Hey there everyone! I have a possibly noobish question about the number of active users.
I've been watching the stats on occasion and lately, I've noticed that Lemmy's number of active users has been decreasing. (for the last month at least).
While the number has been on an upward trend for the last 6 months
Last month's stats have been less than rosy.
So could anyone explain how this might affect Lemmy? I think I've read before that only people who post or comment count as active users, but seeing it go down is kinda alarming. So am I right in thinking that Lemmy has been losing active users since July 11 or am I missing something?
I think the general consensus seems to be bot and/or spam accounts being removed but I haven't seen evidence of it. Anecdotally I have seen many people say it feels more busy around Lemmy lately but I haven't been here long enough to know myself. It is a curious one though.
If it is genuine then I suppose it could be a typical cycle for platforms that get raided by another, in this case an exodus from reddit to Lemmy - then after the dust settles some people decide they don't like it after all and go back or elsewhere.
I don't think that is a bad sign though that is a natural cycle and as long as some people remain then it shows overall growth.