Unpopular Opinion

Reddit turned into a cesspool in the last 5 years or so. The admins reinterpretation their own TOS multiple times to appease popular audiences. The site got too big for itself, just like most social media, and the quality of its users and content went way down. But hey, if you want to continue to use a site that makes you prove your skin color to join subs then thats on you. Its still there, but personally Im done with reddit. It had its time and the company showed it true colors when the 3rd party app debacle happened. For years theyve been cutting services and censoring more content in hopes they can sell reddit for mucho dinero when they go public.

I miss the really niche content from Reddit because the community was so large. I've adapted to the UI here on Lemmy/Kbin but I'm hoping the niche subs I enjoy start to pick up activitywise. I do try to contribute content but even on Reddit I was mostly a commenter. There aren't typically too many comments for me to reply to on Lemmy yet.

I disagree. Upvoted.

Before I start my reply, please keep in mind that the following is not intended to be targeted at you.

It's easy to get wrapped up in what you see on your main feed, but there are a few things that I would like you (and more people) to keep in mind.

The fediverse has been it's own thing for years before reddit did it's thing last month. Some of these users might have never been reddit people, and I think that should be ok. Those people shouldn't have to push for reddit 2.0, because this was already great to them. This is/was their "reddit". For some of them, this has always been the place to go to discuss tech stuff. Imagine having a community that you love for years, only to have a sudden burst of people show up and demand that you change almost everything. Your interface, your security processes, and even your own content. I am not one of those long time users, but I can understand why this would be frustrating for them.

As to why some of us are so against mass social media. For me, it's not even that I'm against other people using it. You do you. It is frustrating though, to feel like you can never escape it. When you finally find a "safe" media, it suddenly has mass media trying to get in, along with people wanting that space to become more like said mass-media. You start to wonder why you can't have one place that stays mass media free. Just one.

(I'm not saying you do this, but I see it all the time.) We also have people who complain about the lack of content variety, only for them to suddenly switch and say that it's not even worth trying to create a community around it. If everyone who loves a certain topic has the mindset to never even try, that topic will never become a fleshed out community. I appreciate when people do post the stuff that they want to see, so I'll happily accept those complaints. Thank you for not doing that.

Like many others have said, this is a long way from being fully completed. I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty cool to be able to experience the start of something potentially huge. The fediverse is also growing beyond just reddit refugees and Meta. Some governments are even creating their own networks now. I am eager to see how this will play out in the long run. I hope you find more of the content you are seeking soon, and I hope that you experience fewer angry comments. Thank you for giving your thoughts.

This is a refreshing post. I get really tired seeing the same shit again and again, Meta this, Elon that, Linux is great, FOSS is religion, fuck capitalism, etc. I agree with a good percentage of the things I see here (although there are many cases where people go to extremes) but I need to see some "normal people" content. I feel like a depressed social outcast reading the same nerd stuff without any other content, no offense.

You can't trust corporations to not ruin a product eventually. The reason federation and FOSS is so important is that it strips the power dynamics that typically corrupt online spaces. Is it perfect? No. But reddit didn't become shitty because of individuals making bad choices, it became shitty because it had to.

Catch-22. If you have an issue and you don't speak up then nothing changes. I don't think there's any way to have these conversations that isn't uncomfortable because it's understandably asking people to make radical changes. Especially because those people feel they have to be "louder" since they're going against the grain.

I don't know what the solution is TBH.

I'm fine with lemmy, but I'm really noticing the lack of videos now. I didn't think I'd miss it so much but the porn is just pics, the dog content is just pics, no TikTok videos.

It's a big hole I hope gets filled.

Lemmy/KBin are in early adopter territory right now, but with some of the iOS and Android apps maturing and hitting the app stores (scarily fast!) there’s a pathway for less tech-centric people to find their way over.

For now I try to focus on the pro of the “small user base” con, which is that engagement is way higher and there isn’t a metric shit-ton of karma-whoring comments and posts.

I’m using Memmy (iOS) and am subscribed on communities via a couple instances. It’s a Sunday arvo and I’m enjoying a drink and scrolling away, and for a minute I forgot I wasn’t scrolling Reddit on Apollo. That’s pretty amazing considering that a few weeks ago I couldn't conceive of an alternative platform - and there functionally wasn’t, at least to the extent it is now. I reckon in another few months things will have really progressed again. So hang in there 🐱

My hope is eventually the smaller communities grow and can be just as if not more reliable, but a lot right now is a replacement scroller

It's kinda tricky because a lot of people who just left reddit, left for the reasons you're ranting about. I think that's why there's such a prevalence in posts that are anti-Meta/anti-Threads/anti-corpo. It's so fresh in everyone's mind how greediness has ruined a lot of communities they've built.

I will say, there's a learning curve to using the fediverse (I'm still getting the hang of it). But there's a way to get more "normal" content, you just have to deal with the reality that a lot of those communities are starting out and need your contribution to become a real community.

Besides, you don't have to completely give up reddit. I still use mine and I don't have any intention of deleting it any time soon.

I’m actually surprised to see an actual unpopular opinion, this was super uncommon on Reddit. I actually disagree with you on most things being someone who hates big tech and loves open source. But yeah you do have a point that a lot of people take things too far when it comes to that. But to be fair people have been burned and seriously hurt because of big tech and privacy issues so it’s a sensitive topic. A lot of these companies and especially Meta have some very serious issues that honestly should probably be treated as international crimes.

I miss it too, but I'm not going on the Reddit app. I was happy without ads on baconreader for a decade. Some motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill.

I don’t miss Reddit. I do miss Redditors. I’ve been through 20, or 30 different social media platforms from open source to Nostr to here for now, and what they all lack is that snarky something Redditors had. That’s not Reddit though. That was the people.

Most "normal" people are not too bothered with what reddit is doing, so they stayed there.

The question is how worthwhile it is to be "normal", or rather why it's so bad to "not be normal".

Also if you just block the meme stuff on one account and have another for memes (as a workaround until you can set up different lists), you get to the deep discussion like you want.

I agree a fair amount - I've been aggressively blocking communities far more than I expected. Seems like many are focused on being anti-something rather than pro something.

I will say, that's one thing I miss about the default subs reddit had. A few were annoying and I unsubscribed, but most were inoffensive and mildly entertaining.

So my reddit experience was "scroll default subs, rarely subscribe to a niche sub, go to niche sub directly sometimes".

Whereas here I'm scrolling all, and more and more edgy anti-capitalism or angry atheist or anti whatever communities that I'm not interested in keep popping up every day, and I keep blocking them.

Don't get me wrong, it's still entertaining and informative. But I'm hoping to eventually craft a subscribed list of communities that's both a) not just an echo chamber for what I believe, but also b) isn't likely to have randos go off on rants against fairly normal things that just barely tangentially related to the topic at hand.

Hope I get time soonish. But until then, I feel you.

I get where you’re coming from and I’d have to agree. Soooo many memes right now. Wish they were fewer and further between.

Upvoted for unpopularity.

May I suggest you try other instances?

Beehaw.org has a totally different vibe (and de-federated with lemmy.world atm). Go check them out. There's no prominent shitposting community there. The number of communities are limited and the opinions toward Meta may be similar but it's specifically geared toward relaxed conversation.

Mander.xyz for scientific communities, lemmy.ca for Canadian, aussie.zone for 'strayan, find a local or purpose built instance that will have a crowd more suitable for yourself. Even if it means giving up some of the Redditness of Lemmy.world (which seems to me the currently closest in vibe with Reddit, both positively and negatively).

Especially on smaller instances, help build that community you want to see.

I like it here how it is. I’m one of the people who didn’t like being on Reddit. It was just a hard habbit to break.

Less Reddit for me now. I’m reading books and news again. A little discord. I spend a good amount more time on lemmy than Reddit.

I miss Reddit as seen through Apollo, and that Reddit is dead.