Anyone else notice the fediverse is quite close knit?

Somebody has to fill this place with content...
- Sorry
  
  Comments and votes are content too.
  
  the cutest character on ST:D is also the cutest character on the fediverse. who'd have thought!

According to one of the latest kurzgesagt videos we all should be in smaller communities like this and large ones like Facebook and Reddit are generally bad for our mental health.
https://youtu.be/fuFlMtZmvY0?si=5Wd0-6Z1pNUuQZR
- Well a few months after leaving reddit I do feel a lot better in general so I'm not surprised.
  I go back occasionally to check for something or just to see what things are like. I dunno if it's just gotten insanely more toxic since July or if it's just been that way for a long time but oh my god. Every comment section is just angry and bitter and hateful. I was looking at a post yesterday and thought it was cute and interesting so I open the comments. Every single one of them were either saying it was fake, that it was stupid, that it was cringey, that it didn't make sense, etc. It's like no one has an ounce of positivity on that site.
  
  I see OPs point - fucking Stamets replied to me! Good stuff. Love it!
  
  It's really a mix of both. More heavily the way the site has been for years because people love drama more than anything else. If you want the sweet serotonin of karma, you've gotta be simultaneously the funniest, meanest, and most jaded person in the room, and everyone is jockeying for that position.
  It just breeds assholes by design. I've noticed my own behavior has changed, too, since leaving that place, although partially that's because I just didn't want to be like that anymore.
  But it really has been noticeably affected since the protests. I was originally trying to stay for one single sub I was in, because they were the kindest, calmest community I'd met since back when forums were a thing.
  Just the best group, for reasons none of us really understood and some of us kept trying to find psychological commonalities to explain. Truly 98% of them were people I'd chill with irl and I still know a few on discord. And also here. If you're reading this, hello!
  But the migration away was enough to completely alter the atmosphere imo. A lot of the more conscientious users left for other pastures, leaving behind those that were more neutral or even openly hostile about the protests.
  There began to be fights and insults thrown where before this, any aggression had been unusual. The posts took a turn that reflected that feeling and I really stopped bothering with the place after a few months. I'm still a bit sad about it and there are things that I miss, but there just wasn't enough to hold me anymore. It seemed to increasingly echo every other part of the site.
  For the moment, this place is quieter but better. We still get dumb shit every now and then, but it's not to the same degree and hopefully never will be. As above, I blame the demographic. We've grouped all the people with stubborn morals into a little room and it turns out they have things in common. I do miss a couple people I used to see everywhere all the time when kbin first ramped up, but we run in different circles and they've gotten lost in the crowd.
  And yes, btw, I am also going to name you one of my favorite users to see around. You seem as kind as you are prolific.
  
  They banned those of us who were challenging the bitterness and hate. Whenever I’d argue against bitterness, they’d call me a bootlicker, and within a couple of comments, a nazi.
  Eventually, I got banned from reddit for being a nazi.
  So now that their “hey maybe stop being so bitter and take responsibility” nazis are all gone, they’ve concentrated themselves into an echo chamber based on resentment.
  
  I dunno if it’s just gotten insanely more toxic since July or if it’s just been that way for a long time but oh my god.
  I feel like it's a mix of both: the community there became bitter, more aggressive and more assumptive, while we (people who migrated out) got less used to how things work there.
- I don’t know about that. I feel like being a big fish in a small pond puts the spotlight on you more, leading to caring a lot more about whether or not your contributions are received well. And when you don’t follow the zeitgeist of the small community lock-step, that can cause lots of anxiety and lead to more mental health problems.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://piped.video/fuFlMtZmvY0?si=5Wd0-_6Z1pNUuQZR
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
  
  I’ll go to YouTube to support kurzgesagt
- I wish kurzgesagt joined the fediverse. They are quite big (21M followers). Being able to watch them here without going to youtube would be a nice step in the right direction.
  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
  
  That would be great

There's two reasons for that:
Lemmy is still small (compared to centralized social media).
We all chose to be here instead of mainstream social media for a reason, so we've all got something in common.

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Most of you are alright.

Yes, that's one of the nice aspects.
Thanks to @throws_lemy@lemmy.nz and @BrikoX@lemmy.zip for their tech posts, and @ZeroCool@slrpnk.net and @realcaseyrollins@narwhal.city for the movies posts, you guys rock
- Back at ya Blaze, it’s always a pleasure running into the other moviesandtv regulars!

I would suggest there’s also a lot of lurkers and folks who just don’t post much. I’ve noticed The Fediverse has a good and healthy number of folks on the Autism spectrum, and it’s not surprising they don’t actively post a lot.
It’s a lesson I learned being a professional puppet builder (yes you read that right) and running a little community around the craft. There’s a lot of people on the spectrum in that field too. They may not post a whole lot, but they are definitely engaged.
The freedom to have a voice is also the freedom to remain quiet 😁

Sometimes I feel like @The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website literally keeps my feed (and all my subscriptions) alive. Thank you for your service 🫡
- <3

It’s like back in the day of Internet forums. I don’t mind it at all.
- bro i thought i was old but then i met an old nerd who said they use these things called IRC servers or some shit idk
  
  The golden days of IRC were the best. Every day I use the current internet, I miss the way of the old internet. Back when everything was just run by a bunch of nerds doing whatever they wanted, as opposed to everyone being shut out by the big names now, looking to control everything and maximise profit.
  
  when I was young (but still way past the prime time of IRC, 2000's), I was invited to a few IRC servers for raids and etc. I didnt realize other kids werent doing the same...
- I miss the format of old forums. I wonder if they still exist?
  
  Depends on which old format you mean. The late 90s php-bbs is rare, but you can still find some of them around, I think the forums for the Commander X16 (a new retro computer) uses that style, or something closer to 2004-ish.

Mostly only the very active users moved over from Reddit, so we have a lot of content for not as many people. But it's nice how active and invested most people here seem to be.
- Long time reddit lurker here. I'm active now i'm here. I wonder how many peeps there are here like me?

I have a really bad habit of never looking at anyone's names..
- Same, but it is a trained habit. I purposefully do not want to look at usernames.
  
  You'll be having a perfectly nice conversation only to look up and see you're talking to "uwu_yes_daddy" or "aryan_enjoyer88."
- Well, Neil, isn't that a little selfish of you!
  
  Yes, whoever you are.
- Brother Brother
- Same 😅
- There are specific users with emoji names that stand out a lot all of the time.
  
  Interesting! I wonder if the Eternity client doesn't show that? I have never noticed it at least. I am also in the habit of never looking at names though. Maybe it is good to be in the habit of remembering names because it humanizes the people on the other end or so?

That's generally not a good thing...
That means it's more likely to be an echo chamber or just bots auto posting...
You want a lot of diversity - within specific groups sure, the same names are fine but across groups that's a bad sign.
- It'll largely be an echo chamber regardless of size. The fediverse tends to lean into tech, and is very left wing. If you don't fit the bill, you are either driven off, de-federated with, or realize the content posted here isn't what you're looking for, and you leave.
  I don't mind the small knit community, as I agree with most stuff, but this simply isn't a place you can host competing ideas, or at least not feasibly. This isn't a place for open discussion. You get down voted for your opinion, even if it is a shitty one. This isn't the fediverse I want to see. I want to see people upvoted for their opinion, and enticed to engage with whatever discourse is present, regardless of views. Downvotes should be reserved for trolls, bots, and fascists. Everyone else should be welcome.
  
  Is there somewhere online where you can have an "open discussion"? I've been struck a few times by how some ideas (even presented in a balanced way) just get downvoted hard.
  
  Downvotes should be reserved for trolls, bots, and fascists. Everyone else should be welcome.
  Definitely. Downvotes can be monitored by admins now, hopefully this can help
- why are "echo chambers" considered bad? i come to communities to chill and chat with like-minded people; not to argue and get into fights.
  
  Well the simple reason is you can get stuck in certain world views or ideas which are wrong and hurt others.
  In most cases you're fine, like talking about your favourite TV shows or whatever. But it's also easy to get stuck in a view like visiting your country's instance and it turns out it's a bit radicalised against immigrants, or certain places where you end up blaming everything on women and the "woke movement".
  In a lesser way it can get you stuck in toxic ideas (e.g., PC/Playstation/Windows/Xbox/Linux is better than the other one and you are dumb if you disagree!).
  Just depends on the community at end of day, but the more echoey chamber it is, the more likely you'll end up with those sorts of us VS them world views that are a bit blind and horribly biased.
  
  It could also intimidate other groups out.
- I do admit, it is a bit of an echo chamber on here for some groups :(
- Yup, diversity offers more point of views and less echo chambery environments

Yeah it’s like a village!
- Lemmy is basically my own Animal Crossing.
  
  Here, have an apple my neighbour!
  
  I gotta get back into that and stardew! Thanks for reminding me! My switch has been in storage since I moved

I don't know how to knit, but it does seem to be gaining in popularity.

Same ol' faces... Almost has the feel of forums of yesteryear...

I wonder if others have some favourite posters that you they quite often?
For me, it's @Stamets and ThePicardManuever but I've noticed a couple other prominent posters lately although their names haven't stuck for me just yet.
- I've been a mindbleach fan since Reddit

needs human momentum. every bit counts.

as a former resident of the infopop forums, i liken the fediverse to bulletin boards in the 90s and early 2000s and it's nice - the kind that were super hyper localized by topic but everyone was friendly. :)

I definitely recognize some of the mods, and some of the key players in the communities that I follow. There's good people here, and I believe it's going to keep getting better.
I wasn't paying attention to usernames as much when I first started. For whatever reason, I've started to pay attention to the names, as well as the instances. I like seeing where people are commenting from, and it even gives some insight into places or things I might be interested in as well.
Sometimes I'll check out a person's profile to see what things they're commenting on. This feels kind of creepy a little bit. I don't think anyone really cares though, so long as you're not being abusive or something.
- Sometimes I’ll check out a person’s profile to see what things they’re commenting on. This feels kind of creepy a little bit.
  It's okay for me, people should use throwaway accounts for very personal stuff anyway
  
  agreed.

I love it here on lemmy and it looks like the recent federation problems have been resolved.
So I‘m looking forward to lurk less and interact more in future.
Let us all build a better Reddit!

I had not, but I don't read the names. I will endeavor to notice. Thank you for the heads up.

I'm like Visa. Everywhere you wanna be.
- I see you in almost every thread I read lmao. Thanks for contributing to discussions. Something I should try to do more.
  
  The users with custom name font also just stick out
- You inspired this post fyi

Yup, it's fun. And im happily blocking all the tankies in between the great people. Account name like StalinSomethingSomething.. nope.
- The prefix and suffix stars, man...
  
  Yes but the glorification of the authoritarian all stars is so sad.
  The premise is "the west" is evil and anyone opposed to that is a hero and can do no wrong. No matter that these heroes and their actions usually conflict with all other ideals they claim to have.
- Duck names have to stick together
- I had a dream that I had a classmate who cosplayed as Mao Zedong constantly and even had the hair

Yeh it does feel rather close. It's quite nice honestly

Hmm, I will be glad if someone remember my name. I just post to fill the gap in communities.
- Also I remembered @crul@lemm.ee for comics and other arts post, @statmets@lemmy.world and @The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website for memes, Heisenberg and Otter for comic and meme too, @kolanki@yiffit.net and annoyed_(Dancing Crab), @sour@kbin.social for comment this "[._.]" with GD Icon and many more. Thanks to all of you making such a Good community.
  
  I remember kolanki. Likely because the display name is all emojis 🤣
  
  I remember you! I see posts all the time and notice "Ah, it's that Sag fellow again"
  
  Nice list!
- Omg SagxD i remember u
  
  OMG

TL:DR; I agree and I love it here!
Yeah it certainly feels that way to me too. I can't speak for the rest of the Fediverse platforms (Friendica, Misskey, Mastodon, etc.) but Lemmy is certainly a tight-knit, active and generally friendly group...
You should have seen how it was like here before May this year, when there were only a few dozen users that posted or commented anything at all across all servers, call that tight knit.
Still, I'm so proud of everyone for help in keeping a friendly vibe for the most part, and for user reporting and mod actions keeping trolls at bay. There was quite a bit of concern that when people migrated from Reddit en masse that it Lemmy would be taken over by the same uninspired drivel or become a Reddit repost site. What we got are very healthy meme and shitpost communities with shitposters who engage with commentors, tech news, politics, environment news with active discussions where people have disagreed with each other without getting in a complete rage about it, and cute animal pics like !aww@lemmy.world and !superbowl@lemmy.world.
There's still progress to be made on parts of the technical, moderation and community sides. For my part, I'm trying to post more and my goal this year is to share a lot pictures of the cityscape to Lemmy.

[..]

I saw many names frequently pop up on reddit, it was the reposter’s and karma whores.
I see many names frequently pop up on Lemmy and it’s people trying to fill the same spot.
Frankly this is exactly what I don’t want to happen. This small time celebrity like worshipping that comes with certain posters was extremely popular on BBboards and made it incredibly hard and uninviting for new people to join in these already established communities.
- Gallowboob
- Yeah, it’s funny to see this be heralded as a good/wholesome thing when I know back on Reddit it was maligned as “power users”.
  
  The difference is probably that here if you disagree with admins, mods or power users you can just migrate your community to another instance.

I ain’t seen you round here, stranger…

I very much enjoy running into folks from the various crafting communities in other contexts, bumping into Mastodon friends on Lemmy and vice versa and then dropping into each others PeerTube comments.
Irl I live in a small town and absolutely despise not being able to leave the house without running into someone who knows us. But for whatever reason I find it adorable on Fedi 🤷‍♀️

I bet it might be fun to, just once, get all the most infamous lemmings goofing around in one thread together. Because communities are themed, maybe they don't usually cross paths that often

hey everybody! i'm masterblaster! i make modules for D&D and play in a blues band! remember, kill all conservatives for the future of humanity!
- Who run barter town?
- what a character
- If you're trying to turn that into a catchphrase I suggest replacing "kill" with "blast" for better branding.
  
  Can we not use a simple Slam?
  
  Disintegrate would be even better as it prevents resurrection, it's quite a high level spell slot though.