3 ms·

deploying a reddit clone online takes 10 minutes getting 500 million monthly users like Reddit is the hard part

fluidcruft 3y ago
500 million monthly users isn't a community. I certainly don't have any subreddits that are this large nor do I give a shit about how many users are on a particular website. My reddit communities are niche and skill-based. We'll go wherever we go. Oh no! The giant horde of September stays behind on Reddit! Quelle horreur.
- johannes1234321 3y ago
  The thing is: By being on reddit the barrier to enter a small niche community is low. Having to register with a new account, when maybe the favorite username is taken already is a barrier, even if it takes just few minutes.
  - JCharante 3y ago
    You only need 1 account on lemmy though, and then you can access any community that your instance federates with.
  - colinsane 3y ago
    wait that’s the opposite: reddit uses a flat username space, whereas the federated ones have a hierarchical namespace that reduces collisions. there can only be one “johannes” on Reddit, but right now there can be 200-300 “johannes” on Lemmy (rendered “johannes@<remote_instance>” when viewed from a foreign instance).
    - johannes1234321 3y ago
      Assuming Lemmy will be "the winner" currently it is a small player, where differ etc instances already stop federating each other, thus splitting the community early. If not at each forum I have to decide which variant of my name I pick and then remember. On reddit I could take that choice once for a huge number of forums. (as long as I was willing to share identity over different subreddits)
      - colinsane 3y ago
        > Assuming Lemmy will be "the winner" there's also kbin, and you can post/read from either with any Mastodon/Pleroma/Misskey account just with a worse UI. i'd be surprised at this point if the winner isn't just Activity Pub with some thin layer on top. > different instances already stop federating each other, thus splitting the community early. instances usually provide at least some reason when they defederate with each other. maybe users will learn to be cognizant of who they're associating with when they pick an instance. i've seen that with tech-literate friends joining Mastodon who pick a 4chan-like unfiltered/unhinged instance as their home without understanding that such an instance causes outsized complaints compared to the "average" instance and will have less access to outside communities as a result. i'm sure there's an opportunity for better admin/mod tooling -- hopefully some of the defeds that have happened in Lemmy recently will reverse once things settle down -- but i think even with that it has to be a new way of thinking both for users and operators about what it means to be a member of an instance. it seems that when you hand someone a magic knob they can turn between "less toxicity/abuse" and "broader reach", most will turn it further toward that "less toxicity" edge than Twitter or Reddit do themselves -- even if the tooling for it's so crude. i get why that worries people, but honestly, the benefits of that in other federated systems i use so far have been incredibly worth it (and the cost of migrating to a different instance overblown).
pixelpoet 3y ago
Makes sense, but at least Reddit are doing everything in their power to help drive users to alternative platforms right now!

500 million monthly users isn't a community. I certainly don't have any subreddits that are this large nor do I give a shit about how many users are on a particular website. My reddit communities are niche and skill-based. We'll go wherever we go. Oh no! The giant horde of September stays behind on Reddit! Quelle horreur.

johannes1234321 3y ago
The thing is: By being on reddit the barrier to enter a small niche community is low. Having to register with a new account, when maybe the favorite username is taken already is a barrier, even if it takes just few minutes.
- JCharante 3y ago
  You only need 1 account on lemmy though, and then you can access any community that your instance federates with.
- colinsane 3y ago
  wait that’s the opposite: reddit uses a flat username space, whereas the federated ones have a hierarchical namespace that reduces collisions. there can only be one “johannes” on Reddit, but right now there can be 200-300 “johannes” on Lemmy (rendered “johannes@<remote_instance>” when viewed from a foreign instance).
  - johannes1234321 3y ago
    Assuming Lemmy will be "the winner" currently it is a small player, where differ etc instances already stop federating each other, thus splitting the community early. If not at each forum I have to decide which variant of my name I pick and then remember. On reddit I could take that choice once for a huge number of forums. (as long as I was willing to share identity over different subreddits)
    - colinsane 3y ago
      > Assuming Lemmy will be "the winner" there's also kbin, and you can post/read from either with any Mastodon/Pleroma/Misskey account just with a worse UI. i'd be surprised at this point if the winner isn't just Activity Pub with some thin layer on top. > different instances already stop federating each other, thus splitting the community early. instances usually provide at least some reason when they defederate with each other. maybe users will learn to be cognizant of who they're associating with when they pick an instance. i've seen that with tech-literate friends joining Mastodon who pick a 4chan-like unfiltered/unhinged instance as their home without understanding that such an instance causes outsized complaints compared to the "average" instance and will have less access to outside communities as a result. i'm sure there's an opportunity for better admin/mod tooling -- hopefully some of the defeds that have happened in Lemmy recently will reverse once things settle down -- but i think even with that it has to be a new way of thinking both for users and operators about what it means to be a member of an instance. it seems that when you hand someone a magic knob they can turn between "less toxicity/abuse" and "broader reach", most will turn it further toward that "less toxicity" edge than Twitter or Reddit do themselves -- even if the tooling for it's so crude. i get why that worries people, but honestly, the benefits of that in other federated systems i use so far have been incredibly worth it (and the cost of migrating to a different instance overblown).

pixelpoet 3y ago

Makes sense, but at least Reddit are doing everything in their power to help drive users to alternative platforms right now!