• @[email protected]
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    462 years ago

    I’ve commented more here in this short time than my 10 years on reddit. I feel heard and I feel supported. Most people are civil and respectful and I really appreciate it. Thank you all.

  • @[email protected]
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    262 years ago

    Lemmy has been helping me lots. Been feeling so isolated, this is the first social online platform I’ve been able to participate in years. Talking to actual humans. Being able to help other humans.

    • A Mouse
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      12 years ago

      I agree, 100%. I never posted on other social media platforms until trying Lemmy, Mastodon, or Firefish. I find the fediverse is a really pleasant experience as long as the instance moderates can keep up with the spam, trolls, and other unwanted content. I think it’s because it’s not trying to commercialize the platforms that makes it more interesting and pleasant, at least for me.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        Pi is listed to 90 decimal points, taped to wall across from bed. I recite it over and over when going to sleep. =)

    • Rentlar
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      32 years ago

      Welcome! It might be doomsday outside, the roof of this place is leaking and might be close to caving in, but I’m glad you are here in this corner of the Internet with us today. ❤

    • jelloeater
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      22 years ago

      Its kind of funny and interesting, there a few big players in the Fedi, and for the most part, we all try and get along.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    It’s only good because of all the hard work being put in by the moderators. Unfortunately, behind the scenes, Lemmy sucks and is severely lacking in moderation tools to deal with spammers, trolls and sick people who post illegal content.

    See this post for instance, I feel pretty bad for the mods who have to deal with such stuff: https://beehaw.org/post/7943139

    • HSL
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      172 years ago

      It’s not just the mods but the admins going to lengths to keep their instances clean. The awfulness outlined in that post means I’m not sure I should keep hosting my own instance.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        Indeed, it’s not really a good idea to run your own instance if you’re not prepared to deal with such content. Many small instance admins have shutdown their instances for this very reason.

        There was a patch merged recently which disabled caching of federated images, but I believe it still needs some work. Some discussion around that over here: https://sh.itjust.works/post/3962112 including an interesting comment suggesting rerouting /pictrs/ path to 404, so nginx won’t serve any images.

      • Helix 🧬
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        22 years ago

        Don’t, software is shit and you’re not prepared for what you’ll see and how much time you need to sink into that project.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        Besides contributing actual code… not really. You can donate money which will help with the upkeep of servers, but that’s not really an issue with most instances. No amount of money can compensate someone (normal) for dealing with the trauma associated with such content. So yeah, the only thing that can really help right now is tools for moderation and user access controls.

    • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶
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      32 years ago

      Goddam, I really hope I never come into contact with anything like that. I think it would turn me into a fanatical vigilante.

    • iByteABit [he/him]
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      162 years ago

      I am biased saying this, but I really don’t think Lemmy is bad behind the scenes. On the contrary, I think it’s revolutionary from a technological perspective, not only because of the Fediverse but because of the way it’s implemented and all the great new technologies used.

      Keep in mind that this is a FOSS project, and there is obviously no budget to be hiring moderation teams for CSAM like software giants do.

      CSAM was an obvious problem from the start, but when it comes down to it, it’s a moderator job and not a job for the actual software to do.

      Thankfully there are new tools now to help moderators deal with CSAM that are possibly going to be incorporated to Lemmy afaik.

      TLDR: Don’t blame the software for people being shit

      • TWeaK
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        82 years ago

        Yeah I agree. Lemmy obviously isn’t at the level reddit is, but reddit has had nearly 2 decades of development with a larger userbase.

        I certainly would like to see Lemmy development happen a bit more quickly, and in particular better 3rd party/mod tools (I REALLY want a RES for Lemmy), but I don’t think we’re in a bad place on the Lemmy timeline.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        Sorry, but I disagree. Note that I don’t disagree with the idea or the technology itself (and the concept of Fediverse), the problem is the current state of development. Saying that it’s the moderators job doesn’t absolve the responsibility of the software, when the software, in it’s current state, doesn’t really provide any decent tools for moderation and user access controls.

        CSAM was never a problem on well-configured traditional forums, which were based on forum software such as Invision, vBulletin etc. To elaborate, in traditional forums, you’d get a LOT of controls for filtering out the kind of users who post such content. For instance, most forums won’t even let you post until you complete an interactive tutorial first (reading the rules and replying to a bot indicating you’ve understood them etc). On top of that, you can have various levels of restrictions, eg, someone with less than 100 posts, or an account less than a month old may not be able to post any links or images etc. Also, you can have a trust system on some forums, where a mod can mark your account as trusted or verified, granting you further rights. You can even make it so that a manual moderator approval is required before image posting rights are granted. In this instance, a mod would review your posting history and ensure that your posts genuinely contributed to the community and you’re unlikely to be a troll/karma farmer account etc.

        So, short of accounts getting compromised/hacked, it’s very difficult to have this sort of stuff happen on a well-configured traditional forum.

        I used to be a mod on a couple of popular forums back in the day, and I even ran my own server for a few years (using Invision Power Board), and never once have I had to deal with such content.

        The fact is Lemmy, in it’s present state, is woefully inadequate to deal with such content. Dealing with CSAM should never be a volunteer mod’s job - that stuff can scar you for life, or even trigger PTSD/bad memories for those who might’ve suffered abuse in their forgotten past. If people are involved, it should be a job for professionals who’re trained to deal with this stuff.

        Once again, I don’t disagree with the general idea or the concept of Lemmy, it’s just unfortunate timing the Reddit exodus happened when the software was essentially an alpha.

        • iByteABit [he/him]
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          82 years ago

          I agree that CSAM protection is lacking, but the software is not an alpha. As a platform I use it just as much as I used to use Reddit and usually it’s much faster, more enjoyable and not profit driven.

          CSAM protection is essential, but it’s a very hard problem to solve and naturally it takes time. Feature wise though, it’s constantly improving and showing how powerful FOSS can be when enough people are interested in it.

          I agree that CSAM needs to be fixed as soon as possible, I’m just pointing out that despite this huge problem, the software is otherwise doing very well and improving faster and faster as more people join in.

          • @[email protected]
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            2 years ago

            the software is not an alpha. As a platform I use it just as much as I used to use Reddit and usually it’s much faster, more enjoyable and not profit driven.

            That’s because you’re only seeing it from the eyes of a user. Talk to any admin of a big instance and you’ll see how inadequate it is. Or just head over to Beehaw, they have made some very detailed statements on how much of a nightmare Lemmy is, and on the current bleak state of development.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      Unfortunately, behind the scenes, Lemmy sucks and is severely lacking in moderation tools to deal with spammers, trolls and sick people who post illegal content.

      Maybe this is a silly question, but what sort of tools would be useful?

      Do other websites have tools for this sort of thing that are effective?

        • @[email protected]OP
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          12 years ago

          I think that’s a bit of a dangerous take we need to address. There seem to be very real legal and practical risks + obstacles to safetly and effectively running an instance. I don’t want to see people getting themselves hurt or disillusioned prematurely because they had rose colored glasses about this subject

          • @[email protected]
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            12 years ago

            I hear that sometimes, but what legal stuff has actually happened ever?

            I’m in the EU so of course I can get some notice of some sort I guess and that’s all fine, but as long as I don’t make money from it or are going illegal things all day long, what is this “hypothetical” danger?

            I call BS, at least for the EU.

        • @[email protected]
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          62 years ago

          Oh dear, I certainly hope I’m not involved in any eyeblech… stuff.

          Also I think something like that would be defederated from most places.

          I just think it’s neat.

  • Gnome Kat
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    672 years ago

    Honestly I think lemmy is kinda meh but im just here cus fuck reddit…

    • @[email protected]
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      232 years ago

      I agree, but I sometimes check out reddit as well and it’s also been meh now. It seems that social media as a whole is in a steep decline. No good content anywhere. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

      • @[email protected]
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        102 years ago

        This is a transition period.

        Reddit lost a lot of important contributors during its little krystalspez crackdown. The formula for a successful, self-propagating online community is: good moderation + posted content + interesting comments + lurkers = healthy community.

        Reddit still maintains a lot of its heavy posters, but a lot of the interesting comment makers have drifted off… a lot of them moved here. The federated communities don’t have the continuous churning content creators en masse yet, but they do have interesting comments coming from the people that are here.

        Reddit is somewhat the opposite. The content creators are churning away, but the interesting comments are dying off. There is more content being created on Reddit, but the comment that you will quote, or think about all day, is now slightly more likely to be made in a federated thread.

        So Reddit feels hollow, and out here feels growing but still light on content. I predict that prolific posters prefer pointed ripostes to their posting, and will work their way here. That will be great, but it will also drag along a lot of the problem children of reddit as well. That will put a huge burden on the moderation here, as well as start piling on those server fees. I predict in a year or two, we will face the choice of doing zany pledge drives to protect our larger servers, or face some forms of blatant monetization. Also we’ll have to figure out how to avoid giving the hug of death to new federated servers with interesting content.

        …and there will be hidden corporate shill servers trying to latch in. Another problem with federation we need to consider down the road.

        But it’s worth it. Capitalism will always try to exploit community, but community is an important human experience. If we can keep the leeches down to a minimum, we can build great things together, and help each other in a world that increasingly only offers what profits most. That type of community is what Reddit pretended to be, and it’s what the Federated Communities can be.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          2 years ago

          I think at some point we are really going to need to look at success stories like Tildes and HackerNews and find the common strategies we can employ to sustain the viabillity and legitimacy of Lemmy.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              12 years ago

              It is because it is basically self-sustaining, its already won me over with the quality and rigor of discussions (which exist), and guess what they don’t have problems with: moderation and CSAM issues, which Lemmy currently does (alledgedly).

              We can argue over the semantics of “successfull” since its a vague overlapping conflation of quantitative and qualitative metrics, but let’s try to maintain a productive discussion about allies we can work with to improve our own platform.

              • Gnome Kat
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                12 years ago

                Why do lemmy users keep ignoring the obvious success of Mastodon. Its clearly the most successful federated platform. We should be learning from Masto.

        • kellenoffdagrid❓️
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          62 years ago

          This is honestly a great observation, I’ve noticed on those rare times I need to search for answers to specific questions on reddit, posts have fewer and generally less thorough/helpful comments. The biggest downside to reddit imploding has been the decrease in “real” posts and interactions when you’re trying to find genuine discussions or answers to niche questions.

          That’s the biggest reason I still think Lemmy has a ways to go, there’s not really an efficient way for all these posts to be search-indexed for engines like Google, DDG, etc. If that problem can somehow be solved, it’d do wonders for Lemmy’s discoverability.

          Like you said, there’s definitely flaws to this platform, and by nature of being a community center it’s likely to be targeted for corporate interests, but the architecture of this Federated platform makes it much easier to keep power in the hands of the community and keep things genuine and interesting over here. I’m just glad I have a place to scroll through where people’s comments are longer than a few words, and people seem genuinely interested in interacting.

  • spitz
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    722 years ago

    I’ve been trying out the other fediverse platforms, based on how cool Lemmy is, and they all pale in comparison. It really is neat little thing we’ve got going on.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      I really do like Tildes for certain more predictably high-quality answers when its something serious or technical but it can seem a touch heavy-handed. Ultimately, I appreciate the rigor where its important to have that and filter the memes and general+local anaesthesia nonsense we all love and know Lemmy for ;)

        • @[email protected]OP
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          32 years ago

          Less is more with Tildes. Its definitely less rich in quantity than the overall tenor and quality of the specific discourse that goes on.

      • spitz
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        52 years ago

        Your post prompted me to have a look at Tildes. It looks alright, but a bit… dry.

          • @[email protected]OP
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            Ya, that post was pretty wishsy-washy and sweeping, people can make their points without needing to resort to identity politics to give credibillity to non-credible or insufficient arguments they want to toss out there. From my experience, I could argue any point from whatever lens you can think of and I believe I could receive votes and recognition. I can even swear because the force of my argument will be sufficient to excuse any nominal crassness that I strategically use to intensify the reasonable claim I ultimately make from the relevant or hypothetical vantage point in question.

          • @[email protected]OP
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            12 years ago

            Can you elaborate or link me to some corroboration of that—it seemed remarkably progressive and reasonable in my limited experience

            • @[email protected]
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              12 years ago

              So, here’s the thing. There’s a difference between a space allowing people that don’t look or act like the people already in the group and accepting those people. In some places, inclusiveness ends as soon as you get in the front door. Tildes is one of those places.

              Now, don’t get wrong, I don’t think most of the people at Tildes are intentionally malicious or anything like that. And any large influx of people like the kind that would have happened with open registration after what went down on Reddit is going to cause mistrust and, sometimes, hostility. That’s just human nature. The difference is Tildes is intentionally protective of its culture.

              This came about by both a) restricting the development of niche (or minority) communities, and b) limiting invites so that the small trickle of people who come in are assimilated more easily. That culture–like so many of these types of places–started with mostly white men of privilege from the tech sector. All the good and bad that comes with that is going to propagate in such an environment.

              Even if Tildes didn’t originate in a culture that has a reputation for being homogenous and abrasive, this setup would still have lead to a certain type of group-think. Dismissive, and a little bit short on empathy and active listening. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about negative peace, where there wasn’t open hostility, just an absence of tension (as opposed to positive peace, which is the presence of justice). This is not dissimilar.

              This comment chain on Tildes is an example someone else shared.

              • @[email protected]OP
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                12 years ago

                My only argument I wanna make here is nobody knew my race or identity when I even asked for and summarily received an invite to Tildes (almost instantly!)

                Unless I’m making some perceptual or logical issue here, I would say that is a stark contrast to the vignette you sorta painted here.

                • @[email protected]
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                  22 years ago

                  Again, it’s not about who they let in. It’s about how they respond to conversation that doesn’t mesh with their ingrained culture.

                  The conversation I linked is all about that.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          I am slowly looking at other socmed options than the big three. Tildes and maybe Bluesky will be on the list. I liked Mastodon but they muted me so I never visit any more

        • @[email protected]OP
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          2 years ago

          Its not for everyone and that’s part of why its for me ;) Not that I’m elitist or anything, I just hate low-efforts and assholes, ne’r may the two meet here

        • PeleSpirit
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          52 years ago

          The tildes guy is on reddit and seems like a good dude, I bet you could ask for an invite. I can’t remember his name though, it begins with a d?

  • Trollivier
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    172 years ago

    When I parted ways with reddit, when the API scandal happened, it was very timely. A lot of content from reddit was toxic for me. All the negative news, about environment, about how people are treated at their job, about how shitty companies are nowadays. Not to mention the rampant cynicism…

    I left all that behind, and it really helped me get the high ground (hey Anakin) against my mental health problems. I was dangerously flirting with a burnout. This break was very beneficial.

    When I saw that Sync for lemmy was available, I tried it. The facts that there are much less trolls here, much less cynicism (and also the fact that I’m now medicated) really help, and I feel now I can be among communities that aren’t too toxic for me.

    Thanks lemmy friends.

    • @[email protected]
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      92 years ago

      Glad you’re here friend, and glad you’re doing better!

      Dammit Reddit was so fucking unhealthy.

      • Trollivier
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        22 years ago

        The thing is… I was using reddit as a coping mechanism. I didn’t want to feel what I was feeling so I would numb my mind with nonsense content on reddit. At one point, it became more harmful than numbing.

  • @[email protected]
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    92 years ago

    I’m just sick of the droves of low effort jokes on reddit. If you don’t have any content to add, then shut the fuck up.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      2 years ago

      Maybe a serious tag would help with that. There’s honestly better communities for that like Tildes and HackerNews. HN is still lightly tolerant of a little nonsense but Tildes is all-business. Does that sound more appealing to you in that regard? You might thrive there better than here but you decompensate by the lack of quantity of new content. Like, there’s always some new stuff but the volume is far less. A lot of people feel its too dead

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        It’s truly a sad day in this series of tubes when being serious is the exception rather than the rule.

  • @[email protected]
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    352 years ago

    Federation is just complicated enough to keep the dummies out. Also probably defederating the idiot instances and better content moderation.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        Well, dummies is too strong a word tbh. its the people who didn’t take the 30 seconds to understand how they have been using e-mail, a federated service, their entire fucking lives and things worked well.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      I don’t understand the “it’s complicated” thing. Figuring out which instance to use was slightly confusing (I went with lemmy.world because it seemed to be the most popular at the time), but after that, it’s no more complicated than Reddit or any other social media site. Am I missing anything?

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          Yep. Presenting the user with a choice that they don’t fully understand (which instance should I choose? What even is an instance?) is a very big deterrent.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        No, you tried something new, the unknown did not dither you. Weirdly, that was the “complicated” barrier.

    • DonWito
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      272 years ago

      Not only that, but the community is small enough that large corporations and marketing companies don’t care about it. Yet ;)

      • @[email protected]
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        122 years ago

        I think this is the biggest reason. A huge amount of content on reddit is astroturfing / brand manipulation; both in posts and in the comments. And in addition to that, a there’s a huge amount of ‘karma farming’, where heaps of popular but low-effort content is recycled over and over again to gain points and create a sense of credibility for accounts that will later be used for marketing / manipulation.

        • DonWito
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          112 years ago

          It’s not about corporate instances. It’s the bots and fake accounts/posts/comments. That’s one of the issues with Reddit. There are little authentic posts. Most of them are advertisements it just reposts to farm karma to avoid detection. It’s ridiculous.

  • Franzia
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    42 years ago

    Because I have been shut in like a virgin waiting for the perfect social media to share my silly humour on.