“Sometimes there’s a man… I won’t say a “hero,” because what’s a hero? But sometimes there’s a man who… well, he’s the man for his time and place!” – Sam Elliot (the Stranger) from the glorious The Big Lebowski
You know that classic quote about standing on the shoulders of giants (and pioneers)? Honestly, in so many ways, that’s how I truly feel about the good ol’ Fediverse.
So, to sum up-- who are YOUR heroes here, and what does keep you hanging on here, baby…?
EDIT: For people wondering about what kinds of ‘bumps & difficulties’ I’ve personally experienced, here’s a tiny sampler:
No billionaire owners and algorithms.
The fediverse is a “work in progress”, and that is fine. All the other social media sites are a “collapse in progress”.
It is much more fun to be on a small and growing platform, than on a big and dying platform.
My heroes? The instance operators and good mods, of course, along with everyone who contributes material.
Plus there’s more community when dealing with issues, such as problem instances and users. The fediverse doesn’t have the “old internet” feel, it’s still more restrained than that thanks to instance owners probably not wanting to host a lot of darker material thanks to the instances being under private ownership, but it feels more free than a place like reddit.
I’m banned from Reddit, but still want a similar fix like a drug addict.
But this drug is less toxic and only available in limited doses
My goal was to use something other than TikTok, facebook, etc… Even with all its glitches and quirks, the FV has proven to be a great replacement for those corporate apps.
The vibe is a lot like “the old internet”. Sure, you don’t get a lot of responses most of the time, but those you do get are genuine and in good faith.
On reddit you can post the most innocuous thing and be met with ridicule or disdain. Most of the posts I made were commented on in a negative way. Even harmless things like “I found this funny product at the supermarket” in the appropriate subreddit was met with insults and a bunch of negative comments. Asking for advice on a popular advice subreddit got me a bunch of insults.
Here I have few answers, but those are genuine ones and so far they’ve been in good faith, no unprovoked insults, no sifting through someone’s history to insult them based on a post from 3 years ago.
Absolutely. Reddit just gets so nasty. Lord knows WHY people feel the urge to siftthrough someone’s history and bitch them out but they do and they’re cruel. The sheer size of reddit gives them anonyminity but also reddit don’t do much about it.
I like how personal it is here, people kinda know each other and it is like the olden days. It’s a good community and you get friendly, genuine comments with far fewer bad apples. I’m really happy here
Expanding on this, because you have said almost the same I was thinking, I feel AI slop and bots aren’t really a thing here, or they are easy to filter.
i have honestly not noticed any difficulties
because of what it’s not
easier ability block right wing astroturfing, or shilling from politics.
And how do you do that on lemmy? I use the voyager client because it offers good filter options. But is mostly designed for mobile devices and not desktops. So if you know of a good way to filter out right wing crud then please tell me.
The shilling and foreign interference on reddit really scares me.
Want to see the collapse of mainstream media. I’m thinking globally and acting locally.
That’s a really good way of putting it. Facebook is terrifyingly powerful and damaging. Smaller is better IMO
the heros are all the mods and hosters of instances, period. it takes time and effort so thank you.
what keeps me here is really what keeps me away from centralized social media mediums.
Appreciate that a lot!
My own project is a fun hobby, labor of love, and a way to give back to the graphic novel creators, but yeah… it feels good to be thanked, here and there. 🥲
Thank you for that!
That’s really nice of you thanks! I mod a few and it can be a lot of work.
All social platforms get worse all around us. Fedi isn’t perfect or drama-free but around here every third post isn’t a targeted ad that knows too much about me trying to make me feel guilty or inadequate.
Plus, we’re not being monetized and our content exploited, as with all the commercial social media platforms.
The worst aspects of the fediverse are really just the worst aspects of people rather than the worst aspects of people plus the worst effects of profit motives that you find on corporate social media. Also folks are really inclined to try to shun bad behavior rather than reward it with engagement that can directly lead to money for the poster
This! And good content is not being washed away by clickbait
It mostly works well.
Plenty of good and garbage content. I want both.
I don’t get the feeling there is a “motive” behind what I see when I am browsing content. It feels organic, like the old internet.
Because fuck Reddit
I self host every fediverse thing I can and when I open it I know its mine and I can glance over at the machine running it all and see where it all is and that feels good enough to deal with whatever comes up. That said, these days its all pretty easy.
Right on!
