I feel like you are more encouraged to interact here. Like you're helping the fediverse grow. The other thing for me is that people seem to be much more civil then in other places. So yeah I feel the same.

With reddit having way more people and being only a casual browser, I would never make it early enough to a post to contribute in a meaningful way. Whatever I would have said would be commented dozens of times before I got to the thread. At best my comment wasn't made yet, but I'd be sure someone with more knowledge on the subject would've contributed in greater depth soon.

Here I see plenty of posts hours old with no comments. There's a greater chance whatever I might say won't get buried or overshadowed.

I do, and it's not for entirely altruistic reasons either.

When I'd open a thread on reddit, if I wasn't there within the first hour of being up or first dozen or so comments, it was almost guaranteed that whatever I said would get buried and the effort I spent formulating my comment would basically be wasted. So there was very little incentive to engage with meaningful discussion just for the sake of discussion. On Lemmy, most posts struggle to get over a hundred comments at most, and even more struggle to get past ten. So, if I spend time developing my reply, I have a higher chance of that comment getting seen and other people in the community engaging with me, which is the entire point of leaving comments, IMO.

Lemmy feels very different to me as well. People seem more mature, skeptical, genuinely left-leaning, interested in discussion, and the moderation isn't totalitarian. Plus Reddit really seemed like it was controlled by moderators with an agenda. I'm not a flagrant asshole (I think), yet I was banned from a few subreddits for not following seemingly arbitrary rules. For example, I was banned from my city's subreddit for making a post asking a question that wasn't directly about the city, it was more about the state's culture/history. I just wanted to know what my neighbors thought. Apparently someone decided that wasn't what the subreddit was for.

You want an honest answer?
No. No I don’t.

I comment and share links at about the same rate as I did when I was primarily on Reddit. I’m less interested in Reddit these days and probably split my time 50-50. I’m pissed at what they did and continue to do, and the quality of the content has clearly taken a hit across the broader Reddit community but it’s still SO MUCH BIGGER than the entire fediverse that there is hundreds if not thousands of times the people and content.

I’ve tried to get a couple of groups off the ground, but I’m just not that guy and wasn’t on Reddit either.

I am not commenting on Reddit much anymore tho, due to the aforementioned behavior by Spez et al.

I certainly do. Most social media algorithms feed you content that it thinks will generate interactions. Lemmy does not do that which results in whatever you decide to post having more meaning because there's no stupid and/or manipulative machine deciding wheter your post is or isn't worth seeing

Yes, definitely by a huge margin

Partially because I feel like people will actually notice, partially because I feel more a part of a community due to the smaller size and seeing the same people multiple times

I have read so many thoughtful comments on this thread that made me say to myself "Yes, that. Exactly that's the reason I mostly rarely bothered formulating a comment or opinion on Reddit." The whole atmosphere on Lemmy seems so much more mature, considerate and genuinely interesting to read. I really hope we can maintain this as Lemmy is (hopefully) growing.

I findyself upvoteing way more on Lemmy than I ever did on Reddit.

On R×ddit, I wrote about a scary experience I had and posted, not thinking much of it. Weeks later, someone in a server I frequent sent me a YouTube link and asked "isn't this you??", as they recognized my R×ddit username. It was a video of someone reading out my post and giving it much more exposure than I would have ever wanted.

It spooked me to realize that R×ddit is now just a content farm. Posts will be picked up for videos, news articles, Facebook fodder, etc. Most of that shit is 20000% fake anyhow. What's even the point?

Give me a smaller community any day. The moment people start farming Lemmy for content to read out in their YouTube videos? That's the moment I bow out.

Nope, I'm a lurker by nature. Back to my hideyhole I go.

Absolutely! Less trolls, real people with real opinions make for a far more interesting community to be a part of.

A LOT more. It's also in part because I'm not being stalked by Nazis which I was on Reddit, but I feel so much more comfortable talking here in general.

Yes and no. Reddit has more niche interest groups that don't exist here.

Yes, definitely. I'm more willing to share my honest opinion. For me, the fear of downvotes was real. I also sorted Reddit posts by Hot, and I rarely felt motivated to connect on a post that already had 1000 comments.

I am far more interactive on here. I was almost exclusively a lurker on Reddit.

Way more. There's lots of genuine posts on here and not karma farming bots. Also, my posts in c/lockpicking and c/balisong actually got replies fairly quickly. On reddit, I would've been met with downvotes or people who don't even interact with my posts.

Yes.

I've always disliked the current state of social media, because it always felt like everyone is shouting at each other rather than talking to each other. That's why I like having penpals to writing letters back and forth and shoot the shit on whatever, and I've blamed Facebook and Twitter for killing that.

I lurked reddit anonymously but I don't comment much, because it felt like the only place that you can discuss various topics with random people and learn cool things. But part of it is that slowly, it made me miserable, the hivemind with all the arguing and smugness and unfunny one-liners and most of all, the cynicism.

This place is a bit different I think, I really didn't expect to get as involved as I am, but it kind of brought back that feeling of writing back and forth to random people and having a conversation again.

I've made it a goal to read and write more and talk to more people when I have the time to spare right now.

I interact less on Lemmy compared to Reddit, mostly because people here seem to be very vocal and polarised, so every time I have a notification in Lemmy I start groaning "oh god what did I say this time?"

But still, Lemmy is the cradle of humankind and wisdom, compared to Instagram and Facebook.

Compared to reddit, yeah, kinda. On reddit it often feels like it's not worth it commenting on a post if it's popular and 14+ hours old. On Lemmy I will see new comments with the default sorting of comments.

not really, I mostly interacted with niche communities on reddit that haven't made the switch

Not yet! A lot of my interests aren’t as easy to find on Lemmy yet, but I’m definitely on here more than Reddit. I’m not really a community leader type but I can definitely be in the hype squad.

There are fewer people at Lemmy who only exist to blast threads with tired old jokes and memes so there is room for well thought-out comments to get more visibility.

I come here for discussions and so far most of the posts seem to welcome it, leading to more desire to engage.

In my decade of using reddit, I very rarely posted and maybe commented a couple times a week. I was a certified lurker. In the months of using lemmy, I became a mod for a community, comment nearly every day, and have far surpassed the number of posts I ever made on Reddit. Lemmy is just a nice place to be, and I like interacting with people here

No, but I did here for you :)

Yeah, folks are super reasonable compared to other social media sites, for the most part. The occassional nutter isn't propped up by some PR company bot net to drive engagement so they just end up downvoted into oblivion.

It's refreshing.

Yes.

Sometimes it's corny or a little bit flamey though, but that actually feels like I'm discussing with real somewhat (we're on Lemmy after all) random people.

100% would discuss again.

Less. There's less developed community in my interests. Heck, even the football channels are quiet today.

Yup, the people here are cooler

Dude, yes. I feel more comfy here than in the corporate hellscape of centralized social media apps

Not really, always a lurker

I was pretty active on reddit also

Nah not really. I only ever used reddit and YouTube. I'm not the kind of person for social media. When u/spez had his fit and the subs went on strike I quit reddit, because I don't like to be pushed around and getting screwed by some greedy corpo prick. Also, privacy. I rarely ever post something myself. I mostly write comments. But the amount of commenting is the same here as it was on reddit.

I just heard about LibRedirect, so that's the next step to give less data to Google.

I don't. Not much less either, I don't interact much with social media. Not that I don't want to, but I rarely have anything of worth to contribute. To make matters worse, Lemmy is mostly missing the communities that I'm interested in, of if they're there, they have little engagement. On reddit it was a little better, and Facebook is just insane in comparison.

But mostly I don't have anything to say, and if I do it's mostly stupid. My primary means of helping Lemmy is to not interact (much).

I think I got a double push - I've reached a point in my life where I finally have something to say as well as Lemmy not drowning out my posts/comments.

Also hosting a publicly open server drags me in even more; I love that stuff.

I know I do and it's because the responses are more human and organic. I also don't feel like there's an algorithm trying to make me angry or driving me for engagement, which contradictory to the research, makes me want to engage more.

I try not to interact in political posts as people are very toxic but other posts it's been good.

I comment far far less here than on Reddit. Reddit was much much better at showing communities I actually cared about and sprinkled in cat pics or memes. And most posts already had a little bit of engagement.

Lemmy's just throws garbage new posts at you with no comments, no interactions, and it was posted 30 seconds ago. It also groups together posts when someone crossposts something to 30 other communities so you just get a block of 5 posts of the same thing.

As it's matured more I think it's gotten better, but it's not good.

Yes, even though a lot of my opinions are considered controversial here. On Reddit, unless you sort by newest posts, you're going to get buried in the comments section.

Yes. I was afraid that how my parent's thought on my comments and posts on mainstream social media, like Facebook, in the past, because they have have their own account too.

Now I have one less thing to worry about and interact more here than the days when using those mainstream social media.

I've noticed that the lack of content and poor arrangements is pushing me back to reddit

No, but the replies are often more strongly charged.

I have always been a prolific commenter on Reddit. I'm doing the same over here. Hadn't been to Reddit in a couple months. Went over there earlier and explained to someone on r/electricians how an AC to DC transformer works. They permanently banned me, even though my answer was entirely correct, especially for the given problem. Heil spez, you can keep your shit show.

I used to be a lot more active on Reddit. But I forbid myself from downloading the app, so as for now, Lemmy is the social network where I interact the most.

Like about the same as I was on Reddit, I'm much of a lurker.

Definitely.

A) Posts don't have thousands of comments already by the time I see them, eliminating the feeling that commenting would be meaningless.

B) Engagement helps us grow, and I want to help us grow.

I don't remember did I do anything else than lurk when I initially created my account in Reddit.

I was more active before I stopped creating stuff (and shortened my time of interacting with) in Reddit, and that activity level carried in here.

However, since I think that Lemmy is a smaller place than Reddit and I really want this "seems-better" system to take off, I am trying to contribute some extra resources of mine here to help the cause! (I think Lemmy is the only social media I use)

When i had an account on both reddit and lemmy, i askedd questions on lemmy because I got actual answers

I'd say less. Still finding my place here but the comment section seems more polarised than on Reddit. The recent Australian referendum for example. Any nuanced discussion is impossible (only in some instances I'm sure) because alternative opinions make you a racist according to the average (most vocal at least) commenter. It's sad because as in that instance and regardless of politics, it often means a bunch of white people dictating what is/isn't, true/false, wanted/needed... important.

I only used Reddit and none of the others and so far Lemmy has been a decent replacement but I'm nowhere near as active. I had a nice curated setup and it's just not possible yet to have the same experience on here.

Yes

I use it less. I find the user-base a) very hostile to diverse opinions and experiences, b) very American-centric, and c) very leftwing and authoritarian.

I also have difficulty with discoverability. If I can’t find good communities, I can’t interact with them.

It's night and day. I would comment on reddit here or there, but I would never post. I make an effort to do so here.

Same as reddit but stopped using reddit after the spez BS

Not as much as on reddit but still more and more. Just like with Mastodon over X it's not a perfect replacement (sadly, maybe) but still I feel more resilient. If somehow alternatives are too toxic or unusable I find confident I could invest more time participating here in few different ways. Reddit/X not dying is a double edge sword.

Yes, this is one of few social media platforms that I interact in.

Nah

most posts i stumbled here are completely irrelevant to me, politically and socially, but reading comments here are better than reddit.

plus, margot robbie is here.......

Yes. I'm trying to remember it's okay to be another randomer in the conversation, and not get hung up on whether I've answered things perfectly.

I had intended to interact more when I joined Lemmy. But given that this is only my 4th comment ever since I joined 4 months ago, that obviously didn't happen. I've always been more of a lurker on most sites anyway, so I guess it's no surprise that I'd end up being a lurker here too.

Same for me, I maybe replied 4/5 times in many years on reddit and I feel I've engaged with more conversations in the 3 months I'm on lemmy. Maybe having a smaller community leaves out the "someone else will comment" attitude.

I dislike feeding an algorithm, knowing my interaction will be monetized in all sorts of ways and helping companies profile me. This is less of a concern here.

Definitely comment more than I did on Reddit. I feel like if I comment on Reddit post that has been up for a couple hours, my comment will never get seen -- haven't seen that here

Definitely.

I posted a fair amount on Reddit too, but mostly I'd just write something, then think about what was likely to happen if I actually posted it, then delete it.

Definitely, there are less posts here that I feel if I comment its just going to end up going south - especially if I have a differing opinion. Which isn't to say that doesn't happen here on Lemmy, there are certainly topics where if you go against the grain, the exact same thing will happen (some of those topics make sense and are worth "fighting" for, others not so much).

Yes.

Yes. I dont feel comfortable contributing to closed corporate ecosystems.

I'm trying to.

I interact a bit more just to support the community. I don't have much to say though, so that's all I can contribute 🤣

Not any more than I have since first getting online in 1991. My entire reason for being on the Internet is to talk to other people. The memes and shitposts are just topics of discussion (or vehicles to make jokes about) to me.

Yeah mainly because threads have less than 500 comments

Same here. Never could be bothered to make an account on Reddit in all my years of lurking there, but here I am.

I was definitely more active on Reddit, since it had the niche subs I wanted to discuss on. Lemmy has more "generic" content, since it doesn't have the user base to grow those niche communities.

A lot more. On other platforms with more users I always feel like I am just commenting into the void on a post with, idk 400 comments / replies. If it only has 0 to ~150 comments it feels less so.

I try, but I naturally just want to lurk.

Honestly not much. I interacted a lot more with people on squabbles before that went to shit, but now I am a bit like the friendly pink blob that gets punched back into its box and swears to never come out again...

Yes. And you don’t get the snarky clownshoes responses that are probably just bots anyway.

Not really. Reddit was mostly fine, but I do at least feel that as there are fewer users on Lemmy it's easier to interact with others than just posting to the void.

A little less than Reddit as threads have less to respond to

Yes

Same thing happens to me.

Definitely more. A lurker too. Idk, I feel like I'm less afraid of being judged here.

I was quite active. But less and less as time goes on, sadly.

The content is drying up, the only really active communities are either tech or political, and my main interests either never left reddit or have a home elsewhere. The nail in the coffin for me will be when my instance dies, which is looking increasingly likely given that the admin is AWOL.

It's ok here, but it's too fragmented to be a full replacement for anything else.

Yeah, I feel more up for interacting on lemmy. Right now the vibe feels more sane and friendly than reddit and less uptight than mastodon, so maybe it's where I feel most comfortable.

I'm perma banned off reddit so the answer is yes I use lemmy more than reddit

I think yes but I would still call myself a lurker. I don't feel any pressure here to write a good comment.

About the same as my reddit activity before I left.

I don't have Instagram or Twitter and Facebook is just a glorified birthday reminder that I check every other week. You could probably count the number of my replies on public posts on Facebook on one hand.

I feel like because Lemmy is smaller, I get more responses. So I like interacting on Lemmy more, but I don't think I do it more frequently.

No, I interact more on Reddit. That's where the community conversation is. Ideally, it would be on Lemmy, but the difference between our ideal state and reality isn't bridged by wishing it to be the same. There'd need to be practical drivers that push the two into meeting and those drivers don't exist for Lemmy to reach kind of critical mass that would allow it to be a replacement for incumbent social media platforms.

Lemmy is for people who don't want those social platforms, or an "also-ran" platform that exists in parallel with them. The federated model which gives it survivability and freedom is also the reason that it won't have the broad appeal that would allow it to scale to incorporate input from all of society.

Many will rationalize that it's good to keep the rest of society out of Lemmy too, and I'm not getting into whether or not that's good, but either way it means that Lemmy will not have the broad adoption that makes the big social media platforms interesting to most people.

Simply put, yes, I feel the same way.

Yea

I'm sleepy

I would definitely interact more if there was more to interact with.

I would actually say I interact less, but the things I say on here tend to be more meaningful outside of the dumb jokes and references. Like I have more of a tendency to have an actual discussion on here and write out my thoughts versus on Reddit where I would say low-effort shit or something purely for the dopamine rush of getting those sick upvotes.

It's a great place to vent/rant. I'd rather be an asshole online and get it out of my system than to take it out on someone irl.

Definitely posting more than I used to on Reddit.

I'm currently the most active on Lemmy, followed by Mastodon, Tildes and Hacker News.

nah I comment about the same as I did on reddit

I like the unmodded and unrestricted nature of Lemmy, or at least how much more free it feels, but in reality there's significantly less interesting content here. So I still visit Reddit from time to time to read on world news or see details in some live feeds. I don't interact there at all. That said, I decided never to go back on Reddit but not because of price gouging or something similar, but because I caught myself spending too much time on stupid stuff there. Life is too short to dig through whole of internet.

Significantly more here. I never really liked Reddit, but a couple of my hobbies had communities there so I felt like I had to use it. I stayed away from anything that wasn't a niche personal interest and avoided the bigger subreddits and front page. Here I check out the front page frequently and am pretty generous with upvotes. It feels more like an investment in a community I want to be successful, and not like there's anything intrinsic to Lemmy that encourages it.

Sometimes, but usually about the same rate for me.

Nope lol

No. At least not in ways I want. I mostly purged the mainstream meme subs from my reddit experience and stuck to my nitche interests, but I haven't really found active replacements for those yet.

I go through cycles of activity and lurking, but generally interact more than I did on reddit.

The other side of this is Lemmy is the main social media platform I interact with (including lurking) period these days. For anything else I either don't use it or my profile's a ghost town.

For sure. Doing it right now!

I've interacted more hopefully. There are less truly bad faith actors here I think.

Not yet, but I plan to. I'm slowly tapering off Reddit, I'm forced to use the main app, I even managed to remove the ads off it, but I still hate it. It doesn't show the posts that the third party apps always show, the ordering is off no matter how you change it. Hard to explain.

Same amount as I was on Reddit, far less than any other social media though.

Lemmy is pro-humanity Reddit is pro-fascist

Far less than Reddit.

Me too, people are more forgiving and give the benefit of the doubt more oftenthabn not. I appreciate that

I try not to. This place bans you for "not being nice", which is an arbitrary metric that changes from mod to mod and let's all be honest, being nice is exhausting. Ask anyone working in retail.

The comments here are correct though. As long as you focus on your niche and it's relatively active, then stay away from propaganda media, Lemmy can be an useful place. The default All is worthless in anything but lurking and you need to find the communities about your interests or make them yourself if they don't exist here yet.

Edit: That was close! I almost commented on some dumb take in a doubly dangerous post that involved both current wars. That's a definite no-no. Just don't get involved, it's not worth the trouble.

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