I really love community-driven social media like Reddit. Lemmy feels… too small. I really loved that Reddit let me jump into any niche hobby, and instantly I had a community. Lemmy, you’ll be lucky if that community even exists, and if it does, chances are nobody has posted in ages.

On the other hand, Lemmy is full of political content lately. I’ve basically been doom scrolling everything US election-related, and it’s really starting to take a toll on my mental health.

I know I can filter content. I know I can post and be the change I seek. Yet, it feels like an uphill battle.

Not sure what the point of this is, or if it’s even the right community to vent about this. I just really want to replace Reddit, but I find myself going back more and more (e.g. r/homekit is very active compared to Lemmy version).

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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Browse by "subscribed", and subscribe to a lot of communities. Only do it by "all" when you can't find good stuff in the subscribed view.

I do this and, while I do see a few intrusive US politics posts, it's far less than when browsing by "all".

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 2 points 4 days ago (4 children)

The problem, as already stated, is that there are not many communities in the first place. And if there are, they're likely more or less dead, with weeks or even months old posts.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Disagree. I use subscribed and I get plenty of content, a couple hours worth a day. You may just be used to reddits firehose. If there's a missing community, you can always create it and start posting consistently

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm not here to post stuff, that's the opposite of what I want. And the things I'm subscribed to I can scroll through within a couple minutes before they're dry. It's just too empty here with only a few threads and comments here and there.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Well then I can tell you you're in the wrong place. There aren't algorithms. There aren't bots. Just people like me posting. It is run by and for individuals, and all posts are made by individuals. If you don't want to post then you are the one to be mad at for not enough content

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The fuck are you talking about? It's not about algorithms (which there are some, just not content based), it's about the lack of people. Maybe work on your reading comprehension. It's simply a matter of the fediverse lacking critical mass.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And you are welcome to be part of adding to the critical mass by posting, but for lurkers this place is going to be empty for a very long time.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't know why you people keep suggesting people do something that's not within their interest & use case.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Don't know why people come here and get upset that we haven't provided enough free content.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My guy, I added my two cents about the topic. Maybe keep your fragility in check and don't feel attacked by everything.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Lol okay dude, sure, my fragility. I run a server for myself and a few others, I pay out of pocket for it, we here don't owe you anything.

I don’t know why you people keep suggesting people do something that’s not within their interest & use case.

I’m not here to post stuff, that’s the opposite of what I want

Which I see that you comment a lot, which is great, it seems like you enjoy it here. Sure I'd like to see more posts, so I post a lot, and that drives up engagement. I've nurtured a few little communities that have grown steadily since I started them, but you don't just get that from being upset that there's not enough content. If you want more communities/posts around topics, then here you need to be the one post the stuff about it. So why so resistant to posting?

It's honestly easy, it was a mental block for me at first but it's just if you see an article/story about a topic you like, just post it to a community that applies. I started posting youtube vids that I thought were interesting. If there's not a community for your topic work with your admins to create one.

You're absolutely right that we're tiny, we don't have a critical mass - which is why I tell anyone who complains that there isn't enough content that we don't have the luxury of lurking here. If you want to be a part of building this platform then do your part. If you don't want to help build it, then at least for god's sake don't just complain here that there's not enough content to admins who run their servers for free when you can't even be bothered to post. So I guess that's probably what you're picking up on.

So it's not fragility - it's frustration. Frustration that we have devs who built these platforms (for mostly free), and admins who pay out of pocket to run them, and in result we get users who are upset they might need to just occasionally post to help keep engagment up. I mean, what more do you want from us? I pay monthly to keep my servers up, fedia I'm sure pays hundreds a month, Lemmy.World here probably into the thousands, and people want to complain that they just want to lurk and that we don't provide enough content. Well, then start posting!

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for proving my point with this triggered entitled ranting text wall. You doing what you do does not mean I owe you anything, not in form of feeling obligated to submit things, and I even less so have to take stupid insults from you about getting upset for you not working hard enough for me. If that's the type of shit you make up in your head about the users within the fediverse then please, stop contributing. You're like all those power tripping mod abusers who feel so entitled about it that they expect a "thank you" for ignoring disinformation and ruling over comments in a hypocritical manner. We've had this type of shit on Reddit already, we sure as hell don't need it here.

There, that's how I react when I'm actually upset. You're welcome.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 4 days ago

Dude, okay I'm done. I didn't even insult you, in fact I rewrote that "wall of text" multiple times to try to explain my opinion as neutrally as I could. I've tried in honest faith to try to explain my point of view to you multiple times, and I don't know how else to explain it.

[–] Microw@lemm.ee 4 points 4 days ago

Huh? There are a looot of communities. Of course, a good number of them are dead. To get a good idea of which smaller communities are active, I'd recommend following the !trendingcommunities@feddit.nl posts. @Blaze@feddit.org did "active communities" overview threads a while ago at !newcommunities@lemmy.world too.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 4 points 4 days ago

Yes, it is a problem - depending on your tastes "subscribed" won't be enough. But going "subscribed" and then "all" is bound to show less political posts than going straight for "all".

[–] Kichae@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

A lot of the small communities are not dead, they simply have a low post rate. If you actually post something of interest to them, they get engagement.

Social media suffers from the curse of the Pareto principle: The overwhelming majority of users do not generate content. They also suffer from the network effect: Most people will be where the content is, and most content creators will stay where the audience is. What we have on Lemmy is a group of people that skews more heavily toward consumption or commenting than posting new content, and the ever present thief of joy.