2 and continuing to see rad tips on bunny tossing by logging into lemmy server 2 directly.
Somewhere along the way, I learned that for a village to thrive, the creative people (the artisans, the musicians etc) must move in first, they form the roots, then the rest of the village follows them.
The creative people moved from Digg to Reddit. That’s what made Reddit Reddit, not the brand, or the UI, or some genius exec.
The creative people have mass migrated to Lemmy, & hence Lemmy will thrive. How do you know - see where og memes originate. Genius is not the domain of AI, & hence Reddit is Deaddit. We’re now just waiting for the rest to follow.
I’ve yet to see artists migrate here. The artists started on DA, Newgrounds, YT, Tumblr, etc. The professionals moved to Twitter.
Reddit started from geek & tech culture, not creatives. Its ability to foster discussion extended well to not just techies but to everyone. Most creatives I’ve seen shy away from Reddit.
Fester a cesspool of social justice warriors and armchair generals who talk out of their ass in hopes of provoking some reaction so they can feel important for the day.
If the goal is just better, then moderation is better. Reddit obviously has better/more content, users, etc. But the mods can and do make the whole experience. It could be zero interaction, no problem, or it could be a permanent ban of a subr or the whole ecosystem for no reason and you have zero insight or recourse.
On Lemmy the same can happen and I’m convinced many mods here are just are bad. But there is a public log. You still can’t do anything about it, but it’s something.
Which comes back to the real question. Both suck. The best thing about Lemmy is that I went from using reddit as my only social media for years, to boycotting it and coming here. And it sucks here, so now very little social media presence at all. It works great as a digital detox.
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