Did Reddit get massive because of Digg users making a beeline towards them or were they already big before that?

  • Leraje@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think people are forgetting that Reddit didn’t start off with communities (subs), they came later. Reddit got big the same way all sites that don’t have a built in audience (e.g. Threads users basically being Insta users) - time and commitment.

    Lemmy is not going to be as big as Reddit for a long, long time. Everyone has fallen into this habit of thinking all Reddit mods are power crazy egomaniacs and some are, no doubt, but the good subs on Reddit required dedicated time and effort to build up. Curating, introducing and constantly readjusting rules and expectations and at some point a good sub reaches a tipping point and it’s popular.

    All this will take time with Lemmy. Community mods will need to be as dedicated as Reddit mods were. And, as a side issue, this commitment to making and keeping a community great is what spez and his idiot gremlins have just thrown away. It’s not about user numbers for Reddit, it’s now a priority for them to get mods who are willing and able to put in the amount of work the mods they just alienated had. Subreddit engagement stats are mostly going down take a look at the number of posts and the number of comments for r/askreddit, it’s a steady decline.

    Lemmy might not ever get as big as Reddit but it will grow if mods stay committed and users keep posting and commenting. If that happens, that same tipping point will come.

    • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What is most interesting about that site you linked is further down the page - it shows the number of subs still growing - but that graph cuts off at 2022. The post and comments per day plunged in early July and have not recovered. And the top poster and commenter is the same user - u/deleted

      And as you say, reddit has alienated a heap of good mods - and they are the true foundation of a site like this, not users

      • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I checked a politics, publicfreakout and trashy, they all had subscribers going through the roof. I think they’re fucking with the sub numbers.

      • Myrbolg@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s interesting to see this steady decline way before the most controversial changes.

        • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I think that may be stemming from the earlier changes when they shut down a large number of fairly popular but controversial subs, that drove some active commenters away. Plus they started getting very ban happy in the last couple of years, that absolutely has a damping effect

    • PrinzMegahertz@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Also, there needs to be an established code of conduct in how to interact with users. For example, if i make a post on reddit that violates a subs rules, it get‘s either removed or put in quarantine and I get a message so I know what happened. In Lemmy, your posts may just vanish without you ever knowing how or why.