It's essential to align with communities that share your perspective, as there's limited space for meaningful dialogue in some spaces. While some communities foster open discussions, others quickly become hostile to differing opinions, escalating to such an intense level that it almost becomes humorous. Finding the right group where respectful conversation thrives is key.
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Asklemmy
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It really depends on the community youβre in.
As others have eluded to, there is a massive glazing for Linux here and any objections to it are usually downvoted.
The same for FOSS services.
It made me ponder how much of an echo chamber we are in. If you think of it like this: Most of the people here are here because we were passionate about a de-federated alternative to Reddit. For me it was over the API changes.
So if you think about being on Reddit already puts you into a small subset of society, then look at how many came here and stayed over the API issue, then we can see that some of the views here are not at all indicative of the world as here we have about 50k MAU (monthly active users).
As an example, I got sucked in my the pro Linux rhetoric and wiped windows from my PC. It did not go as plain sailing as people would have you believe. My reservations were about maintaining the system and just not wanting to have to geek out when Iβm not in work. Iβm a software engineer so itβs far from a skill issue, but people here will tell you easy to switch and you wonβt have any issues which isnβt the case.
It gave me pause for thought to get out of here every once in a while to gauge the actual populations views on something and not just the circle jerk in here.
On the whole though I can get more interaction with people here than on Reddit as there are less people and people seem willing to just chat about anything.
That depends. What operating system do you use?
A custom Illumos that uses Sun C is instead of GCC and all the copyrighted stuff they replaced with FOSS got shitported back in town because who doesn't like seeing AT&T notices from the 80s at the top of headers?!?
templeos or bust
Need need needddddddddddddddd
Lemmy has a hardon for FOSS, and an irrational hatred for windows.
Aside from that, it's quite nice imo
Yeah I learned that you can't say about a Foss developer wasting resources even when they do fundraiser and apply for grants
Honestly, it's been better than Reddit so far, probably because of who's self-selected into being here. In the long run, I expect it will be the same.
Like someone else said, there's prominent Marxist-Leninist instances, including this one to a degree, so this probably isn't the place if you want to talk about your cool new landlord sidehustle (for one example). Most of Lemmy (like everywhere I've been, probably even NCD) leans left of the IRL center, but it sounds like that won't slip you up.
If I'm gonna get into politics it's most likely to start organizational groups for approval voting/ranked Choice voting. I'll tell people that they have to deal with entire spectrum
Yeah, we have one-choice FPTP where I live, and it sucks.
Given the context, I feel the need to mention that starting an organisation is super, super hard to start with, and Lemmy is niche on top of that. There's organisations IRL that are always looking for volunteers.
I'm new, too, and agree it's been way nicer than reddit.
Well, I left during the whole API thing, so I'm not sure I'd say I'm new. But anyway, glad to hear it!
What brought you here? How did you hear about us?
Just curious.
Varies wildly from instance to instance. At this point, most instances have their own "culture" and ideological leanings, if you go against your instance's grain then you will run into more friction. I can help if you give a broad overview of your political leanings and interests, or you can browse the major instances and see which most appeals to you.
Most of Lemmy was extremely hostile during the US elections but that has mostly passed.
I had a fun time trying to explain why I voted for stien, I had to tell people the president part of the ballot is the one I have the least impact on and If people were to convince me not vote stien that is leave that part blank
Yeah so you'll generally find lemmy users to be quite hostile to your political position. I'm grown up enough not to be "hostile" but to be frank I think your voting choices are very poorly considered.
To your broader question. Lemmy is just like any other platform. If you say silly things people will rebut you. There is no respect for contrary opinions.
I've found that lemmy communities tend to be very homogeneous and in many threads if you offer any insights which are not breathless support you'll be heavily downvoted and get vitriolic responses, or banned.
For example, saying anything critical of China in a .ml thread will result in a ban.
For example, saying anything critical of China in a .ml thread will result in a ban.
Just to clarify this point: they mean that mindless reddit style jingoism will get you banned; reasonable criticism is fine.
That's not what I meant at all.
There's plenty of examples of .ml mods banning users for reasonable criticism.
There really isn't
Lol I can see it's controversial that I voted for stien, but I'm not ashamed, I'm proud that I did.
But I'm not afraid to be who I am and I don't want to have to conform for other strangers just to use a service. I'd rather we be ourselves and celebrate that we are here on this app
Yeah that's not really how lemmy or any anonymous platform works really.
If you espouse a position that others disagree with they will tell you.
If your position is ridiculous then you will be ridiculed.
Personally, I find Lemmy to be a lot less respectful in this way than other platforms. As I said in my earlier comment any opinion that is less than absolutely supportive of the common opinions is heavily ostracized.
A good example would be the situation with Luigi Mangioni. The vast majority of users want mangioni to walk free, and as a result there's blind support for "jury nullification". This is obviously a complex issue with legal, social, and historic ramifications, but any opinions other than breathless support for jury nullification in his case will be heavily ostracized.
Yeah I can definitely say Lemmy can get toxic. I thought with Redding your karma was a status symbol and indicated to other redditors on how to treat you or even if they wanted to engage with you. Along with you account age
It's like you had to post animal pics for a week before you got any recognition.
Here people look at your post or comment likes and decide how to engage with you. There's definitely approval addicts
the way i describe lemmy to people who aren't already familiar: it's like r/linux, r/socialism, r/communism, r/anarchy, and r/shitposting got together to make their own reddit and then the rest of reddit starting joining in during the api protests and now they outnumber the original communists, socialists, anarchists, etc. users by a lot; hence the comment you responded to.
it works great for me because i was in all of those subs and i also left reddit during the blackout protests like 75% of all the people on lemmy did, so you're in familiar company; you're technically not on reddit, but you might as well be if you're part of the right communities.
I was never on those subs. I use Linux to wipe laptops I sell and I used for projects, I feel if I joined the sub then the posts would go over my head.
I'm pretty sure I left before the API fiasco. All I thought at the time is that corporations copy each other. Elon apparently had an effect on reddit
it doesn't have to be linux specifically; lemmy was created as a safe space at intersection of open source technology; leftist politics; and genz style shitposting, if your interests align with any of those, then lemmy is purpose built for you.
and corporations copying each other is the reason why lemmy has become my primary platform. i've been moving from one social media platform onto another each time each platform enshitified because of corporate policies since the days of icq and bbs. my experience teaches me that anything centralized enough or with sufficient financial backing will likewise enshitify eventually, like reddit did, so i stay away from things like bluesky or mastodon.
Thank you for doing the right thing.
I'm going to kill you
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