I think it’s a boon that we’re a tiny fraction of Reddit’s size. Reddit is something like 30+ million MAUs and Lemmy dropped recently from 62k to ~50k. We’re a grain of sand compared to Reddit, and I think the community is better for it.
Lemmy isn’t really a Reddit alternative. We’re too small to have niche thriving communities, and depend 100% on sorting your feed by “all” or “local” to get new content. What’s nice is it feels like one close knit community vs closed off micro communities inside of subreddits.
I get exposed to more things this way oddly enough- viewing content I normally wouldn’t in favor of my smaller selection of subreddits. People are more polite, more informative, and far more original with their comments.
Keep on doing your thing, everyone! We’re building something different here.
The amount of content has been ok. It’s not always what I’m looking for, but I’ve been learning about ecology in Australia and other things I never would have on my own or on Reddit because it would get buried.
The part I like best though is also the part I like least - engagement.
I loved Lemmy right away because all of a sudden I could post or comment and not be lost in a swarm of clickbait articles or useless comments like “this” or “I also choose this guy’s wife” things. But so many things are posted that get decent up votes but no comments. There are good articles posted, but no one comments, while ragebait things about defederation and politics get all the interaction. People say they want niche content, but dont post it or don’t engage with it.
I’ve been trying for weeks now to get a niche sub going. It’s finally above 1k subs, my posts can get 100 up votes, especially on weekends, not most posts don’t get a single comment. How long do you want me to post without making me feel it’s worth my time? The votes tell me at least people are seeing it, but if you don’t talk to the group, how’s it going to grow? I’m posting animal pics, some OC, some not. Google up a pic you like, and post it with a comment. It isn’t hard.
I don’t judge, but I do not care at all for all the meme groups. If I could block all communities with meme in the name I would. But those guys post like crazy. It’s the same amount of effort to post that stuff as a pic you think is cool, an article about your town, or something you did or saw that was fun. Post that stuff! Comment on things! Let posters know you like what they post.
This got more ranty than I intended, but it’s been getting to me lately. I am enjoying Lemmy, Beehaw in particular, but I want it to grow in a healthy way.
I feel this but from the other side. A lot of the niche communities here are almost too niche if that makes sense. I have a broad variety of interests and a decent amount of knowledge on some of them. When I come across something that I want to engage I’ll think about what to comment and realize that I dont have anything of substance to contribute.
It’s like the bystander effect in a way. I think “that’s pretty neat, I’d love to read/learn more about this” but the comments are empty. I don’t want my half informed comment to begin the dialogue and potentially set the time for the thread, but I also want to engage in conversation about it. I’m kinda losing where I was going with this now but yeah. I feel like some of these posts deserve more than I’m able to contribute basically lol
Most don’t want to be the first or only one to get the spotlight on them. I’m very shy and reserved in person until I feel I know someone well, so I’ve enjoyed the smaller audience here. Heck, on this instance there isn’t even a down vote. So i try to take advantage of it to work on myself.
Sometimes I’ll start to post, and change my mind, but at least it has me trying more. It’s a process, and like anything else, they’ll be things that fall flat. But most groups seem to be positive, especially here. I try to upvote just about everyone that interacts with me to encourage them back too.
I’m having a similar problem. Trying to grow a niche community. The subreddit for it has rules about promoting other communities that condemns my post to a weekly self-promotion thread nobody looks at even though I have no authority in that community, so that method of growth is essentially locked off. Already advertised it in some “look at this new community!” communities. I am one of a few posters there, and it feels bad. I’m lucky enough to have a small close-knit Discord group surrounding the same interest, but if I wasn’t I would probably have to go crawling back to Reddit to discuss the topic. For what it’s worth I do try to post comments on any post where I have something to add. Sometimes it’s even a fairly useless “thanks, this was really interesting” comment just to help boost Fediverse engagement.
I’m using a different account to grow the community. Because I’m one of a few posters there and I’d rather not make life easier for potential doxxers, I’d rather not give out the community name. Don’t want to link two different accounts together as owned by the same person.
You have a pretty solid comment history and I recognize a good number of your recent comments from posts I’ve read. You’re certainly doing your part!
In Liftoff it doesn’t show the communities the comments are from, which I think is pretty useless, I don’t know if other apps do. What community are you trying to build up?
I’m using a different account to grow the community. Because I’m one of a few posters there and I’d rather not make life easier for potential doxxers, I’d rather not give out the community name. Don’t want to link two different accounts together as owned by the same person.
Definitely understand! Thank you for contributing all that you do, no matter what pseudonym it’s under!
Exactly. I try to keep an eye out for the regular “what weird community did you discover” posts and do a polite plug for it. I’m not even the mod, but they don’t post anything there either. I don’t want to mod so I don’t care so much about that. I just want someone else to post so I don’t feel it’s on my shoulders too keep it alive.
My default sort is Top Last 6 Hours, but I try to remember to switch to New every now and then and find a 0 comment post or two to reply to.
Which community is that? I’m having the same issues on the community I’m trying to grow
Consider advertising on Mastodon. I’ve had decent success there.
deleted by creator
Which community is that? I’m having the same issues on the community I’m trying to grow
[email protected] (pictures of owls)
Was a fan on Reddit, saw it was already on Lemmy, but then nobody did anything with it.
I’m on day 3 of The 50 States of Owls, trying to show off a bird rescue org in every state that people can visit and support.
I remember SuperbOwl! Unfortunately I don’t have owl pictures to contribute or anything intelligent to say about owls.
Well it’s here on Lemmy now too for you to enjoy if you wish.
I’m no means an expert, just a wildlife fan. My SO loves owls, so that’s gotten me to be quite the fan in return. They also love orcas, but owls are easier for me to find and photograph!
How many people join thinking it’s going to be about the Super Bowl, I wonder.
That would only be useful a few days a year though. They end up with something much better and fun all year round, so it serves a valuable purpose!
For more fun: [email protected]
[email protected] is like this too. I actually thought it was empty/abandoned so I started posting there about conserving wildlife.
Turns out it had one person posting there already, only they are blocked so I can’t see them. Anyway that person was disgruntled and held a poll, but the poll result was most people there want it to be about the environment.
Hah, I do remember hearing something like that about one of the conservative forums last month. I think Teddy Roosevelt would approve.
It’s been funny mentally adjusting to the overton window here.
On reddit the US democrats vs conservatives fight, on the fediverse it’s more often the US democrats vs marxist leninists etc. I find it comparatively relaxing.
I haven’t decided if it’s any better yet. I’m pretty far left, but radicals on both extremes get pretty weird. At least it’s different propaganda!
Oh that’s you! I liked those pictures, but indeed there seemed to be very few comments on the posts…
Yup, plenty of others posting all the doom and gloom environmental stuff, so I stick to sharing pics of happy fluffballs to balance it out. Love for our fellow beasties is probably what got many environmentalists into it to begin with, and it’s important to remember the fun part of it.
Just realized. Did the owls on r/SuperbOwl get lots of comments? If not, many upvotes with little discussion should probably just be expected for that kind of post.
I followed cute animal subs on Reddit but it totally slipped my mind about how often people would comment. I just looked, upvoted (after all, cute animals are on topic in a cute animal sub), and moved on.
The ratio is probably the same or better technically. They have about 400k subs and the posts get like a dozen comments. I didnt post there though, because there were a good number of daily posts. It’s dead here so far, so I decided it was up to me to be the change I wanted to see.
I do feel good breaking into the 100+ likes, but it’s just kinda one sided feeling. Like if you say hello to someone and they smile, but don’t say hi back ever, if that makes sense.
I’m using a different account to grow the community. Because I’m one of a few posters there and I’d rather not make life easier for potential doxxers, I’d rather not give out the community name. Don’t want to link two different accounts together as owned by the same person.
No worries, that makes perfect sense!