3d ago

Does an Influx of Former Reddit Users create a Shift in Athmosphere?

I am myself a newcomer, did a full switch straight from reddit.

However, I did it just a few weeks before mods and admins started to crack down hard on certain opinions. Guess I had seen the sign on the wall.

I believe reddit's clear change of direction has pushed many more people into the lemmyverse, many of them just like me, straight from reddit.

I sense that recently the tone around many subs has shifted towards more agressive and more divisive, and other patterns I recognize all too well from my years on reddit.

Do other people sense this too? Am I on the right track or completely off?

27 comments

yes people come from reddit because it was ruined by corporate bs and immediately start simping hard for corporate propaganda, bogging down quality discussion
and it's becoming the majority now, so just like reddit, you have to scroll so much further down a thread before the good info is found.
in other words: welcome redditors, pls leave the reddit bs at the door on your way in.
- you have to scroll so much further down a thread before the good info is found.
  I feel Lemmy's algorithm does a nice job of pushing newer comments to the top, but of course one needs to search longer for the good stuff the more comments there are.
  in other words: welcome redditors, pls leave the reddit bs at the door on your way in.
  Somebody else here commented that they will adapt. I like that, I hope it's true, and possibly my biggest takeaway from this post because it is something we can all actively contribute to.

Comparing the time when I joined Lemmy around 2 years ago to now, I would say that the general tone has become somewhat more unfriendly. A larger userbase might be a contributing factor, but I think it's also the political climate in the west becoming a lot worse recently with many divisive issues and people being more stressed about the state of the world.
- I'd say the same about reddit, comparing 8 years ago when I joined to 2/3 years later. Again, political divisiveness partially to blame, but also, early adopters of tech tend to be more intelligent. The more it filters into the mainstream, the dumber the general discourse gets. Eventually, that has the effect of putting off the smart folk who were there first, even further lowering the tone.
- The world is totally fine. I have no idea what you are referring to.
- It does sometimes feel like every American goes on an angry and unconciliatory political rant at the slightest hint of a diverging opinion. Not that elsewhere is perfect. "May you live in interesting times" is said to be a curse, not a blessing.
- I have noticed the same thing about overall tone on lemmy.

Yes. Every time there is an influx from reddit this place becomes more childish toxic and stupid for a time.
Reddit normalizes psychotic behavior for many people that lack self awareness or professional help.
- Reddit normalizes psychotic behavior
  Quoted for emphasis and confirmation.
- The narwhal bacons at midnight
  
  AnD mY AxE!!!
- for a time
  Somebody commented they will adapt, given time.
  
  for now
- No u!

Generally, yes, though time on Lemmy tends to shift people's perspective to "fit in" more. Then the users coming in self-sort into whatever instance aligns best with what they want, and then these servers get reinforced.
- time on Lemmy tends to shift people’s perspective to “fit in” more.
  That sounds good; maybe my post sounded a bit pessimistic.
  
  Each shapes the other, but instances are generally resiliant in views at an individual level.

There's certainly an increase in comments and upvotes in the last few months. Perhaps the users were always here but current events have them engaging more.
Commenting trends from reddit, like posting a string of puns or comical memes under very serious topics, pop up once in awhile and I'm glad to see those get swiftly downvoted here.
More users is a great thing but I really really don't want this to turn into another reddit.

Ehh. We've had the divisiveness and vitriol that comes from leftist infighting for at least as long as I've been here. That being said, I myself came here from reddit when they banned 3rd party reader apps so idk if lemmy was some pre-corpo internet paradise before I got here. The only thing I really notice when waves of people leave reddit is that we get a handful of conservatives on lemmy when that happens, which is a magical time when all of the disparate leftists on the platform come together to cyberbully the conservatives off of lemmy.

I’d be willing to bet that there’s a direct relationship between not just the size of an online community and its overall “civility” level, but also its age. I’ve seen threads in chat rooms of 8 normally good-natured folks get Godwin’d just because they continued on for long enough that one topic turned heated. With Lemmy we’re seeing a natural increase in both.
I joined about 3 years ago and there was much, much less content and conversation, which definitely made me try to be more polite as possible to the few who posted (if only because it’d be the same folks over and over again and I didn’t want to discourage them from participating). Now that’s less of a concern, so while I still try to be mindful of my posts and comments, it’s to much less of a degree than before.

I set my homepage to communities I'm subscribed to, sorted by new. So I get a very limited and curated slice of Lemmy.
I would say I'm seeing perhaps a small wave of new users from Reddit though not nearly as big as the wave from the API changes. That affects the questions being asked in general topic communities like this one; which is what they are for.
In niche topic communities, I rarely notice changes brought in by new users. New users are slow to find them, and they're probably already accustomed to niche community quirks from other forums.
- I would say I’m seeing perhaps a small wave of new users from Reddit though not nearly as big as the wave from the API changes.
  Thanks for putting some perspectve on it!
- I set my homepage to communities I’m subscribed to, sorted by new.
  This is the way to go!
  
  Yield to the call of the firehose of Hot + All

I haven't seen any changes for months. I didn't even realize new people joined.

I do not sense this. Your experience is your own. Just keep in mind you're looking at a sliver of the whole thing at the best of times. You're too tiny a dataset, especially considering you just made the sensible swap.

27 comments