Here’s the article I’m pitching to the Atlantic about the #RedditMigration.
Title: "The Lemmy Stampede: A Grand Misstep for the Fediverse and a Siren Call for Journalists"
The Fediverse, that nascent realm of decentralized social networks, has been a tempting frontier for the tech-savvy and the web-woke. The lure of uncharted digital territory, uncorrupted by algorithms and corporate influence, has been irresistible for some. But recently, a million new faces, adopting a website called Lemmy, have stumbled into this Edenic expanse, and what was once a promising promise of digital democracy is swiftly deteriorating into a frothing Babel.
At first blush, Lemmy's explosive growth appears a testament to the Fediverse's potential. After all, surely the influx of such a vast user base indicates the technology's merit. But with a closer look, it is clear that this influx brings with it a disaster, both for the Fediverse and for the journalists who might have been tempted to investigate this new terrain.
What made the Fediverse attractive - its freedom from censorship, its decentralization, and its meritocratic conversation - has been diluted, if not entirely destroyed, by the Lemmy boom. As a million new voices ring out across the network, the Fediverse's original charm is being drowned in a cacophony of mindless noise and uninspired banter. To the erudite observer, the virtual tumbleweeds of substantive discourse are rolling across the Lemmy landscape.
The influx has also resulted in an environment filled predominantly with two types of newcomers: the technology-obsessed nerds who revel in the Fediverse's intricate complexities, and the rubes—late adopters blindly following the herd. This lack of diversity has turned what was once a rich, vibrant conversation into a monotone echo chamber, bereft of the balanced and nuanced discussions that are crucial for journalistic investigation.
Journalists, with their critical eyes and ears, ought to avoid the spectacle that is Lemmy. There is little to gain from attempting to navigate this latest addition to the Fediverse. Journalists need platforms where voices from all walks of life converge, where insightful discussions can be had, where the zeitgeist of the times can be accurately gauged. The starkly binary culture of Lemmy offers no such opportunities.
This is not to undermine the Fediverse's potential as a democratic digital space; it is merely to acknowledge the fallacy of the Lemmy surge. To view it as anything more than a transient tide of users, an unpredictable upshot in an otherwise promising technology, would be misguided.
It is time to recognize that the tried and true platforms - Twitter, Reddit, et al. - still hold the most value for journalists. Yes, they have their flaws. Their algorithms sometimes skew towards the sensational rather than the substantive. But they provide a pulse of public sentiment, a broad spectrum of voices, and a wealth of content that is essential for journalism.
Let the Lemmy rush be a cautionary tale, a lesson in unchecked expansion and an insight into how quickly a promising space can transform into a barren echo chamber. For now, journalists are better off keeping their focus on more established platforms, where meaningful conversation still thrives amidst the noise.
So, to all the wordsmiths out there, stay your curiosity. Let the Lemmy lemmings leap. There's nothing for us in the Fediverse's current state. Let's return to the familiar confines of Twitter and Reddit. After all, the bird still tweets, and the front page of the internet still turns.
Note: I’m not actually sending this article to The Atlantic, but if I did, they’d probably publish it.
I have a bunch of very rare comedy MP3s that I collected long ago from the web. They're not available online now, for the most part. They're REALLY funny, and I'd like to make them available on Lemmy. Any idea how I could post them? I have 40 files.