I don't feel lost in a crowd of shitposters. I post something on c/poetry, ten people upvote and I'm like hey ten people read this, that's cool. It feels real where Reddit does not often.
I think one of the major benefits Lemmy has over Reddit is the intentional lack of user karma. I think, on balance, that entire dynamic was more harmful than helpful in the long run. Allowing voting on posts - but not aggregating votes across all comments and posts - still allows community sentiment to be expressed towards comments and conversations, but at the same time prevents the sort of popularity contest bullshit that became so prevalent on Reddit after its nascent years.
I can be on here a LOT less than other apps and not feel like I'm addicted. I jump on to post a couple of things and scroll for a few minutes and I feel like I'm good for the day.
I host my own and practically nobody can take it away from me. If I want to switch to Sublinks I can. I can swap the UI if I hate the default one. And it will never have ads or data collection.
It's a completely open platform. I can make my own algorithm. I can fork it. I can make a compatible server from scratch if I want to. It's ours, it's everyone's.
I feel like there is more variety in the content here than there was on reddit. There's less content, but it's a lot more interesting than the stuff on reddit's front page.
It's also easier to find helpful people here than it was on reddit. Reddit was super arrogant and hostile compared to Lemmy.
I've just had a ton of really friendly and amusing interactions with people here, that's my favorite thing. Not sure what feature Lemmy has that makes that happen though.
I've had some controversial opinions here but the conversation is always civilized. It's like people are aware that not everyone is from one culture and are willing to give people the benefit of thr doubt and not judge the language of the text. Noone is judging tone.
But even more importantly I love seeing the same people around on different communities. Kolanak, cheese greater, call me lenni, picard maneuver, blaze are all names off the top of my mind that I see everywhere. It's like a small community.
Greater degree of healthy dialogue. People disagree on here, but they'll more often talk it out and try to come to an understanding of some sort. Generally more curious and/or interested people and less vague shitposting.
I grew up on the internet of the 90's and 00's. Lemmy is a far cry from that, but it's more like the original internet than reddit or facebook. So here I am. I miss the small, interest driven internet holes you and they're here more than on any other platform.
I'm still surprised by how genuine people seem to be. Sometimes someone comments or messages me and my expectation is sarcasm, judgement, or general shittiness; so I'm unsure how to reply. I think I've responded negatively sometimes just because i was reflexively defensive.
Unlike what seems like many, I kind of like not having so many people here. It means there’s a good chance comments and posts will be seen by others. Reddit was/is so populated that posting anything there was like speaking into a gaping void (of hatred, many bad -isms, and occasionally friendly helpful folks).
Due to having less content on Lemmy, your questions have a better chance of getting a reply even if the person can't answer the question, they usually show support in your efforts of finding the answer.