I’ve been on reddit for a long, long time and i’ve seen all the changes that have happened in the past decade. I spent a lot of time on Reddit, and have seen the slow infestation of bots, karma whores, and guerilla marketing disguised as posts.
I’m genuinely excited for the fediverse - it seems like an actual improvement over reddit, and not just a clone. There’s a learning curve, but there was one when joining reddit too.
I participated in the migration to Voat, and saw how/why it failed. I’m more optimistic about the fediverse for various reasons, and I’m dedicating my time to helping this thrive.
I was a lurker on Voat, but I’m trying to be active here. I don’t like modding, but I’ve even created my own community here, which is saying a lot given how lazy I am. Hope to interact with y’all more!
And if you’re still reading this, i hope you don’t mind a shoutout to my new community, maliciouscompliance - recreated this as it was one of my favorite places to lurk on reddit!
/c/maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/c/maliciouscompliance
!maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world
EDIT: since a few people asked - I posted in this comment below why I think lemmy has a much better chance than voat did
I am also an 11-year Reddit vet making the move. Welcome! This isn’t my first Fediverse experience, but definitely my most promising (I don’t really tweet, so Mastodon is kind of whatever to me). This and kbin have been great.
I was also part of the Voat migration. I never left Reddit, as I didn’t mind them cracking down on some of the more questionable content, but I did check Voat out. I wasn’t part of the cesspool that showed up there, but I did enjoy participating in some of the smaller communities. I think what didn’t work was that it just got stale. Same reason I didn’t like Snapzu or some of the other “Reddit alternatives.” Even larger communities were just… dead. What made Reddit work was that everyone was there, and even small, niche communities had active users.
Yep, 11 year redditor, spent some time on Voat before it really became a cesspool, and use Mastodon. I am happy to see a Fedi-Reddit take off.
I’ve been trying to contribute here more than I did on Reddit, and honestly I’m amazed how smooth it’s been.
Lots of small UI frustrations, but I can already see the pull requests lining up, so I’m happy to wait.
I have been a redditor since the great digg migration. I am enjoying the fediverse experience so far. It makes me realize how much reddit had slowly changed into a place i did not like as much.
My first day here too! I’m still not quite sure how this works. hello from lemmy.world! Lol
11 year reddit lurker here too, trying to be more active on this platform. Welcome.
I was on Reddit 14 years and 8 months, saw the Digg migration and saw how the influx of people made the site better in so many ways. Hopefully this community will grow and we can make this place be even better by learning from the mistakes Reddit made.
I saw someone edit a post title and it blew my mind. I’m liking it here so far too. There’s a few kinks to work out, but I don’t think the learning curve is too bad. The Jerboa app is fine too.
ooh there’s an app? down another rabbit hole I go…
yeeahh Jerboa for android and I think the IOS app is called Mlem
downloaded Jerboa, thanks!
Wait, you can edit post titles? That’s so cool!
mhmm I’ve seen a few posts where people asked questions, and they changed the title to include [solved] when they got answers.
🤯 Awesome
Towards the end browsing Reddit just made me angry instead of providing entertainment. Like you mention, what really got under my skin were all the ads disguised as genuine posts, and then all the bots asking for a place to purchase the item advertised.
Do you remember a time where news would break on Reddit and the it would be two or three hours later you would see cable news stations pick it up? It hasn’t happened on Reddit for a very long time. Happened to me yesterday here on Lemmy for the first time. That was a nice feeling. It reminded me of how good reddit once was and how bad it is today. But more importantly, it showed me that Lemmy isn’t just a reddit replacement, it’s looks like it’s the future of the internet.
Anyways, I guess I don’t really have a point, just needed an excuse to shit on reddit again. Fuck reddit.
I know exactly what you mean with that feeling of being ahead of “the story” or whatever breaking news was coming out. Made me feel a sense of satisfaction that I was actually being well informed instead of just being fed a story.
Very excited for malicious compliance to be back. It was also one of my favorite subs. That, pettyrevenge, and prorevenge were some of my favorites.
oh yeah that was some good reading material!
Also an 11 year Redditor here haha.
I got my start browsing rage comics on iFunny and 9GAG, then began browsing Reddit around 2010/11. I finally made my account in 2012. I too watched as Reddit became overrun with bots. I watched as summer Reddit stopped ending and became the norm, people responding in comments with corrections and more information lessened, the obvious astroturfing increased, obvious propaganda took over almost all the defaults, and most importantly, they started shutting down subs that might possibly maybe make them look bad for an IPO.
They desecrated the grave of Aaron Swartz on spit on his name by removing him as a co-creator of Reddit. The cartoonishly evil decisions came one after another and I’ve had enough as well.
Voat didn’t stand a chance because the people who were migrating over were lurkers.
I genuinely believe in Lemmy because this time, it’s the mods. The people that actually keep the site running.
Fuck Reddit, fuck u/Spez, go Lemmy
I mean, didn’t help that the ones who weren’t lurkers on Voat were among the worst the internet has to offer
Welcome aboard and thank you for your service, SenatorBumCuckets 🫡
Same story here. Probably about a decade using Reddit and it just aint what it used to be even 5 years ago, forget 10 years ago.
I started off just looking for an alternative but quickly warmed to the whole idea of the fediverse (after I figured out what it is lmao). Feels like it hits a really good balance between old-style internet forums and modern-style social media.
It made me realize we don’t have to settle for a 1:1 clone - we can build something better. Something that can’t be held hostage by a bunch of shareholders and execs, or run into the ground by one asshole.
I think there’s a chance to make something really fucking awesome here and I’d rather contribute to that than go back to doomscrolling on Reddit. At this point, I don’t think I’d go back even if they miraculously reversed everything.
Yes, this feels freer. It can’t be affected in the same way Spez is messing up Reddit. I’m waiting for more content (I will probably make some myself) that isn’t just talking about Rexxit or switching over.
I do not reply to Reddit’s threads at all but Lemmy somehow makes me feel like I’m part of this community. Enjoying my time here very much.
My only concern is that I’m wondering about the viability of federated websites once the user-base of a single instance gets large enough. At that point won’t it just be the same problem where there is a massive server usage and therefore needs community support?
Are you referring to moderation and stuff like that?
That’s still a better situation than Reddit.
Currently, all you need to start a competing instance is a server. You won’t need to fight the network effect, you won’t need to develop the software from scratch.
If the hypothetical single server starts misbehaving, it’s trivial for people to jump ship. Even if entire software projects start misbehaving at this point, there are alternatives. Hypothetically, if Lemmy/Kbin turn evil, you just use the other one.
Much less risk than a single proprietary monolith.
Same here was on Reddit for like 11 years at least. It’s definitely a learning curve. I didn’t even know lemmy, mastadon, or the fediverse even existed before this blackout.
Let me know if you have any questions. Lord knows I was confused at first, but it really helps to have a buddy bring you up to speed. And then you can pass that knowledge on to the next batch of newcomers.
Thanks! Will do!
I’m just a typical lurker on reddit, and depend so much of its niche sub for particular topic. Ngl i cant completely ditch reddit like most of redittor refugees here seems to be, but i think i could slowly convert my aimless scrolling time on reddit here
you can set a goal of lurking on reddit but posting here! reddit still has good content to read - it has a ten-year headstart on this place.










