this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
79 points (76.5% liked)

Fediverse

29183 readers
2990 users here now

A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to !moderators@lemmy.world!

Rules

Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration), Search Lemmy

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi! In thinking about how to help the fediverse grow, I wonder if there are more mainstream Lemmy instances?

I've pointed a couple folks to Lemmy.world and it's uhhh, pretty hard Left for them (as one girl, who volunteered for the Democrats said "I just got yelled at because I can't be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism? Which feels weird.") We're much farther Left than reddit which itself was definitely Left of centre...

I don't know if decentralized open source social media actually attracts many mainstreamers but assuming we want to grow the fediverse, I'd like to have somewhere I can point people to without feeling very nervous for them.

Thanks!

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 18 minutes ago

Yes, I agree. Most people in the US are definitely not Marxist-Leninist, yet that's a vibe i get here frequently.

A more mainstream instance for normal people would be nice. Maybe there should be a non-profit organization behind it to back it up, pay the server bills, and such.

[–] thoro@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Lol @ "who volunteered for the Democrats". Ain't that a microcosm of every American politico (especially Democrats) ignorant of actual political theory.

Imagine getting upset that someone accurately described "leftism" to you. I can only imagine it's major cognitive dissonance after a lifetime of consuming mainstream political media calling liberalism "leftist" and pushing the overton window right.

Lemmy.world already is the "normie" instance catering to liberalism. Your friend either ran into the more progressive parts of that instance or an actual leftist from a federated one. Either way, they got told an accurate take.

Anyway, can we please stop all the attempts to make this place comfortable for conservative and right wing views in the name of "growth"? Have y'all actually been on a default subreddit in the last 15 years? Would that be worth it here?

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 54 minutes ago

Hey you're doing the thing

[–] peregrin5@lemm.ee 0 points 35 minutes ago

I'm like your friend. F--- leftists and f--- conservatives. I'm a hard core liberal and y'all can suck my d---.

I find lemm.ee is better than most but yeah as others have said, since everything is federated and the majority mass of users are hardcore leftists there's no way to really avoid them. Just get used to the downvotes and easily offended snowflakes and instabans and hope that as more people leave the mainstream social medias for federated socials that these people will be watered down.

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 19 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Lemmy.world is considered the "normie" instance. Even if you manage to find another instance, it won't matter that much anyway since most interactions are from federated users. The only way to avoid leftist views on Lemmy is to avoid politics completely (which isn't viable).

[–] vsis@feddit.cl 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The worst enemy of a leftie are other slightly different lefties lol

The good think of federation is that you can mute/block morons. And because there's no "algorithm" you are not shown content that the server thinks you are interested. So you have to be proactive and follow what you want to see, and mute the ones you dislike.

Also, you can have multiple accounts for multiple purposes. It's sane not to discuss politics with other people from other cultures all day, so you can have a dedicated account for that. And other account to have fun in a sane way, which includes muting politics.

In the case of this girl, she was american like the majority of lemmings I believe. But for people from the other hemisphere, the cultural shock may be even worse. My advice for those is always: Just mute. Don't argue and don't feed trolls. Nobody is gonna change opinions anyways.

[–] rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

So if you can't handle that there are other opinions, you either need to find the communities which support your opinions or go back to corporate internet, which filters out uncomfortable stuff for you.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 17 minutes ago

... or clone the software and host it yourself.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl -1 points 2 hours ago

In other words you're looking for a conservative instance? Fuck off, we ban them.

[–] 3dmvr@lemm.ee 18 points 9 hours ago

Fediverse is anticapitalism at its core, it's a way to escape ads and money influencing algorithims and what can be said. If you don't like power to the people, join truth.social or some other unfederated instance.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 21 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

"I just got yelled at because I can't be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism?

Based

Also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between leftist and left wing from someone but this is America dammit it's the culture

[–] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 16 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Why not just join non-political communities and focus on the content that they enjoy. If people are nervous about meeting assholes on the internet perhaps they should stick to cable tv or netflix.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 50 minutes ago

I think one of the issues is "normies" do not want to learn the lore like:

"don't bother with anyone with lemmygrad after their name"

"Block these communities on day one"

"Be sure to pick an instance that you researched aligns with your moderation tolerances"

If you have to do setup stuff, many folks are already out. Someone may see that as a feature, but I don't see Lemmy growing much more with that "feature".

So if you're happy with the size of things, mission accomplished. If you want to discuss "how to grow Lemmy" well, the above topics need to be addressed.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 6 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I can’t be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism?

Yes. Yes indeed you can't. How to go about that is up for grabs but if you think that leftism is all about preserving the system that allows oligarchs to accumulate more capital and power, to allow a minority to exploit the majority, I don't know what to tell you.

...besides that you're probably American because only y'all are so damn confused about the whole topic.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 0 points 41 minutes ago* (last edited 39 minutes ago) (1 children)

Left "wing" in normie US is a broad neighborhood.

Left "ism" in normie US is a study of progressive politics with deviation from center exponentially growing as you go "more left".

Lots of "left wing" folks in the US are low on the leftism deviation curve, but due to the way things work in the US they are definitely "left wing".

So you absolutely get fiscal centrists with much "lefter" social opinions. And other "left-lite" view combos.

I think to grow Lemmy non combative, but non compromising spaces should exist. Much how some are warped right by spending too much time in the "manosphere" content, folks can be convinced of increasingly progressive politics by being welcomed here. Mind, I'm not saying anyone should cater to anything they don't agree with, but God damn Lemmy could be less combative. Purity testing mild left folks drives them right. You don't have to compromise your morals or positions to accomplish this.

So I'd close by saying Americans aren't "confused" about anything, they're just less exposed with further left policy / theory, due to being exposed most to milder progressive concepts.

On the right, maga is remarkable because it's drawing many conservatives quickly up the exponential deviation ladder at a quantity not really seen before.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 2 points 17 minutes ago (1 children)

IDGAF about what the US is cooking up when it comes to political definitions, much less so when they disagree with the rest of the world. Anti-capitalism is necessary to be on the left, it's not negotiable.

Just like you wouldn't call someone who denies god a Christian. There's no "but they deny god a bit less than Richard Dawkins, so they're more Christian": No, they're still denying god, they can't be Christian. If they consider themselves Christian despite denying god, then it stands to reason that they're quite confused about what being a Christian entails, don't you think?

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 0 points 11 minutes ago* (last edited 9 minutes ago)

You're ina thread authored by an canadian about "normies". North American concepts matter.

Edit even wherever you're from "left wing" (the scope of center to far left) exists, just the starting point of center is unique.

Further, your purity test determination leaves no room for the varied mins of people all over the world. For example fiscal centrists who are socially progressive. You may call that a false leftist, but I'd just say they're a mild left wing voter. I bet if they weren't purity tested they'd eventually shift their perspective on fiscal matters leftward.

Point being people hold varied political opinions, sometimes in complete contrast to themselves. I bet there's some completely theory pure fiscal leftists who don't believe in abortion rights, or some other bizarre combo

[–] Sergio@slrpnk.net 31 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Lemmy is different from Reddit in one important way.

Reddit is a product. You install the app, you look at the ads, the mods and admins curate an endless feed of cartoons and safe ragebait and awwwunexpectedsmiles.

Lemmy is an environment. If you're passive, then any random thing may happen to you. So you have to be proactive in this environment.

  • You could subscribe to communities that are non-politics/news, non-meme, non-tech, and browse these "subscribed" communities.
  • You could use blocklists, as described elsewhere in this post.
  • You could find an instance that does some of this work for you, by defederating and blocking certain types of opinions and behaviors. This seems to be what you want, and many people have provided suggestions.

These are all ok. But the one defining characteristic of Lemmy is that it is not just another product.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 hour ago

Mods please install an upvote twice button.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'm on sh.itjust.works. Which is actually run like a democracy, funnily enough.

According to a post made in our Main Community, sh.itjust.works is the fifth largest Lemmy instance by total posts, after lemmy.world, hexbear.net, www.hexbear.net, and lemmygrad.ml. So figuring Hexbear got duplicated, and anyway hexbear and lemmygrad are commonly defederated with because tankies, that puts sh.itjust.works at #2 on this side of the Silicon Curtain.

It shows lemmy.world at 390k total posts, with sh.itjust.works at 65k. Sh.itjust.works has very, very few of THE communities people use. !Games!games@sh.itjust.works is the biggest one by subscriber count.

So sh.itjust.works is a popular place to access other instances from, and I think others like lemm.ee and lemmy.ca are in the same boat.

"Join this instance, they're not as radical left as lemmy.whatever" misses the point. Who cares which door of the building you walked in through when everyone congregates in the same room anyway?

[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 43 minutes ago

Does hexbear run two instances or is that a mistake?

[–] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 7 points 13 hours ago

Wouldn’t really make much of a difference in what server you choose, if the goal is to get “away” from Lemmy.world. The majority of users is from there.

Maybe it’s not the server, but more the community that’s an issue for you?

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 101 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (3 children)

All I will point out is that the overton window in the US has shifted to the point where a double Sieg Heil at your president's inauguration is within normal discourse .

Anyway, lemmy can be pretty "normie" for you so long as you stay out of political discussions. But if you want to actually discuss politics within the US overton window, lemmy is going to be very hostile. However if you come with an attitude to learn instead of debating/arguing, then I suspect most people wouldn't flame you. But if one starts doing genocide denial for Israel etc, then they're going to have a bad time.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 15 minutes ago

However if you come with an attitude to learn

Translation: if you are willing to swallow the opinion most people have here ...

[–] Zero22xx@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

shifted to the point where a double Sieg Heil at your president's inauguration is within normal discourse

Haha thank you. I'm not even American but to me it's pretty shocking to find out that this place, world of all instances, is too 'extreme' for people. Maybe I really am a dirty radical but I think that if people who consider themselves democrats are still fucking clutching their pearls about the left wing being too left wing while Elon Musk does open nazi salutes and trans people get their rights and dignity stripped away, then it's no wonder the USA is so fucked.

You guys clearly need a new political party because your choices are overt right wingers, or spineless right wingers that like to pretend they represent the left.

Edit: maybe the bad men will see the light if we all hold hands and sing kumbaya. I'm sure that all of the people who are already finding themselves victims to this will thank you for taking the high road and not scaring too many centrists.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 118 points 21 hours ago (20 children)

Reddit was only ever left of center for Americans. To many/most non Americans, America consists of a far right party and a center to center right party.

What you're seeing is the result of a platform that wasn't first created by and for American audiences, and whose initial takeup wasn't dominated by American perspectives.

[–] miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com 55 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed. I got lost at 'Reddit is left...'
Huh?

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 0 points 36 minutes ago (1 children)

Until r/TheDonald you wouldn't really see right wing concepts on the frontpage.

[–] MadBob@feddit.nl 3 points 28 minutes ago (1 children)

I distinctly remember liberal messages rising to the top on Reddit, stuff like that you should just accept that you have to go out and work for a living. That's not left!

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 0 points 24 minutes ago

10s of millions of "left wing" (read, the entire spectrum from center to marx) folks believe that, for better or worse.

That opinion is entirely valid as "left wing" but certainly isn't very left, on an absolute scale.

load more comments (19 replies)
[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 17 points 17 hours ago

Unless you’re willing to go with a very closed off instance you’re still going to be interacting with the broader fediverse which is very left.

I don’t think that’s really going to change unless there is another big migration and I don’t necessarily want it to. But I would like if Lemmings would be kinder to one another and realize that not having read 800 pages of leftist theory doesn’t mean you’re an evil imperialist. Everyone is on their own journey to understanding the world and I think a lot of people here are so judgmental that they would be fighting with their own past and future selves if they could meet them. It’s OK to disagree sometimes. Yes, even when people hold harmful views. We all do to some extent.

[–] FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org 12 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Please join a small instance. Lemmy doesn't work if people don't spread out. Just choose some small instance that seems chill. You can search and sub to any community. It really makes no difference.

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Until the admin of a small instance decides to randomly leave the project one day and your account is gone forever. I've seen it happen multiple times and it's why I go for bigger or at the very least, long standing instances.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 33 minutes ago

But an account means nothing, just make a new one on an instance that also aligns with your expectations

[–] FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Well then idk what to say. Lemmy and the fediverse is a failed experiment. I mean what's the point if people just congregate into one huge instance? Kinda defeats the purpose, no?

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I mean, there are still multiple large and/or long standing instances out there. It's not like there is only a single one of them. I would just generally encourage people to utilize those instead. And if they choose a smaller instance that they should be aware of the risks.

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 52 points 21 hours ago (26 children)

You’re going to get yelled at by lefties on any instance. That’s how federation works.

load more comments (26 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›