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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.

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  • 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.

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