I miss reddit

Warning: This is a rant.

I don’t really know how to describe it but the content isn’t quite where reddit had been for me. Also the comments are kind of weird at times, like they type of person here doesn’t quite seem as ‘normal’ as what I’m used to from reddit.

There’s a lot more open source and privacy focused people and conversations. A lot of people seem to hate on big tech and big companies in a sort of toxic-ish feeling way to me (not to say the other relationship isn’t toxic… just saying). Random conversations go into: “omg your privacy is lost cause you used a Google service.” Then we have the ‘if we don’t defederate with Meta the world ends’ conversations. I personally would like to see what Meta does in the fediverse… maybe it will make it more normalized…idk. Then the: “if your app isn’t open source its awful and terrible for the world” people.

Like that stuff is all fine, but it just isn’t quite my cup of tea.

These things remind me of that one person in my comp sci classes in college who I just couldn’t stand talking to. He would try to make you feel like an idiot by trying to sound all self righteous and smart. (Honestly he would fail and would generally look like a dingus).

The bulk of the content that gets comments seem to be mostly meme atm. At least on all (7/10 of the current top for me are memes). I like my memes, but would like some more breadth/depth.

Like I hope Lemmy continues to grow and hope it gets better, but it leaves me missing reddit at the moment.

In a perfect world I wish reddit corp wasn’t such assholes and this whole thing didn’t happen the way it did.

I’m completely skipping the UI and stuff not being as familiar and the various outages/bugs/etc since that’s to be expected with something at this stage.

Please don’t hate me :) Just sharing my unpopular opinion. Though I genuinely wonder if others feel the same way.

/Rant

Frostwolf,
@Frostwolf@lemmy.world avatar

In fairness. i don’t consider myself tech adept, I don’t know how to run a server but I know the importance of privacy and open source. Maybe take it as a good thing that these are being openly talked about here, otherwise the mistakes of reddit will just be repeated. Supporting closed source is a ticking time bomb.

Companies can and will betray you in the name of profit.

On to privacy and security, they ARE important. You have no idea how many people lost money in their banks or have to deal with lengthy lawsuits and procedures just to get their life back after someone impersonated them by stealing their data or ID.

In our area, OTP scams are very rampant. And people constantly fall victim to random calls asking for OTP and other details ; then have their banks withdrawn huge amount of money precisely because the issue of security and privacy aren’t openly being talked about.

Please don’t take it as a negative, but a good thing that these types of things are being discussed.

As a popular quote (paraphrased) says “those who fail to learn the past is doomed to constantly repeat it.”

We don’t want another reddit or twitter.

People are still healing from reddit’s bad decisions. Let them mourn. Let them be angry, let them go through the stages of grief in their own pace.

iByteABit,

This is a refreshing post. I get really tired seeing the same shit again and again, Meta this, Elon that, Linux is great, FOSS is religion, fuck capitalism, etc. I agree with a good percentage of the things I see here (although there are many cases where people go to extremes) but I need to see some “normal people” content. I feel like a depressed social outcast reading the same nerd stuff without any other content, no offense.

BackStabbath,

It really does feel like a majority of people are just older tech nerds.

csm10495,
@csm10495@sh.itjust.works avatar

Glad to know at least a few others share the opinion.

Kushia,
@Kushia@lemmy.ml avatar

The majority here don’t share your views when it comes to Meta and that’s a good thing. If you want to see what they do then there’s nothing stopping you signing up a free account on Threads and having at it.

Meta will do whatever it wants to do in the fediverse space regardless of who federates with them because they are a muli-million user platform with the money to support it. The users of Lemmy are small fry compared to that.

BackStabbath,

I’m always so curious about new apps that I did sign up and try using threads before deciding it’s not for me. I use a ton of Google services and other big tech stuff. Frankly, I think I just stopped giving a rat’s ass and sacrifice privacy for convenience. I don’t see myself changing anytime soon. I would always pick better UX over mediocre/poor UX with better privacy. The thing that irritates me about Reddit is the terrible UX of the official app. But I’m also younger and haven’t faced anything as such, so I’m not afraid of my printer at the moment. My uncle who works in cybersecurity genuinely acts like the kind of guy who wants a bunker and is a total conspiracy theorist.

astropenguin5,

Im somewhat similar, also younger and have a fair amount of big tech/google stuff. i am fairly aware of the dangers and try to compromise safety and security with convenience. my dad is MUCH more serious about security and privacy than me or the rest of my family, and does IT stuff for all the linux computers at a univerity near me. he of course has all linux stuff, buys the dumbest tech possible, etc. I wont sign up for threads purely because of how much data they want to collect, and would rather interface with it over the fediverse.

There is a lot of simple things you can do that wil greatly increase privacy/security without sacrificing ease of use or UX. firefox + ublock origin will eliminate 99% of tracking, data collection, and ads on the internet. that is most of the actual software stuff i do, other than just not signing up for an excessive number of things and giving too many people my data (even this i dont do super hardcore.)

papafoss,

The whole purpose of Lemmy and the feddiverse is to be anticorpate.

I have been a foss fanboy most of my life so it’s a welcoming community and concept. But I get how weird it would be to suddenly join a community that basically says the mainstream way of thinking is wrong when it comes to the Internet.

That said I think Twitter Reddit and Facebook have all proven that it is. Centralized homogeneous platforms are just bad. Once you’re passed the fomo effect it becomes clear that they are not necessary. They are just tools and should be thrown away when they are no longer useful. Reddit could of maintained its status quo and we would all be there. Instead they felt they were “essential” to our lives so they could do what they wanted. It’s just not and this instance of Lemmy is just as disposable.

Lemmy will become more mainstream and more like old reddit with the addition of ppl like you. Variety is the spice of life so I think that’s a good thing. As someone who has lurked on Lemmy for years I can tell you it’s changed dramatically in just a couple weeks. Mostly for the better.

Prethoryn,
@Prethoryn@lemmy.world avatar

I love that your response is informative to a degree relating to your experience, and you kept a leveled positive response and even tried to understand where the OP. Is coming from. As someone who used Reddit for 7 years going on 8 I saw a lot of changes on that platform and I can say I love the idea of the Fediverse and I wish I would have spent more time on Lemmy.

However, I saw a post where someone described Lemmy users as anarchist and it made me cringe and laugh a little. Since I have been on here I have seen a lot of, “the mainstream world and mainstream supporters of platforms are lost and the world is lost and we must put an end to it.”

Coming from a digital forensics/security/IT background. My way of thinking has changed some over the years about my data and privacy. However, what I have found is that every platform has its issues like normal. For me it isn’t so much an issue but people using the Fediverse have some form of mentality that they have a portion of the internet figured out and the anarchy and push against the mainstream is some bigger plan. The truth is, at least to me, the Fediverse actually seems like a security nightmare. Being a part of a community that understands other aspects of the internet doesn’t make you invincible to the problems exemplified by other portions of the internet. The Fediverse is popular in its own way because it is small.

As you said it is disposable. You aren’t an anarchist because you can put down mainstream ideas. You are also in another world of hurt if you think anarchy works at all. History it doesn’t. Neither does libertarianism and libertarians are just anarchists that don’t want to admit they are anarchist.

I am fairly new to the Fediverse but based on what little I have seen and know I do also understand where OP is coming from. The users of some of these. Platforms are very strong and forward thinking and in people’s defense they aren’t entirely wrong. But some of the people on the platforms seem to think they have a portion of the internet truly figured out and that kind of thinking makes you vulnerable.

papafoss,

I think your security point came up yesterday lol

beigegull,

You are also in another world of hurt if you think anarchy works at all. History it doesn’t. Neither does libertarianism and libertarians are just anarchists that don’t want to admit they are anarchist.

I’m suddenly really interested in what warped view of history you’ve developed. What social institutions and broad philosophical norms would you say have worked historically?

astropenguin5,

im not coming from the exact perspective of who you replied to, but unironically i would say none have “worked”. and most likely none ever will, at least for a very long time. no system can ever work perfectly as intended, there will always be problems an ways to improve it. there may be some that are significantly better than others (personally, i like some form of democratic socialism) but it will always be a game of tradeoffs and slowly improving

papafoss,

Alot of the greater FOSS community as a whole is a little defensive.

There was a time when Microsoft tried to kill linux and the open source movement when it was in its infancy. Back then it was literally MS saw a competition and wanted to crush it. While times have certainly change for example Facebook basically made BtrFS good. People still haven’t forgotten that a corporate giant once tried to destroy a passion project out of pure spite. So any move in that direction is considered an affront to the core ideals that make up FOSS. The way telemetry is looked at in the linux community is a good example. Even though there are valid uses of telemetry most linux users hate it and would rather a project die than include it. Its a bit of slippery slope fallacy mixed with tribalism.

I dont run across anarchist sentiment that often I would say its more communal. The endless dream of the ‘year of the linux desktop’ is a good example of this. I have been using linux as my desktop operating system for 18 to 20 years now. In that time it went for installing linux was tech wizardry and right of passage to a child can do it. What made it change is that the community desperately wanted to have that ‘year of the linux desktop’ when your average jo could take part in what we were passionate about. So devs removed as many barriers to entry as possible to make it so anyone could join in. While we still haven’t had that year yet my quality of life as a linux user has improved dramatically. Installing, maintaining, fixing and updating a linux environment has gotten so good that I find that Windows seems cumbersome. But those improvements where not done for me they were meant to bring new members to the community because the community desperately wanted to grow. It took a long time for the community to come around to the idea that linux isnt just for the nerds. I think the fediverse is in a similar boat now where the users want this cool thing to grow. But with growth comes change and people are almost always afraid of change. So there are a vocal few trying to convert others to there way of thinking so things dont change. Which is a pipe dream.

Also people really do confuse privacy and security. I use linux because I like my privacy and don’t feel like I get enough benefits when I give it up with Windows or MacOS. That said I also use gmail because I need the buisness I handle on a daily secure not private. I dont care if google knows what I shop for as long as they dont let anyone get access to my bank login.

Rentlar,

I agree with all your points. In an ideal world, FOSS and megacorp projects can coexist without stepping on each other’s toes. The constant growth doctrine of capitalism causes the competition of FOSS products to appear as a threat to the large companies, thus we have seen that through legal action, buyouts, takeovers or other unscrupulous methods companies like Microsoft, Sony, Google, Nintendo have tried to extinguish FOSS before they catch on.

That’s why many FOSS users (like me) growl and bear their teeth at big corporations (and to an extent their sympathizers) trying to make sweeping moves into the FOSS space, as we aware the motives are likely less friendly than they appear on the surface.

Your point on distinguishing Privacy and Security is an important one, though they both rely on trust/confidence. I’m not the biggest security advocate. I believe that companies should only collect and transmit a reasonable amount of information necessary to perform their service. Technologies that rely on hoovering up massive amounts of data regardless of context, secondary uses for personal data outside of the reason it was collected, hiding behind generic “helping improve the service” clauses make me very suspicious and I try to discourage those practices.

Lastly, with Proton and the Steamdeck we may be in the year of the Linux gaming console if anything!

papafoss,

The steamdeck has really ushered in the year of the indies. So many games are getting attention because they run well on the deck. Battlebit is a great example.

It really is amazing how well proton works.

SharpMaxwell,

only thing i really miss from reddit is how large it was, it was way easier to find a decent sized community for more niche interests, it feels like here there is only equivalents to the popular subreddits, which is fine, but those were the last places i ever used or visited on reddit.

MyopicTopic,

Absolutely the biggest issue for Lemmy (and any other federated threadlike site). This whole reddit “implosion” business (though it really is doing just fine still) has done wonders for user growth, but it’s gonna take at least another few hundred thousand+ people on here before there’s enough random distribution to make smaller niche hobby communities viable.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

The only thing I thought Reddit was for the last 5 or so years was shitposts and memes. Which is pretty much the same here atm. Maybe in time, it will be like the reddit I joined 10-11 years ago, and have genuinely good, unique content that isn’t a shitpost or low-effort meme.

I know the niches are the key, but here’s my problem: The things I am into aren’t niche anymore. They used to be… But they are ever increasing into the mainstream, so the conversation (or lack thereof really) is the same in every space. 😩

Numuruzero,

What you’re experiencing I think is completely normal. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Reddit is mainstream, and Lemmy is not. Hypothetically, you might find, say, your plumber on Reddit, who casually browses in down time. The most normal user probably just uses a browser or the normal app; they may have very little or no knowledge about the reddit blackouts, what’s happening, and why.

Maybe some users were using third party apps and know what happened, but if they don’t care much about the reasons they might just stop using Reddit or settle with the native app. This category of users and the last are all probably making up a large part of the user base in general, and of the non-tech (normal?) Subreddits in particular.

The users who migrated to Lemmy by this point will be pretty much a reversal of Reddit’s dynamic. The majority will be privacy/tech minded and have moved specifically in protest to Reddit’s corporate/capitalist practices. They are here hoping to disrupt the norm and prove that we don’t require a centralized power system to run social media.

Then there are probably a minority of users who are simply curious because they heard about an alternative and wanted to see what this is all about. A lot of these users probably don’t stick around if they don’t see the kind of stuff they want to see.

Out of any groups, only a small portion will provide content, and a slightly larger portion will take part in discussion. Memes are the easiest content to produce and to consume, so that’s probably why they’re so prevalent.

Personally I enjoy the conversation around privacy, FOSS, etc, but I do truly hope we’ll start to see more of the normal communities develop here. Particularly I miss some of the creative writing communities which I know for sure haven’t really transferred off of Reddit by this point.

badragonfly7137,

And then there’s a small subset who is tech adjacent, kind of understands what’s going on, and is fed up with Reddit’s CEO being a dick. 😅 I genuinely like Lemmy and try to understand the techy posts.

Apex_Fail,

Yup, this (lemmy/fediverse) feels like Reddit 14 years ago. I joined about a year before the Digg migration and it was a very focused forum (mostly tech and science focused because nerds), but about 2ish years post Digg publicly shitting its pants there were more general/mainstream communities and it really started gaining traction.

We are still in the infancy of the Fediverse, as seen by the current state of apps/mobile, but we have a far more tech savvy generation using the internet. That, coupled with apps rapidly evolving/making the fediverse more accessible I think we will see a large influx in the coming months.

BitOneZero,

Reddit since 2010 has always had a hard time with people willing to actually go to alternatives. Just to have different owners/operators, the code was open source 6 years ago, but not enough users ever bothered to establish an “alternate reddit” with a significant user base. Even if it was only 10% of the main Reddit site, it would have been something. Voat was different software, Lemmy is different software, it was just odd that people were so loyal to such a centralized system. I remember when a lot of Reddit users came from Fark, Slashdot, Usenet, Digg - it wasn’t out of loyalty to a single owner/operator.

csm10495,
@csm10495@sh.itjust.works avatar

It’s important to note that I think its probably not missing reddit as itself. More like missing the community and its various posts, comments, etc.

I guess the environment it had fostered to some extent.

PatFussy,

Unpopular opinion: if you miss reddit then get the fuck off lemmy and go back to reddit. Nobody is holding a gun to your head to stay here. I have been on reddit aince 2009 and lemmy is as old reddit as it can get. Fuck this new reddit crowd who grew up doom scrolling as a 2 year old

BilboBargains,

Can we burn this heretic already?

csm10495,
@csm10495@sh.itjust.works avatar

Geez.

Ejh3k,

I had been on reddit for more than a decade, and it takes time. And it takes people posting and commenting. As a relatively “normal” person, I don’t even really fully understand what lemmy/fediverse is. I’m barely getting a handle on what instances are. And from what I gather, it could be a really cool place.

But it’ll take time. And people. So I suggest just staying calm, up and down vote things as you see fit.

I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to reddit, but it definitely was my main source of information on subjects that I have interest it. I’ve stopped using Facebook, I only use Twitter to interact with podcasts.

We will get through this.

Jenner8,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    SkyNTP, (edited )

    In a perfect world wish reddit corp wasn’t such assholes and this whole thing didn’t happen the way it did.

    A lot of us here, are here and have the opinions you don’t like (FOSS, privacy is important, big tech is bad) because we too wish Reddit wasn’t such assholes.

    Don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. Lemmy users are jaded. We have come to accept that big tech companies will continue to act the way they do because it is in their nature.

    The free ride is over bub. The walls are closing in as venture capitalists squeeze users for profits (especially in this economy). With big tech, you are the product. You don’t get a say in how you use the product. Instead you are cattle, to be hearded. If you want to be a sheep and mingle along with all the other sheep and just keep your head down and accept whatever the big tech companies tell you to do (and that’s fine if it’s what you want), then maybe Lemmy ain’t for you. But one thing is clear Lemmy must shed the ills of big tech and investor interests and privacy harvesting business models if we are to not return exactly where we ended up using Reddit.

    Sorry, I don’t have better news for you.

    wwaxwork,

    Also a lot of us users are older and this isn’t our first social media company failing us.

    0235,
    @0235@lemmy.world avatar

    I miss the range of content on Reddit, and the weirdness. But I don’t miss the people. Never believed friends how toxic reddit was until i joined Lemmy and realise dhow lovely the people here are.

    PerCarita,

    It’s like the early days of Reddit, when people were just moving away from Diggs. We’re all still a bit polite. Just give it some time. We’ll get there on Lemmy one day.

    Angry_Maple, (edited )

    Before I start my reply, please keep in mind that the following is not intended to be targeted at you.

    It’s easy to get wrapped up in what you see on your main feed, but there are a few things that I would like you (and more people) to keep in mind.

    The fediverse has been it’s own thing for years before reddit did it’s thing last month. Some of these users might have never been reddit people, and I think that should be ok. Those people shouldn’t have to push for reddit 2.0, because this was already great to them. This is/was their “reddit”. For some of them, this has always been the place to go to discuss tech stuff. Imagine having a community that you love for years, only to have a sudden burst of people show up and demand that you change almost everything. Your interface, your security processes, and even your own content. I am not one of those long time users, but I can understand why this would be frustrating for them.

    As to why some of us are so against mass social media. For me, it’s not even that I’m against other people using it. You do you. It is frustrating though, to feel like you can never escape it. When you finally find a “safe” media, it suddenly has mass media trying to get in, along with people wanting that space to become more like said mass-media. You start to wonder why you can’t have one place that stays mass media free. Just one.

    (I’m not saying you do this, but I see it all the time.) We also have people who complain about the lack of content variety, only for them to suddenly switch and say that it’s not even worth trying to create a community around it. If everyone who loves a certain topic has the mindset to never even try, that topic will never become a fleshed out community. I appreciate when people do post the stuff that they want to see, so I’ll happily accept those complaints. Thank you for not doing that.

    Like many others have said, this is a long way from being fully completed. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty cool to be able to experience the start of something potentially huge. The fediverse is also growing beyond just reddit refugees and Meta. Some governments are even creating their own networks now. I am eager to see how this will play out in the long run. I hope you find more of the content you are seeking soon, and I hope that you experience fewer angry comments. Thank you for giving your thoughts.

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