this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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I had been using Relay for Reddit for years, and they didn't shut down like other third party apps, so I made a Lemmy account as a backup plan and then continued using both Lemmy and Reddit for a while.
Then the creator of Relay announced that they couldn't afford to continue service as it was and would be migrating toward a monthly subscription-based service to stay alive. That day, I moved to Lemmy and never went back. As much as I'd love to pay someone else just to stick it to Reddit's CEO, I felt that getting financially invested in a failing website just wasn't worth it in the long run. Besides, Sync for Lemmy had just been released and it was a familiar experience. I had used Sync for Reddit before I discovered Relay for Reddit.
Lemmy (and the fediverse as a whole) is much better than Reddit anyway. There are enough people here to have fresh content every day and I'm still discovering interesting niche subs (magazines? I'm still not sure what they call the categories here). There's also not too many people here, so when I find an interesting topic to comment on (like this one), it's not already 5,000+ comments deep. Nothing more demoralizing than commenting on a popular topic and getting absolutely no reaction from the community. No comments, no upvotes or downvotes. Makes me feel like I wasted my time trying to add my two cents to a conversation, and I tend to delete those comments later.
And if I run out of things to browse on Lemmy... oh well. It keeps me from being stuck on my phone all day. A smaller community means the feed isn't endless, so it keeps me from doom-scrolling all day and night. I much prefer it here, and I'm officially done with Reddit.
The comments point you make is a really great one. I was the same on Reddit, never engaging on something because by the time it appeared in my feed, it would be thousands of comments deep. Everything that needed to be said had been said.
But on Lemmy, it's much easier to jump in and actually have a conversation.
I switched over when it was announced Sync for Reddit was closing, but became much more active when Sync for Lemmy arrived due to it being an interface I had been familiar with for a decade. But the move came at a time where I was taking steps to reduce my empty consumption too, deleting social accounts and replacing them with books and newspaper subscriptions. The lower content count on Lemmy is perfect for that as it means I still get great stuff in my feed, but it's not really possible to scroll forever. Instead I now open a newspaper app, use Pocket to read an article I've saved or pick up my book on the Kindle app. I'm generally just consuming much better quality media due to much fewer distractions.
I'm also a Relay user. I had been using the free version for several years. When it looked like Relay was going to go under like the rest, I felt bad and paid for Pro as a thank you. So now I still have use of it, but sure how long that will last.
I stopped going to Reddit in mid June except for one very small private sub. I figure being private means Reddit doesn't get much from my visits there. If I lose access to Relay, I'll probably stop totally though - not sure I could switch to the web interface and I'm not going to install their app.
I bought the pro version of Relay a few years ago. Didn't even have to spend my own pocket money for it; I downloaded the Google Opinion Rewards app, filled out a few surveys, and Google gave me a few bucks to spend in the Play store, which I used to purchase Relay Pro.
Still, the creator of Relay claimed the whole app was moving to a subscription service, so I've now abandoned it. It's not their fault. Reddit is making third party apps unsustainable without a constant income source. But I don't want to get handed a bill one day while I'm browsing, so I'm here on Sync for Lemmy now.
Oh, nice way to spend the points.
The Relay developer seems pretty smart. He got enough donations to keep running and letting people use the app after the transitions and has been making a huge number of API call optimizations. He thinks he's gotten it down to where he can keep going with a reasonable/small subscription price. I don't think he can hit people with an after-the-fact bill, but at some point it will stop working without paying the subscription. I'm not paying for my very minor activity on a tiny, private sub, and I'm not contributing to paying Reddit any money, so that will be the end for me.
I'm also a «Relay for Reddit» user, and I use «Thunder» to browse Lemmy.
I continue to use Relay and plan to continue until it shuts down or asks me to start paying a subrscription.