Welcome Reddit refugees!

We are happy to see that many of you are exploring Lemmy after Reddit announced changes to its API policy. I maintain this project alongside @dessalines.

Lemmy is similar to Reddit in many ways, but there is also a major difference: Its not only a single website, but consists of many different websites which are interconnected through federation. This is achieved with the ActivityPub protocol which is also used by Mastodon. It means that you can sign up on any Lemmy instance to interact with users and communities on other instances. The project website has a list of instances which all have their own rules and administrators. We recommend that you sign up on one of them, to avoid overt centralization on lemmy.ml.

Another difference compared to Reddit is that Lemmy is open source, and not funded by any company. For this reason it relies on volunteer work to make the project better, whether it's programming, design, documentation, translating, reporting issues or others. See the contributing guide to get started. You can also donate to support development.

We also recommend that you read the documentation. It explains how Lemmy works and how to setup your own Lemmy instance. Running an instance gives you full control over the rules and moderation, and prevents us developers from having any influence. Especially large communities that want to use Lemmy should host their own instance, because existing Lemmy instances would easily be overwhelmed by a large number of new users.

Enjoy your time here! If you have any questions, feel free to ask below or in the Matrix chat.

seirim,
@seirim@lemmy.ml avatar

Hi, newbie here :-) How do we see all the posts on a topic like technology, but not just on Lemmy.ml where I happened to join, but from all over the "fediverse"? Could there be big discussions going on on other servers I'd just miss? How to get the complete bird's eye view on a topic across all of Lemmy?

Xer0,

I have a feeling this is kind of the way the fediverse will go. Click something that interests you, and it'll show every post across all instances / sites. Hopefully.

iod,
@iod@lemmy.ml avatar

yep. Topics, tags or whatever else that groups up related communities would be useful. For now this isnt supported but i'd also say while lemmy is still small, subbing to all subs that interest you here and on beehaw should be enough not to miss much imo.

div,

if we can get more reddit users to try this, people would make the switch.

SubArcticTundra,
@SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml avatar

Yes the account creation process just needs to be more frictionless ideally

Obi,
@Obi@sopuli.xyz avatar

I'm reading threads on Reddit with people that act like it's the most complicated task ever, like come on just pick anything. On one hand I guess it acts as a filter of sorts but on the other it's a fact that it'll slow down adoption. Maybe there should be a text in big friendly letters that says it's not a big deal, just choose any and get started. Maybe even a randomised button where it just selects it for you? Maybe it could ask a couple of questions to the user to determine the best suited server?

The other big one is the whole part about having communities existing under multiple servers. It's nice that I can go subscribe to communities from any server but it does complicate things a lot if I just want to see everything from subject X, and fragments the userbase further. Right now it's ok because there's only a few servers and communities are focused on large topics but down the line when Lemmy gets big and we have communities for niche topics, it'll definitely be a headache. There needs to be a way to simplify this even if it's on the user's side.

KelsonV,

This post alone now has as many upvotes as I saw someone on Reddit claim Lemmy had total users.

thepiguy,

The number of users must be growing exponentially at this point. Woo.

BrooklynMan,
@BrooklynMan@lemmy.ml avatar

I'd love to see the numbers on that

thepiguy,

https://lemmy.perthchat.org/pictrs/image/7929b17d-7219-4ffd-ae1c-d36febf3cf72.jpeg

This is from yesterday. Wonder what it looks like today.

Obi,
@Obi@sopuli.xyz avatar

Wow even though some people here have been around a while, having joined yesterday I'll still feel like I'll have gotten in on the bottom floor if Lemmy takes off!

bahcodad,

I've just moved here from reddit. I've read the documentation introduction but I'm also an idiot.

Could someone please explain how this works in super simple terms? Sort of eli5

Barbarian, (edited )

I'm a newbie as well, so take this with a grain of salt.

Lemmy is a language. Different "reddits" (called instances from this point on) can talk to any other instance that the moderation team hasn't banned. Every instance has their own rules, settings and moderation teams. Every instance can make "subreddits" (sublemmies). You can contribute to any sublemmy on any instance as long as they haven't banned your instance or your user.

What this means in practice is that if you don't like the moderators, go make your own instance or find one with like-minded people. If the moderators of an instance are not happy with the contributions of another instance as a whole, they can ban that. Assuming they're talking to (federated with) another instance, it's seamless and you can comment and post with all those people too.

exterstellar,

So are we gonna go with "sublemmy" from now on? 😀

exterstellar,

I'm going to use e-mail as an analogy.

"Lemmy" is analogous to "e-mail".

Each lemmy "server" or "instance" is the analogy of an email server. E.g. "lemmy.ml" or "beehaw.org" is equivalent to "gmail.com" or "hotmail.com" or "us.gov" or whatever email server.

You can use any email server to look at any email, the same way you can use any lemmy server to look at any lemmy post or community. You can use any email app to access any of your email accounts and view any email, the same way you can use any lemmy app to access any of your lemmy accounts to browse any lemmy post/commu ity.

If you currently use Gmail, and Google becomes evil, you can switch to Yahoo or Hotmail and still use email like usual. In the same way, if Lemmy.ml becomes evil you can switch to Beehaw.org and keep reading lemmy posts.

*** note that "lemmy" (the platform) and "lemmy.ml" (the instance) are not the same thing. It's kinda confusing, like if there's an "email" server called "email.com"

Barbarian,

Your explanation is much clearer than mine, thanks!

AbSoluTc,

Thanks! Just signed up and moved over from Reddit. Really hope theirs a Lemmy app in the works

Barbarian,

If you're on Android, Jerboa works pretty well.

AbSoluTc,

Thanks, on iOS

ArtVandelay,

Something I just found out in the Settings page that I wish existed in every social media site: you can turn off scores!

dessalines,

Yup! Hiding scores is absolutely better for our psychology. Constantly checking feedback numbers can be like a drug sometime.

We devs have a responsibility to not go along with all of the addictive UI patterns that silicon valley pays psychology-phds to help them develop. So there are some things we've chosen not to display, like total karma counts on your profile.

Obi,
@Obi@sopuli.xyz avatar

I was just wondering about the total count, great to find the reasoning right here.

ArtVandelay,

In all my years of being online I've come to really dislike "activity counters". Forums, as much as I'm nostalgic about them, used to have member ranks based on post counts, which also encouraged spamming. Then we've got these points systems in every social media website, making things even worse.

I'm glad devs like you are giving us a way to opt-out from it. Hopefully we can wean off enough people that it won't be a feature anymore (in the future).

Cromutorium,

Just joined because of all the reddit shenanigans. Quick question: I'm posting from the beehaw instance and am wondering what happens to my account if the instance goes down? Does it just disappear?

sexy_peach,

yes. Your account is tied to the server that it lives on. You could make another account called myUsernameBackup on another server, or even with the same name. Just as with e-mail.

Cromutorium,

Ah okay sounds good. Guess I won't get too attached to this account just yet!

sexy_peach,

I think beehaw will last, don't worry. They have been very well managed for the last year.

RoundSparrow,

It would seem nice to have an instance of Lemmy that focus on TV shows, films, music, bands, comics, etc

I'm watching the SIlo TV series currently (new episode today), etc.

Anyone working on this?

sexy_peach,

you could post to !entertainment for example :)

Give it a week and more general communities will work fine

SkyNTP,

I notice the link you posted. You use !entertainment but the URI is different, looks like a traditional webpage link: https://beehaw.org/c/entertainment. When I click on it in Jerboa, it opens the browser and it looks like beehaw.org is down (hug of death?).

What software currently recognizes !entertainment ? I guess Jerboa doesn't handle this type of link yet or is jumping to another instance beyond the scope of federation of an app like Jerboa?

sexy_peach,

It's linked to https://beehaw.org/c/entertainment, like you said. I don't think there is a way to link in a way where every server links it to their local view of that community.

annath,

Hi there!

I have a question about managing communities on different servers. I may be misunderstanding how this works, coming from Reddit, but I wanted to ask...

I have subscribed to a few different communities here on lemmy.ml

However, I noticed for example that there is no "literature" community on lemmy.ml, but there is on beehaw.org.

Is there a way I can get all my subscribed communities to show up in one subscribed feed? It looks like I have to constantly switch between sites to access different communities, which is very inconvenient, especially when using Jerboa.

nutomic,
@nutomic@lemmy.ml avatar

Paste the beehaw community url into the search box on lemmy.ml, then you can interact directly with it.

annath,

I tried searching for https://beehaw.org/c/literature and it didn't find anything.

iod,
@iod@lemmy.ml avatar

Try searching simply for "literature" it shows up. for some reason the full fediverse doesnt work for me either

Haunting_Tale_5150,

Searching other communities can be hit or miss. Sometimes going back to the home page, then going to search and inserting the link works if it didn't the first time.

usernamesAreTricky,

Few different questions/comments

When creating my username, it seemed to spin endlessly if I had any minuses in my name? Is that a known issue or maybe it was just having issues with demand and coincidentally worked when I removed any minuses?

Are upvotes/downvotes federated like posts are or are you only able to see the upvotes from your instance?

Also for looking for communities are you supposed to be able to change how it sorts them? Because it looks like you should be able to click on the columns, however, clicking on those (at least in Firefox) doesn't seem to do anything

nutomic,
@nutomic@lemmy.ml avatar

Minus is not allowed, only underscore. But it should show an error, can you open an issue for that in lemmy-ui repo?

Votes are federated.

And community sort options are probably not implemented, I think theres an issue for that in lemmy-ui.

usernamesAreTricky,

Looks like there's already a similar issue for the endless spinning thing when errors occur https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui/issues/988

CannotSleep420,

I think your username was invalid. Unfortunately, the web UI currently doesn't have client side validation for that to make the issue more transparent.

_JB, 
A long, long time ago
I can still remember how upvotes used to make me smile
And I knew if I just got rollin'
That I could help keep users scrollin'
And maybe there'd be content for a while

But July 1st makes me shiver
With far less content to deliver
Bad news on the frontpage
I can no longer engage

I can't remember if I erupted
When I read apps would be disrupted
But disappointment interrupted
The day that Reddit died

So bye, bye, old Reddit API
Stuck with Huffman through some updates but the updates were shite
And them good ole boys were snortin' gonewild 'n smite
Postin' this'll be the day that it dies
This'll be the day Reddit dies

Did you read the TOS?
And do you have faith in mods success
If users still engage with subs?
Now do you believe in open access?
Can ads save your failing assets?
And could you be less avarice heedless schlubs?

Well, I know that you're in need of clicks
'Cause I see you suckin' Newhouse dicks
You both killed third party apps
Man, I thought that you might give a crap

I was a lonely teenage software dev
With a git repository and a shit to give
But I knew those apps wouldn't live
The day that Reddit died

I started singing bye, bye, old Reddit API
Stuck with Huffman through some updates but the updates were shite
And them good ole boys were snortin' gonewild 'n smite
Postin' this'll be the day that it dies
This'll be the day Reddit dies

Now for ten years we'd moved on from Digg
And greed grows fast for a ventured pig
But that's not how it used to be
When the users came for the cats and memes
From apps made by the community
And content that came from you and me

Oh, and while those cats were growing old
The number crunchers grew too bold 
The communities dismissed
Now everyone is pissed

And while Lemmy federates with Marx
The concept knocks it from the park
It's time to migrate to an ark
The day that Reddit died

So bye, bye, old Reddit API
Stuck with Huffman through some updates but the updates were shite
And them good ole boys were snortin' gonewild 'n smite
Postin' this'll be the day that it dies
This'll be the day Reddit dies
AF0105,

Lmao. I cannot believe that you wrote a whole song for that.

BrooklynMan,
@BrooklynMan@lemmy.ml avatar

This makes me sad. man, it was fun while it lasted...

Maxcactus,

Wherever you go, there you are.

Barbarian,

Hi all! Happy to be here. Been thinking about moving to an open source federated reddit-like for a while now, and the imminent death of RiF is what finally pushed me to sign up. Spent the last hour or so poking around different communities, and like what I see.

EnglishMobster,

One neat thing is that because Lemmy is ActivityPub, your posts show up on anything that follows the ActivityPub protocol (like Mastodon).

Speaking of which - hello from Mastodon!

dessalines,

👋

dessalines,

Glad to have you!

Federation is really our best hope to beat these US tech giants. People making instances and connecting with each other, and cultivating communities here and on other instances.

At some point I think the fediverse / lemmyverse will reach a critical mass where there's enough good content, that people won't feel the need to open up reddit at all.

pleasemakesense,

A very minor thing, but I really like that you can see the downvotes on posts like you used to be able to do on reddit. Is there any vote confuscation like reddit did/does or is it straight up what the votes are?

nutomic,
@nutomic@lemmy.ml avatar

No its showing the actual vote count.

ImOnADiet,

lemmy doesn't need to obfuscate votes like reddit, since you have to be approved to join it's way harder to make spam bot accounts

dessalines,

Yup... I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers when reddit used to show full and real vote scores. They removed down-vote showing so long ago that a lot of people joined after, and had no idea that existed.

And of course most US-based social media platforms have removed downvotes / dislikes entirely.

BrooklynMan,
@BrooklynMan@lemmy.ml avatar

reddit calls it "vote fuzzing", and claims it was to protect against fraudulent votes or whatever. i think it's bs and always have.

jeta,

Just created an account because Reddit official app is a big no no for me. I really liked Infinity, and since I never use Reddit on my desktop, this is the only way for me to browse it without getting mad. I'm really interested to see where it all goes

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