I say this as someone that uses FOSS day to day for work, I don't really give a shit if my Lemmy app is FOSS.
For me, Sync was Reddit. It's where 99% of my interaction with Reddit happened. I don't really give a shit about Lemmy or the fediverse either. I'm here because Sync is a seamless product that gave me the best interface.
Despite saying that I don't care about Lemmy or other distributed servers, Sync is basically that sync (lol) for me. Once I map my old subreddits on Lemmy, the experience doesn't change.
This is me 100% also. Sync = Reddit for me for many years. The one hand quick scroll and swipe user experience, and the ability to favorite subs without subscribing, are all ingrained into my consumption behavior.
I actually used the Reddit app for nearly a year and still find myself swiping left to close. Whoever in the design team at Reddit must have gotten a memo to be more like TikTok... What a blight upon mankind that app is.
The Fediverse is cool though. It provides a nice fail-safe to quarantine certain communities and content. They can still exist but in case something awful happens, the federated space can be insulated.
Reddit is like Instagram, not Tiktok. Silicon Valley is sharing around the Twitter/Facebook layout since ages now. Tiktok is better than any Silicon Valley atrocity committed upon mankind.
For me, Sync was Reddit. It’s where 99% of my interaction with Reddit happened. I don’t really give a shit about Lemmy or the fediverse either. I’m here because Sync is a seamless product that gave me the best interface.
This is the part I don't get. I get it when you prefer a familiar interface, but most people are saying what you are saying, that all they care about is using Sync again, regardless of the service or communities behind it.
But that's weird. It's a social media site. It's primarily for the communities and the discussion. Sync doesn't rebuild the same communities that are still on Reddit. Most of those communities stayed on Reddit. Many of us migrated from Reddit, but the community is entirely different here. You may get a familiar interface, but the experience comes from the community.
That's kinda true in that most communities on here are much smaller than those on Reddit. With that being said, community isn't individuals, and in instances where a community of similar size exists, one large group of people likely doesn't differ in opinion to another.
One benefit people should hopefully see from third-party apps moving to Lemmy/Fediverse is more people willing to contribute to those communities. It's one of the reasons why I don't give a fuck who creates an interface.
Similarly, competition in FOSS is never a bad thing. If a paid, closed-source app is doing something better, then it's on the FOSS alternatives to step up their game and learn from each other.
This is me too. Sync was how I consumed/participated reddit just the backend - I'm happy in the fediverse if I can use Sync. What we touch and interact with IS the important part. Sync for me and yes it's worth the subscription. Either I'm the product or the consumer. I'll gladly compensate the artist/author to avoid being the product (free is not always free).