What brought you to the fediverse?
What was your motivation for seeking out non-mainstream platforms? Why did you choose this platform?
Syndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
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94 replies
The Reddit API-pocalypse. I'm boycotting them until they re-enable third-party app support. If that's never, so be it.
To clarify, if Reddit ever did allow third-party apps again, I would re-evaluate my stance. If I were to re-evaluate my stance today, however, I would choose to to return due to all of the moderators and most of the posts being bots.
They killed RIF, so here I am.
They can re-enable whatever they want. I don't trust corporate social media anymore.
I'm not going that far but I chose to not use Reddit through their first party app.
I wouldn't go back if they re-enabled it, this place is better now, and isn't supporting a user hostile mega corp.
Same here that's the thing that finally got me to completely leave. I think my quality of life has been better for it.
Reddit went to shit, and Lemmy is a lot like reddit was back in 2010 or so.
reddit in 2010 wasn't fully of ideological extremists.
it was mostly nerdy nice people.
Yeah. I don’t remember Reddit being this cringy
world has changed, real life is way more cringy than it was in 2010 too.
and if you don't embrace the cringe, people basically accuse you of being a bigot, that's the new thing.
Seeing the evolution of "cringe" has almost made me lose touch of what cringe even is. What do you classify as cringe...? Because for me it'd be stuff like copypastas :3 oWo XD. Roflcopter.
Cringe basically just means "Acting in an unpleasant & embarrassing way that isn't outright harmful". uwu roflcopter is still cringe, but so is being a reddit mod for example. If something is outright harmful such as punching someone, that isn't really 'cringe' anymore. The word doesn't fit.
People keep saying this but I haven't really seen that yet. I guess I need to stay longer. For the most part its your run of the mill lefty talking points, not very different from Reddit.
You must be right, as many people say it, I just personally haven't seen it.
easy. say something that goes against lefty talking points, especially on a social issue.
easy example. when i first bought my condo i rented out the extra bedroom for a couple of years. seems a pretty innocuous thing, you'd think.
according to a large chunk of the lemmy users this makes me a sociopathic mass murderer who is morally unredeemable and must be murdered for my 'crime' of being an evil landlord.
not sure, but i never got that reaction on reddit for the fact about my life. or say you console game, use windows, etc. people here will come out in droves to tell you how horrible and racist and shitty you are. i'm not sure how using Windows/Mac computer makes you racist, but according to many weirdos here, it does, because their do these weird logical leapfrog arguments where a windows programmer once made racist tweets and therefore if you use windows at all ever in any capacity you are explicitly racist...
reddit was stupid but i hardly ever got the level of vitriol and insanity that I get here on a fairly regular basis for my 'normie' views/activities. I am way too 'mainstream' for this place, but on reddit I was considered a crazy leftist... so I just laugh, but it's still annoying and offputting.
If you go to the right spaces (or the wrong ones, I guess) it gets a little crazy quick. Might be your instance blocks the really extreme instances which would mostly insulate you.
Plenty of things that brought me from reddit to Lemmy.
:the algorithm deciding what subreddits you see instead of upvotes
:removal of r/all
:the kind of racist and misogynist shit that kept propping up
:Especially true in Indian subreddits, a kind of action, reaction whiplash. One subreddit says something, gets backlash on other, and this cycle.
:subreddit pollution, again an Indian subreddit problem, where you get 5 different subreddits for same topic, and all of them are getting astro turfed by politics
: and the fact all of these subreddits were being shoved down my throat. Look, there's few Indian subreddits I like to visit, but why does the algorithm keep shoving down the bad ones? And how bad you may ask? I was called out for spreading propaganda for pulling statistical figures from UNs official sources.
:also bots. Plenty of bots. Karma farmers who tell fake stories, which was easier to spot before reddit doubled down on making accounts private.
And that's it. Reddit has gotten so bad I don't even feel like scrolling r/popular or r/all anymore. And atleast for me, it's a quality problem.
Switched to Mastodon when Musk took over Twitter in 2022. Switched to Lemmy when Reddit banned 3rd party apps in 2023.
I was interested in decentralized platforms before. Technically Diaspora was my first "fediverse" social network, but it lacked content so I didn't use it much.
Same. I didn't even use the 3rd party Reddit apps (browser only here), but I knew what that kind of corporate control meant. I'm disappointed that more people didn't drop Reddit at that time. Oh well, we're taking the long game.
To be fair at least Relay is still going, it's just paid now because of the nonsense. But if reddit ever does something to make Relay not be able to work at all, or gets rid of old reddit, that's when I'll be gone for good. But for now I'm browsing both. Lemmy is more active now than when I signed up, it seems. Or maybe I'm just figuring it out better, haha.
Like many others, I tried out the Fediverse when Reddit nuked third-party apps.
I hadn't used Reddit's third-party apps in some years, but the debacle just showed to everyone that Reddit is a for-profit company, and they'll always put profits ahead of users' interests.
I moved over the day that RIF stopped working
I stuck it out with old.reddit for awhile. I deleted my account because too I would get halfway through writing a reply to things and say "nah not worth it".
But without old reddit I won't even bother lurking.
Updooting a Luigi post apparently got me perma banned for "inciting violence" or something stupid.
Reddit is turning into Facebook 2.0. More and more subs getting infiltrated with far-right pricks. After having to leave yet another Euro sub, i decided to try some other pages. The problem is, that the Euro fascists are quite decent in having a seemingly reasonable discussion, but once you know the dogwhistles and check their history, you'll quickly notice their agenda.
r/europe is some of the most hateful places in reddit, i wont be surprised if that shithole was officially being ran by political PR campaigns for far right groups, i am talking big money being poured and narrative being forced by official political movements, autosurfing and news manipulation was a normal thing at that fuggly sub
Reddit ending third party client support.
I wasn't super-enthusiastic about old.reddit.com effectively being mothballed, and I always would have preferred something more like Usenet. And I didn't agree with the change to how blocking worked. But the "the only client is our client" thing was the breaking point for me.
I always expected Reddit to be less-desirable once it was monetized, but I hadn't anticipated them killing third party client support.
The APIcalypse
A lot of youtubers I watch in tech spaces had their mastodon listed for social media, and after looking into it I found the concept of the fediverse neat, so I decided to try out a couple of platforms, and see if it's any better than the cesspit that is mainstream social networks
API gate started it for me. Logged out of my account, never logged back in (refused to contribute to reddit after that), stayed on reddit a few months longer using old.reddit.com, but once they rolled out the forced sign on just to use that it was a straw too far.
Same although, not on this account. I still have a reddit because I run a few larger subs but, I have brought that content to the fediverse.
Came during the reddit blackout.
A few factors:
Got my 15 years Reddit account banned for sharing a UN documented proof of Israel committing genocide in gaza, in a pro Palestine sub.
This made me 100% sure that shithole of site is moderated by Israeli PR agents to control the narrative.
The reason they banned me was “supporting terrorism” lol.
Too bad the API is shut down. I'd love to see the average time between someone's first comment on r/jewsofconscience and their last comment on reddit.
Probably hiding these shennanigans was one motivation for closing the API.
Welcome to the club, same happend to me
I wish it was publicised more when accounts get nuked. The what & why. Everyone online just assumes if you get action'ed on you must have been spouting some far right nazi rhetoric but it's way way more common for it to be something innocent, or just out of context, or even just poorly worded. There is a wide range.
Reddit encourages you to care about your account (cakeday, karma, reply notifications etc. It's all set to make your care about your account) and then they nuke it when you say something they don't like.
I believe API gate was the last straw for me on Reddit, after 10 years.
My trigger to try it was Reddit killing third party apps. What kept me here is the different instances interacting with one another, the people and the way it works in my third party app. It just fits my requirements. Content could be a bit better though, and I wish there'd be an option to hide duplicate posts of these actuality bots posting the same news story to five instances. RSS is capable of that.
People,and less bots
I came here after leaving reddit, when they shut off third party app access. I had already been wanting to leave to another platform, and many people were mentioning Lemmy and the Fediverse as an alternative. The idea of independent federated instances really appealed to me, and losing RIF was my final straw.
I also left Twitter for Mastodon around the same time, although I'm much more active here than on Mastodon.
I'm so glad I did it, because I've had a much better experience here. Even though we have bots, spammers, and some bad mods, it's nothing compared to the shithole that is reddit.
Because Reddit has become a cesspool of bots and corporate greed. Also, the mods are power-hungry chodes.
I started to dislike meta and musk more and more.
Never been interested in being bubbled and having an algo rammed down my throat - I deliberately go places online that aren’t necessarily for me. I like to see how others live and think. Hate the omnipresence of advertising. Heard about Mastodon, did some reading, ended-up here…
This. I came after seeing a post about lemmy on reddit, but at it's core my move was less about reddit specifically and more about wanting to escape algorithms generally.
Edit to add: I also want to see places outside my comfort zone. How am I meant to learn and grow, if my beliefs are never challenged?
Yeah - the whole thing about the internet for me at the turn of the last century was to discover cool and interesting new stuff, to see things from other perspectives and learn… then one year September didn’t end / became eternal and a generation later here we are. Surfers drowning in algorithms and adverts.
The longest month
I speak loudly against immorality because of my neurodivergence, interests and character and it was all okay until I started talking too much about Western imperialism and Israel in the wrong places at the wrong times... so I ended up being banned4lyfe. 🤷♂️😬
They have “auto ban filter” for any anti Zionist content, they directly work with pro Israel agencies. Its not even mods of personal preference, the site itself have ties with pro Israeli agencies.
Oh fosho. 😬
But yes, iirc either a group of subreddits or at least a major one was moderated by Ghislaine Maxwell so the Mossad was deep in it. Oh well.
Im transfem on the internet, I can't trust mainstream platforms and i like the idea of federated platforms, so I ended up here
Preach
Persona age-verification bullshit on reddit
This + enshittifying itself through tracking and "recommendations".
Because it seemed cool. reddit had been taking over by crazy people and normies who were happy to go along with the crazy.
Now it's getting worse day by day, as the crazies take over here as well. they are getting impossible to avoid.
i am looking for a place for reasonable thoughtful people to exist and collaborate and share ideas... that is rapidly becoming impossible in the current social environment.
I joined mbin after reddit spezzed out with their API bullshit.
Was here ever since the Reddit shitshow with the third party apps, didn't really have any practical reason why other than u/spez being a huge piece of out-of-touch shit lol. Did anyone remember the whole landed gentry thing? Him talking about wanting to be some sort of feudal landlord? Can't care enough to find it anymore...
Then I stayed around because I prefer the environment here. Lots of innovation because of federation. I used to be on Kbin, then Lemmy then PieFed. Haven't really done much on Mastodon, not really a fan of the Twitter format...
The API. At that point, I deleted my account and created an account here. Unfortunately, at this point I'm debating going back, especially since you need a login to use old.reddit. As much as I want Lemmy to succeed, there just isn't enough here for me. I was on Reddit for the niche interests like Dota, CS, 3D Printing, military hardware, and Virtual Reality, and none of that is really present here. That said, no way am I downloading their official app. All their new UIs are unusable.
Use redlib if you're going to use reddit, don't give them positive traffic, or worse, your data and content. For example: https://redlib.privadency.com/
While I totally acknowledge and agree that there are missing niche interests (although I'm pretty sure the 3D printing communities here are popular), the only way they'll grow is if people with niche interests start contributing. More content (especially OC) generally means more people, and more people means more content for you to consume. Be the change, and all that.
Might I ask, how do access reddit outside of the official app?
You can just use the website, particularly with old.reddit, but u/[email protected] suggested redlib, which also looks really promising.
The video showing exactly how Musk helped Trump steal the election.
i came for the ideological reason of being able to host one's own communication server.
i stayed for the great community
Reddit admin and mod corruption.
Preach
I'm very interested in the underlying protocol: ActivityPub. It seems like the future of the open web. I'm not so sure that lemmy or mastodon will be the breakaway hit some think it might, but I'm happy to explore what they have to offer.
I'm of the opinion that for ActivityPub to really take off it will need something novel, that isn't a clone of an existing social network. It's a tall order because there are only so many ways you can configure a purely text or even multimedia based platform, but I have faith we'll eventually get there. I've personally been tinkering with the idea of a friend-finding platform that would help people make meatspace or cyberspace friends.
Fuck Reddit mods
Truly some of the worst moderation I've ever seen. Admins too. Up there with stack overflow, which was dying from poor moderation long before AI decapitated it
Got banned from reddit for the 5th time
When they killed r/all I nearly left, then when they made the "for you" tab the unswitchable default that was it. I gather they reversed that decision but I'd already deleted my account and I could see the writing on the wall anyway.
The default front-page is now so awful that I never get lost doomscrolling it like I used to. It's literally like reading a tabloid.
Got annoyed with Reddit and the social media megacorps in general. I can actually sometimes remember and recognize usernames here. Reminds me of old school forums.
Reddit, twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, AI.......
Just trying to find some place that isn't polluted.
I wanted to try and find a smaller community and move to something with less of an algorithm
Reddit is just AI garbage these days and the culture there has been shit for long.
It's not much better here, but still
if you aggresively block entire instances where the majority of weirdos come from, it gets a lot better here.
but you get waaaaay less content. the majority of the content and activity is from insane people and their victimhood doomer hater agenda.
I'm in various FGC circles, and when Twitter had... I don't even remember which of its many controversies, it was a few years ago, but something or other resulted in fgc.network being launched and I immediately signed on to the idea of a federated alternative that no CEO can destroy.
At the time I also did peek around some of the other parts of Fedi, uploaded some of my Splatoon stuff to PeerTube but it was a complete ghost town. My first impression of Lemmy was that it wasn't there yet, not enough critical mass.
Then Reddit had its API debacle, and I decided to commit to trying Kbin for a while, for at least as long as the blackout lasts. My impression was still that it wasn't ready to replace Reddit, that it unfortunately can't replace the kinds of niche hobby and fandom communities I used Reddit for, but I thought Kbin's software felt like it had more potential, and I would stick with it. Then the Reddit admins turned sour, the sub I moderated that participated in the blackout had our mod team threatened by the admins, and I knew I was just never going back to Reddit.
I made a joke about punching Nazis.
I got thrown off Reddit.
I was part of the Great Reddit Emigration of 2023.
The API shit happened alongside one of the worst arguments I've ever gotten on the internet from Reddit. I realized those people lost the plot. I deleted my account.
So I was actually on Mastodon a long time ago in ~2016, where someone very programmer recommended it to me. I didn't get it and so skipped out but I was aware of it.
Years later, before the API-pocalypse, I was getting frustrated with Reddit and then-Twitter and so bailed out on them. A friend had brought up trying to ditch Facebook and algorithms, and I recalled Mastodon and went to looking at it again, this time giving it a proper try.
Well I stuck around obviously and went to browse around at other Fedi-stuff and stumbled upon Lemmy/PieFed, joining it a short while later.
escaping surveillance, algo feeds, and detoxxing myself and reducing screen time (works like a charm so far)
distribution of power is good for the humanity. If no one control the whole network, risk of platform-wide abuse of power reduces
Got banned from reddit for probably insulting the wrong person.
Right person, be happy about it
Got banned from reddit for being anti russia
Reddit became sort of unusable. The community has changed a lot and I felt like I didn't really know the site anymore.
I originally wasn't going to find a replacement and spent a few years without one, but I found myself lurking Lemmy more and more so I made an account. Not sure if it will stick though.
I cam here to not get asked weekly why I came here.
y u cam here?
I switched to Linux so it seemed like the logical choice to move to the home of Linux memes.
Interest on foss alternative to big corpo social network. It s not big corpo but if u didn't know well it s just the same
So I heard about the concept and it appealed. Its like when I heard stallman talk I started looking for gpl in everything I could. The first time I heard about it was mastadon but I never liked twitter and the format did not appeal to me. When the api thing happened with reddit there was more talk and I found there was the reddit alternative in kbin and lemmy. I like kbin better and went with it and when earnest dropped away I went to mbin as that made kbin kinda abandonware. Mbin was nice enough but did not have the energy that earnest brought to kbin but piefed came out and it kinda had that energy. So I went to that. I do miss moist though.
Ironically, it was talklittle. I say ironically because even though he directed people to lemmy he himself ended up on tildes.
i used tildes for awhile but it was way too group-thinky for me.
I haven't used any social media before, I'm just interested in anything that's open source or decentralized. So when I heard about Lemmy, I thought I should give it a try and so far I'm loving it!
yeah yeah reddit but looking back it all started when google plus imploded
Either getting ignored or getting all the assholes in one comment section.