Any tips for a new user?
I’m finally making the switch from Reddit. The Voyager app seems like a pretty seamless transition, but I’d love to hear any tips about using this platform, or what quirks distinguish it from Reddit as a whole.
There are no recommendation algorithms for content, you are one! Search for communities based on your interests and subscribe to them. The Communities view of your home instance and Lemmy Explorer are good for that. Because Lemmy is decentralized, all discussion isn't centered around one site like on Reddit, which may at first give an impression of emptiness.
I also wrote an extensive guide about Lemmy few weeks ago.
Welcome!
Yeah it felt a little empty here at first, but then I realized I get way more replies on most of my comments here than I did on reddit where most people just scrolled right past it.
You make a great point.
I fire off comments without thinking much at about the same rate as I did on the other website but get replies on about ~50-60% here vs. ~20% on centralized media.
It’s really nice honestly. /gen
(And people are much nicer about tone tags here!)
I find myself commenting far more often than I did on Reddit. I remember once that I lamented that Lemmy doesn't have a "super upvote" in the way that Reddit gold used to be (which is a silly thought, given that I have never, and would never pay money to gild a comment). However, I realised that on this more discussion based platform, a short but meaningful comment can readily function as a super upvote. I think the lack of karma accrual for comments/posts also promotes this.
Right? I think Lemmy is way more conducive to conversations than Reddit.
That guide is helpful. Thanks!
Very nice, thanks!
I'm going to be honest, I would prefer having some sort of algorithm. Not only it would the things I'm uninsterested away, but it would occasionally show something new to me. I've seen people with "cjrated feeds" saying something about it being boring. The problem is not algorithms, it's how they are constructed.
That's a good point. That said, I do have options for finding unusual stuff when I want something fresh, so I've never felt uninterested. (It also helps that I'm tired of dopamine holes trying to create a never ending novelty coaster like regular social media)
You're gonna look around and see a few old accounts and think you missed the early bus. You didn't. We're still pioneering.
If you think "why isn't there a community for this" or "why isn't anyone posting to this community" it's because we're small and we need people like you to fix those issues!
You have to curate your feed yourself. Personally I use the all feed and block what I don't like because I enjoy seeing new communities. I also recommend the jerboa app if you have an android, its free, open-source, made by lemmy devs, and doesn't have ads.
Also many of us are communists or anarchists so prepare for political takes you aren't used to.
Right on lol. I’m a socialist leaning democratic socialist but I can appreciate that communism gets a bad rap—and the current US administration is radicalizing me more than ever, so I’m happy to get pulled further to the dark side.
500 word mini-essay on demsoc vs socdem inbound. ETA in 3... 2...
Since you did ask, I made an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list after the US election in the hopes of helping those increasingly radicalized along their political journeys! I also wrote a post on how to determine if an overall system is Capitalist or Socialist, from a Marxist perspective.
As a side-note, Socialism is generally seen by Marxists as the intermediate stage between Capitalism and Communism, with Communism as a fully publicly owned, global democratic economy with thorough planning, and Socialism as a society where Private ownership has become subservient to the public sector and now Public ownership is the principle aspect, which is the method of getting to Communism. No country has achieved Communism, which must be global, but many have achieved Socialism.
A bit on "Democratic Socialism," and how it differs from Marxism-Leninism:
Democratic Socialism usually can refer to either something like the Nordic Countries, which would technically better fit the term "Social Democracy* as private ownership of Capital is the principle aspect of their economies, or as Socialism achieved through electoral means, ie public ownership as the principle aspect of their economies.
I say "principle" as no system is "pure," every country has a public and private sector, but the public sector in China and Cuba, for example, has far more power than the Private through having firm control of large firms and key industry, while in the Nordics the public sector is in support of the private. The Nordics also rely on international exploitation in order to fund their safety nets, meaning it isn't a system that could be adopted by just anyone with the same results, it requires winners and losers.
As for how it compares to Marxism-Leninism:
And that's enough to go off of, I think! Let me know if you habe any questions, though the reading list is my recommendation for a good place to start. It even has audiobooks for most of the listed works as alternatives, as well as links to epubs or pdfs.
Definitely this. Lemmy isn't that big, so it pays to browse all. Just block any topic you don't like. I had to block a lot of furry and meme communities because they don't interest me.
And other ones of us are just idiots.
One of us!
And lemmy.ml communities are often managed by pro-communists and they don’t like if you don’t trash talk capitalism as much as they want you to
That’s a sad part of Lemmy
Time to make accounts in lemmy.ml
I don't think they are that dogmatic too.
Like, they seem to support China lead by a Socialist/Communist/Marxist political leadership, that declares its aim as transitioning into socialism by 2050 or so.
Oh yes, Lemmy opposing the far-right, so evil and awful.
It's small now, but growing. You can't scroll infinitely for new content. It's grown a lot in the time I've been here. The smallness can be a positive if you work to have genuine interactions with people. There's no "karma" and some instances have disabled down votes entirely. You have sometimes subscribe to more than one community of the same topic (each on a different instance).
take all of the things you hate about Reddit comment culture and do your best to perpetuate them here
This
Beans
ECCE HOMO QVI EST FABA
By default it's mostly politics and linux unless you browse for individual subs
I don't like that…
I made a list of casual communities on Lemmy awhile ago https://lemmy.world/post/2216085 just subscribe to stuff you like and curate your own feed. Block the politics subs. Boom.
I'm sure. But we do have other communities. I myself like the edc community, calvin and hobbes, dullsters, 3d printing, greentext and general 4chan stuff, history stuff, and probably other things I have to check my subscriptions for. Point is, if you want it, find it or make it.
Don't forget about the furry porn. There's also furry porn.
For real, I haven't seen much furry porn. In fact, I would say none... I don't know how I did that.
I just get memes about femboys driving trains and autism
Gonna go against the grain, and recommend browsing the instance list and browse whichever instances look interesting to you locally, and then make that your "home" instance. Lemmy's connectedness is equal in importance to its disconnectedness, niche instances thrive and create interesting experiences, while federation allows crossover and further engagement.
Using Lemmy for its "all" sort is more of a replication of Reddit, while leaning into the strengths of federation can create a more unique experience IMO and usually a more pleasant one.
And finally, welcome!
I agree with trying to find and support a local instance. I personally find it nice to have this account (made before my local was made) for a global feed and a local account for playing more into local culture and news which are too niche to get visibility on a regular instance's feed.
That's what I do!
Understand this is not reddit. There is no "reddit hivemind" on Lemmy because Lemmy is federated. You will find that this type of thing still exists within certain instances in various ways, but know that you are leaving a single large echo chamber and entering into a series of smaller, federated echo chambers. There is much more representation of human beings with differing morals, ideals, and beliefs here as compared to reddit.
Based on my own experience, you would do well by yourself to learn to not take what other people are thinking personally. You don't have to believe in what anyone else thinks, but other people don't have to believe in what you think either. Don't make the mistake of believing you know what is best, or that you know everything.
I have seen this have a culture shock effect on newer users, because they often expect that everyone thinks, says, does, or feels all the same or similar things as them about anything and everything, and quickly find out that it is not necessarily the case here.
An example of this I have seen on multiple occasions is where new users are shocked when they make a post about wanting some kind of change to the entire platform "to attract users", and are quickly informed that many user's do not necessarily want, or care that the platform attracts users, because for many, that is not the point of the software Lemmy, rather that is the point for a business like reddit. If a user really wants some huge change, usually the response is for them to make an account on an existing instance like what they are looking for, or to host their own.
You will find much more actual individualism on Lemmy. It is important to be aware that not only is everyone not the same, but that they don't have to be either.
People are also less likely to react positively to comments that are not offering actual thought. If you enter a thread to comment "this", or just to make jokes without a point, you may find you receive a different reaction than what you would receive on reddit.
Do not read a title or a comment, hammer a reply into your keyboard, and then hit send so that you can move on to more content faster, like other social media has trained you to.
Read posts and comments and think about them. Weigh your replies. If you think you know the point you want to get across, consider what responses others may have, adjust what you are writing until you believe your reply thoroughly covers what you actually think about the subject matter as whole with consideration to what you think might be follow up questions and others thoughts, and then send it.
Of course if you have further thoughts later on, feel free to edit what you said to clarify or add to your thought (as I am doing this very moment, 40 minutes later).
Lemmy is an excellent opportunity to practice communication, because as it stands, you will find the degree of conversation is much more engaging than what reddit turned into over time. If you have a well thought out, beautiful, or powerful thing to say and go through the trouble of saying it well, you may find you are rewarded by someone else doing the same in return.
Just because the format is similar to that of reddit does not mean that Lemmy is the same platform.
In short I feel that Lemmy is not a platform that is there to work for you necessarily, instead it is a platform that enables you to work on yourself. But only if you will let it.
I feel called out with the “this” example, but I promise I was playing into the basic bitch redditor trope.
I appreciate the time you spent in crafting this thoughtful reply, and the insights you shared. It can be very easy to get trapped in a mindless content loop, so I think a reminder to slow down and be present is always timely.
I was (very) recently reminded of the love I once held for writing and it’s prompted me to begin forcing myself to be more mindful and patient with my own writing process, rather than hammer out only what’s necessary to convey a thought. So it’s an especially poignant reminder for me right now!
Thank you, and I am glad to hear that you were recently reminded of something you had love for. I had a similar experience when joining Lemmy about 2 years ago. It drove me to begin keeping a general book for journaling.
To that end, if you intend to take your rediscovery of your love of writing further, a recommendation of mine would be to find both a book and pen that you like. Something with a cover or paper which you enjoy, and something which makes it feel easy and smooth to write with. In doing this I have found that it has reminded me to write and allows me to enjoy doing so much more.
In my case I found a green, hard covered book, with a relief of a tree on the front. The cover has a soft wrap which makes it feel good to hold and warm to the touch. It has two tongues for keeping place.
My pen is a very cheap but nicely made Muji brand aluminum fountain pen with which I use Waterman black ink. It writes smoothly and the pages soak the ink in well. It is also not so expensive that I would be worried if I lost it. It has a knurling which makes it easy to hold, and the cap posts in the back in an unconventional manner.
I have found writing for myself has helped me when writing for others, the only difficult part was remembering to begin.
I have no fucking clue what federated is and no one seems to ever explain it lol. What does it mean?
Every instance is like a different forum, and they can choose to “federate” with others to provide a somewhat seamless experience. You only have an account at one instance but others recognize that and vice versa. Each instance can have communities, similar to subreddits, focusing on different content. You can follow, comment, and post in communities hosted on other instances that federate with your instance. Each instance has its own rules and culture.
I think (absolutely IMHO) Reddit commenting is more confrontational. Sure, we have that here, but on Reddit I would get slapped down often, because I'm not that smart and I make mistakes. My clumsy way was chum in the water for the sharks.
Not here. I feel like people here, EVEN WHEN THEY GET MAD, can be spoken to, even apologized to, and together you can be okay. Not agree necessarily, but not ugly or unkind.
I've seen a few new people here try the "smack em for being stupid" technique, and mostly it gets them downvotes and criticism. I really love that about being here.
It feels much safer for the sensitive.
That’s refreshing to hear actually. Reddit can be a pretty unfriendly place depending on what corners you spend your time. I think in today’s tumultuous and divisive political/cultural landscape we need neighborliness more than ever.
I think partly this is due to there being no karma on this platform. Garnering up votes or downvotes in a single thread is largely meaningless outside of it.
This is a great point.
There's also very convenient block mechanisms for rude folks, and a "block and move on" culture for those who don't keep their communication civil.
Yes, I do block the rude.
Karma does not persist and there is no minimum karma or account ages to comment anywhere.
Not entirely true, Solarpunk's Pleasant Politics comm has an automod that bans and unbans based on recent karma ratios. The bot going back and forth on banning and unbanning me is the bulk of my modlog, lmao
Karma does not persist […]
I'm not sure what you mean; if I look at your account, for example, I can see all of your past vote scores [1].
it's different than karma. points from every post have to be added to get the "karma", which may can be done unofficially by using some scripts, but officially lemmy doesn't do that,
No awards, so you have escaped the cringe "thank you, kind stranger!" comments.
In all seriousness, I would curate a bunch of pages that interest you so you have a home page relevant to your interests. There's a lot of competing communities but I just add all the big ones that are relevant.
I find browsing by new to be the best because Lemmy is quite slow.
It's better if you untick "show read posts" in your lemmy settings.
Thanks! That sounds nice
I always do by new comments cause then it's a lil more active
Welcome in from the cold. We have hot cocoa and blankets.
Welcome to Lemmy, here are a few pointers to help you settle in
Try commenting on stuff here, fun times.
Be careful though because Lemmy is a great echo chamber 😅
You're right.
For some reason nobody gave any suggestions for a client to use. If you are familiar with Apollo for Reddit, there is a spiritual successor here on Lemmy called Voyager: https://vger.app/
Might wanna block universal monk. It makes the experience smoother.
Is this where I submit my application to be blocked as well?
Yeah actually, thanks
Edit: You're just a big goof. I looked at your post history. I'd miss your shit posting.
Here is a great 30 min explainer presentation on the activitypub network in general: https://conf.tube/w/d8c8ed69-79f0-4987-bafe-84c01f38f966
It covers a lot of the philosophical and design differences that a lot of us are very passionate about. Welcome.
I recommend browsing /all to find popular active communities
If you see a bunch of posts that says death to America, you're probably on a .ml server
Most content is driven by the Picard maneuver and this jellyfish guy.
There I think you're oriented.
As a more serious aside to the above, it is generally worth paying a bit of attention to which instance other users you interact with. There's obviously no blanket statement you can make about the users of particular instances, but there are definitely certain instances that are more appealing to... certain groups of users.
lemmy.ml in particular has a bit of a reputation for having tankies on it, but there's lots of very interesting and reasonable people there (or here, I suppose, given this is an ml community), also.
Here's one I haven't seen mentioned yet: many of us explicitly state our intended tone after our comments, to avoid miscommunication. Particularly in busy threads.
We have some great accessibility outreach communicators here, some of whom have shared how much it helps them or people they know.
Some examples:
Sometimes these are abbreviated, but we often even avoid abbreviation - for general clarity, but probably mainly because we're always gaining new users who might not recognize the abbreviation.
Watch out for posters trying to bum rush you, trying to get you to react, and then mass reporting you to have your post removed.
They are just trolling.
If you ever say the word trans expect someone from a certain 196 community to ban you.
Don't ever assume things like tiananmen square or the fall of the soviet union are settled matters
Edit: oh and there are better instances than ml and world isn't one of them.
Trans
Don’t ever assume things like tiananmen square or the fall of the soviet union are settled matters
Those people can stay on Reddit.
Like the mass migrating here now.
If they haven't been banned looong ago when you can't even have the mildest criticism of genocide or other things there, I have questions.
What are the best instances, in your opinion?
Also, what is 196?
IMO divided by zero or shit just works seem pretty appealing and thought about moving to one of those. Really, though, it comes down to personal preference.
Another tip I haven't seen yet:
Example of Image with Alt text in Markdown:
Welcome!
Lemmy.world is the boring “normie” instance and you’ll find it much friendlier than this place if you’re not a committed Marxist-Leninist ( that’s what ML stands for)
There are a bunch of Anarchists on Lemmy.ml, as well as liberals and Social Democrats. Lemmygrad.ml is the Marxist-Leninist instance, Lemmy.ml is more of a generalist instance, but the users, mods, and admins lean Marxist.
Just being nitpicky, really.
Isn't lemmy.world very very USA-centric? And they are keen on name calling you as a tankie if you mention things that do not go along with their view.
I was banned from a community there, because I mentioned the Munich agreement and shared my view opposing what the community had in a discussion that centred around the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Yep.
Yeah I like sh.itjust.works. It seems to be a pretty balanced. North American instance.
Ha! I had no idea where I was, thanks for clearing that up.