Hobbies, learning and hopefully a place I can share things I make with people without being called a spammer... At least for a few years.

Solutions to weird and oddly specific problems. If you go looking for a solution to a really weird, seemingly one-off issue with Windows, good luck finding an answer in any Microsoft forum. Put "Reddit" at the end of your search, and you'll find something helpful more often than not.

Also, shitposting. 4Chan and Weekendgunnit levels of shitposting.

Community/togetherness -- Since leaving Reddit, I feel more 'lonely'? Being here definitely scratches the social-itch.
Positivity -- Wholesome people and productive conversations.
Humour -- Some of the comments/posts on Reddit were wonderfully dry and/or edgy. One that made me giggle recently: "Avoid being misgendered at checkout by not paying :)"
News -- Following centrist/neutral subreddits, and r/outoftheloop was great too.
Niche interests -- As said in OP!

I think the only issue we may have is niche interests -- the other points are not contingent on 'size'. Loving what's here so far <3

I'm looking forward to Lemmy becoming a useful DIY or reference tool. I always used to finish Google searches with 'reddit' because someone somewhere will have asked that specific question already.

On top of that I'm going to miss those really supportive subreddits like r/dadforaminute and r/momforaminute. Though, it does seem like a lot of the people who made up subs like that have migrated here, so I'm hopeful!

Plenty of camaraderie, suggestions and wild discussions on /r/HPFanfiction

I highly valued the discovery of niche communities. Like solo ttrpgs as my current hyper fixation. I always lurked on reddit so I hope to be more involved here. And of course memes.

Definitely number 3. I completely agree that Reddit was great for the niche stuff.

I mean, if not for Reddit, I wouldn't have organised multiple hiking and backpacking trips, sticking up propaganda posters about kayaking.

I mostly lurked on Reddit, but #3 was pretty big for me. If I needed to ask a highly specific question and get an answer from a real human, there wasn't really any other option. Until now, hopefully.

1. Get a view of world news that does not fit into traditional spheres and biases from unanticipated (by me) categories of importance.
2. Keep track of hobby-like subs (Magazines here?)
3. Community, which drives the above two.

People to talk to about things that annoy my wife lol. Mainly linux stuff.

I really hope the educational subs like learn programming, personal finance, and so on can be successful here.

Well, the first thing I'd wanna replicate is just the sort of "town square" area. More or less free form discussion places, something like AskReddit or IAMA or just something that encourages people to ask questions and talk together. Everything else tends to fall out from there, in my experience.

Getting new ideas for some hobby's, like 3d printing, photography etc. Also helping people that are new to those when they have issues. Also memes and funny catvideos.

News links with mods keeping links relevant and trustworthy sources. Bots summarizing paywalls, discussions, that sort of stuff. /r/animetities basically

Also memes. me_irl

It's the niche stuff that made Reddit useful. For example, Amazon reviews are no longer trustworthy, but there were really good recommendations in reddit threads about which devices or products worked. The DIY subreddits were incredibly helpful. I got good recommendations for motorcycle tires and ultralight backpacking gear and Android apps and hotels in particular destinations from reddit. I got walkthroughs on how to set up a Plex server or do a particular project with a Raspberry Pi on reddit. With so many subs, there was almost always a thread for what I was looking for. That was the value. I expect it will take a while to rebuild that elsewhere, but I'm sure it will be recreated.

Tons of niche/hobby communities are my main interest

#3

For me it was always about information. I like learning new things and having access to current events, facts, documentaries, feedback, insights as well as learning resources. Im completely lost here. I subscribed to communities, but I have no idea what else Im missing from other instances.

Tv episode/movie discussion threads, sports game discussion threads, fitness subs where I could search for basically any question on

Megathreads about exactly which entry in a video game series is the slightly better one to get into