I just saw this post over on r/modcoord which is basically a massive list of subreddits participating in the blackout protest. If I’m being honest I haven’t seen this much anger and coordinated frustration since the era right before the digg exodus.

Assuming more and more subreddits join in, it’s going to send a pretty massive message to the users who interact with a blacked out subreddit. Then I’m trying to imagine what happens if after a massive coordinated blackout, Reddit continue on the current trajectory. Is Lemmy even prepared to handle the amount of potential incoming traffic that API closure could lead to? It’s absolutely bonkers to me that the Reddit team might just stay the course…

  • balderdash9@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I hate to say this but Lemmy is way less user friendly than Reddit. I doubt anything close to 10% of reddit will come over here. This site should focus on improving new user acquisition.

    1. Not a good name for a social media site. Google/Youtube searching “Lemmy” just gives results for a guitarist

    2. The average joe doesn’t understand how federation works

    3. You have to decide which place to make an account

    4. You have to write an essay to join (I’ve seen people complain about this)

    5. The top instances look very political/left wing

    6. If you’re persistent, educate yourself, and make it through the process, you can join a site with ~1000 active users.

    7. Following remote communities is unintuitive. You have to search the link from your instance to subscribe to another instance (e.g., if your account is on beehaw, you have to search [email protected]. You can’t click their subscribe button on lemmy.ml.)

    You and I know that different instances of Lemmy are mutually accessible and so #3 and #5 are not a problem. But for the uneducated all the above are significant barriers for entry/retention.