this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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flashlight
2985 readers
24 users here now
Portable illumination
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- Be excellent to each other
- Don't be the reason we need to make more rules
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As much as i like Lemmy and want it to succeed, I’m not yet convinced it will. I’m still on Reddit (until the app i use, Narwhal, starts charging) and there just is neither the variety of channels nor a similar level of interaction here. In some ways that is a good thing, fewer shitposts, no endless puns and obscure memes and references etc. But i do miss the often interesting comments and discussions you see in the more niche subs on reddit. It may improve over time when user numbers grow, but i don’t think Lemmy, or the bigger fediverse, is ready for the general public yet.
I think it's important to have a healthy definition of success.
I think Mastodon is a success for example. It hasn't replaced Twitter as the place where people go to yell at each other about politics, but is that a bad thing? Nearly 500 people follow my photography account there. Sure, I could leverage an algorithm on some corporate social service to get more engagement, but that's pretty cool. 500 people decided for themselves that they want to see my pictures of birds.
I don't expect 180K people to show up here in the first year, but it took /r/flashlight 15 years to get there. The people who are here upvote eagerly and leave thoughtful comments. It's small, but it's nice.
One thing I do is post my reviews here (and to my flashlight Mastodon account) first. I did notice a couple other reviewers who had been posting here aren't anymore. I should probably reach out.
I share that sentiment. The niche subreddits are still great places to be.
There are a few subreddits that are totally about the subject at hand and are wonderful places. I would like to see a community like that grow here. We have a great start so far.