I'm not sure how all this federated stuff works. I just want to browse absolute rubbish and hope I learn something in the meantime.

Well, the first thing I'd wanna replicate is just the sort of "town square" area. More or less free form discussion places, something like AskReddit or IAMA or just something that encourages people to ask questions and talk together. Everything else tends to fall out from there, in my experience.

Most Google search involves the "Reddit" keyword, it's really getting in my way now that most subs are private! One of the reasons why I don't like the "delete all your own comments" thing people seem to be doing

Cats and news

News links with mods keeping links relevant and trustworthy sources. Bots summarizing paywalls, discussions, that sort of stuff. /r/animetities basically

Also memes. me_irl

Access to some really great knowledge combined with a friendly community .. I think of subreddits like Picopresso and Selfhosting among many others

Definitely number 3. I completely agree that Reddit was great for the niche stuff.

I mean, if not for Reddit, I wouldn't have organised multiple hiking and backpacking trips, sticking up propaganda posters about kayaking.

"A way to burn time that doesn't feel like a digital sugar rush" - well said, that was definitely one of the main reasons I used it habitually. In my experience, reddit had a fairly unique balance of being able to facilitate both serious and silly content.

People to talk to about things that annoy my wife lol. Mainly linux stuff.

Community/togetherness -- Since leaving Reddit, I feel more 'lonely'? Being here definitely scratches the social-itch.
Positivity -- Wholesome people and productive conversations.
Humour -- Some of the comments/posts on Reddit were wonderfully dry and/or edgy. One that made me giggle recently: "Avoid being misgendered at checkout by not paying :)"
News -- Following centrist/neutral subreddits, and r/outoftheloop was great too.
Niche interests -- As said in OP!

I think the only issue we may have is niche interests -- the other points are not contingent on 'size'. Loving what's here so far <3

I learned how to fix so much stuff around the house and picked up ideas for my home automation hobby. And the photos of swimming pools were nice :)

I was mostly a lurker on reddit for a long time but got into some of the hobby subreddits and support groups over covid and started talking more. I stopped doomscrooling so much and focused more on the communities in the individual subs. So now I am here and looking to do the same. Support and community are what I am looking for I guess. And to share my interests with others.

Tv episode/movie discussion threads, sports game discussion threads, fitness subs where I could search for basically any question on

The various subs that can help you get your life in order, in the way you chose. personalfinance and/or financialindependence, whatever diet sub to help you learn how to eat better and get recipes that fit the diet, exercise subs like weightlifting or some others. Things like that can have a huge impact not just from the community encouragement, but the knowledge that they include in the sidebar, etc.

The random really cool people that show up in the comments

To find people with shared interest, to find niches.

And the community of the random thread r/chile

And the autism subs tbh.

To fill the empty hours by collecting sweet, sweet internet points.

When I first migrated from Digg I was astounded by how in a thread on some obscure topic you would find super informed nerds and enthusiasts who could wax poetic on the topic at hand. I learned so much! As the internet matured, and Reddit as well, those interactions seemed to become more rare and argument began to drive the conversation. Statements would be made and a slew of randos would plunge the depths of the interwebz to contradict, one up, or expand on that statement. I have to admit I learned a lot from this as well and did my fair share of educating myself and others. I was hoping to find that impassioned community of yesteryear where the topics were the inspiration, not the karma farming and argument. My experience to this point is that that is happening here because many of us have migrated and need/want to build these communities to the ideals asked about in this post! I am excited about the federated platform and the FOSS mentality and think it will draw those people I mentioned formerly.

Megathreads about exactly which entry in a video game series is the slightly better one to get into

Getting new ideas for some hobby's, like 3d printing, photography etc. Also helping people that are new to those when they have issues. Also memes and funny catvideos.

For me it was always about information. I like learning new things and having access to current events, facts, documentaries, feedback, insights as well as learning resources. Im completely lost here. I subscribed to communities, but I have no idea what else Im missing from other instances.

1. Get a view of world news that does not fit into traditional spheres and biases from unanticipated (by me) categories of importance.
2. Keep track of hobby-like subs (Magazines here?)
3. Community, which drives the above two.

Mostly killing time in various situations. I do have a set of subreddits that I gravitate to for some news type situations, but honestly it's a pretty large time sink that I've really had my eyes opened to since yesterday. Hoping to find a happy medium between that and quitting this type of content entirely.

Solutions to weird and oddly specific problems. If you go looking for a solution to a really weird, seemingly one-off issue with Windows, good luck finding an answer in any Microsoft forum. Put "Reddit" at the end of your search, and you'll find something helpful more often than not.

Also, shitposting. 4Chan and Weekendgunnit levels of shitposting.

Discussions on varied topics and community insights on things are what I really love(d) about Reddit.

Definitely want to continue the game threads for NBA/NFL games. It's really fun to have a small community of people you can shit talk with especially when they aren't around in person