It’s much better here! It’s nice and cozy, kinda like Reddit circa 15 years ago.
For your memes we have !memes@lemmy.world and if you’re a programmer of some kinds we got !programmer_humor@programming.dev to scratch that itch, if you like sciency posts mander.xyz has some excellent communities (communities=subreddits) like !science@mander.xyz, !biology@mander.xyzand !astronomy@mander.xyz and for a meme science combo there’s always the fantastic !science_memes@mander.xyz
You can also drop a shit(post) off at !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world or hang out at !onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone (though you do have to post before you leave that one!)
If you want to explore the world of PC Gaming on Linux check !linux_gaming@lemmy.world or for more general Linux !linux@programming.dev and we even have a Linux meme comm at !linuxmemes@lemmy.world (we like Linux around here lmao)
For news !world@lemmy.world is excellent and for US focused news !news@lemmy.world and !usa@midwest.social
Want to ensure your privacy in this crazy world? Checkout !privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
And of course, the best for last, the best comm on the Lemmy-verse, !bikinibottomtwitter@lemmy.world !!! Just make sure to buy a krabby patty!
We’re not without our cons though, biggest problem we have are probably the Tankies, but here they’re mostly on what’s known as the Tankie Triad: lemmy.ml, lemmygrad and hexbear. For the most part, grad and hex are widely defederated from (Users and content of those instances won’t be “synced” and you won’t see them) and you only have to worry about .ml, but on Lemmy you can do a personal instance wide block if you’d rather just not deal with them. .ml tends to be more subtle opting for censorship of dissent before things get crazy on their threads and allowing certain propaganda to flourish (If you wish to see documentation of it, checkout !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works ) Here on Lemmy all moderator actions are public and available for viewing on what’s known as the “modlog”
Obligatory, fuck Spez
I moved across the country and lost my pristine 12-year old reddit account a few years back because at least one of the mods of the local city subreddit here is a psychopath who followed me across multiple subs harassing me, seemingly for being too vocal about homeless advocacy, eventually getting me permabanned from the site by literally making up a report where there was no mechanism for me to protest.
Since then I’d been making burner accounts to use the site, but they’d been surviving fewer and fewer weeks until a few months back they started getting immediately shadowbanned. So I said fuck it, why do I even want to be wallowing in a cesspit like that? It’s way past fediverse time.
This is a legitimate problem not just with reddit but currently most well seen ON reddit.
Bad actors. Mods and users with an agenda.
Reddit as a platform has been falling this way for years. As a place to share information if you try to share information (Or opionion) that does not line up with what is ‘acceptable’ you don’t just get down voted anymore. You have your entire post history scrutinized and reported even if what you said was fine during the time it was posted. Comments from years ago getting reported. You have reddit AI doing some automodding but you ALSO have those bad actors. They attack users and take over subreddits. It’s insidious. It’s gross. It’s not one group but generally it is groups that are have some kind of monetary backing. And reddit let’s it happen. Because these actions operate on the side of capital (not a communist but it’s easiest to call the group capital. It’s the one unifying ideal)
This became much more obvious during the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and is only getting worse. Wrong thing isn’t just being down voted it’s being erased.
Also related to this is that feral tribalism between subreddits. If you are a part of one you will be banned from the opposition. My old main crossed party lines on many issues. Just reading. I posted once and was immediately banned from half a dozen subreddits and the kicker was that what I posted was an a political nonsense joke.
Wanting to hear the opposition isn’t allowed. Voicing an opionion or asking a question from the oppositions pov is grounds for a ban.
Another time I literally asked a question for the sake of learning. For years this was what I used reddit for. Learning. The “it’s not my job to educate you” people could just be quiet but instead they ban. Shadowban. Mute. I can’t use reddit the way I did in 2012 when I joined the first first time. It’s kind of a cesspool now.
Ugh! That conditioned, kneejerk, almost PTSD-style assumption that all questions are bad faith setups for a debate is one of the most toxic things about this format, leading to long chains of argument where both users are just talking past each other in reference to subtexts in the other’s comments that they’ve completely imagined. I do still encounter that here on Lemmy, but at this point I think a lot of Lemmy users are specifically trying to escape that sort of environment so it can usually be diffused by just stating plainly that you’re not setting up a gotcha. I do think this tendency is something we have to actively push back against by showing compassion and stating plainly up front what we want and why at the expense of maybe not feeling as cool as we would otherwise.
Wow