Hi everyone, I’m new to Lemmy and looking to get involved. I am curious about what major differences you have experienced here vs Reddit as I am hoping this is a nice alternative.
I’ve personally experienced aggressive overreach and biased moderation on Reddit, and I was wondering if you have experienced a different environment here. If so, are there ways to get the word out about sites like this that might be viable alternatives?
More granularly/specifically, are there any topics that you might have discussed on both platforms and had a different experience? What have you seen here that has been a vast upgrade over Reddit? Thanks for any guidance!
3 1/2 years here, and I feel like I have pretty honest takes but of course ymmv.
Moderation can be hit or miss depending on the community. Some have a heavy hand, others are light. Some have rules like no discussing AI and can lead to a ban, gaming has a rule I keep forgetting of it’s really a “gaming news” community and you’ll have posts removed that are just about gaming, etc. Long story short, always read the sidebar rules before posting, and don’t take it personally if a post is removed. Check to see if there’s another community that your post may fit better in. There are some jerk mods, but we make fun of them at !yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com
As for topics, I mean you’re with a bunch of star trek/linux nerds here, just like reddit early platform adopters are tinkerers and nerds so you’ll notice a lot of conversations will eventually point towards those topics. There is more virtue signalling here, no matter what you’re going to have someone tell you you shouldn’t even mention X or Y and you’re horrible for it. Just tune them out, or argue, whatever you want. Have confidence in what you post.
The cool thing is we’re small enough where you can get to know people here, you’ll see similar usernames every once in a while and it feels like an actual community. It’s also small enough where you can have an impact if you choose to. A lot of people come and say “We don’t have X community”. That’s where you get to make that community if you want, and grow it to something cool. I’ve found that there are people here interested in the niche things, but most are too afraid to build a community around it. We have !fedigrow@lemmy.zip if that’s something you would like help with.