• BrikoX@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    I don’t like “big” instances, since they tend to quickly walk back on their promised goals once they no longer can manage their size. So when I joined Lemmy it was on a smaller now defunct vlemmy.net instance. The idea of operating and moderating the community was not that appealing, but it was a way to promote the instance, so I started !globalnews@vlemmy.net and !databreaches@vlemmy.net. It was a slow start, but they grew over time, reaching 1000/400 subscribers respectively and then the admin killed the instance and vanished. That was a lesson.

    After that, I joined lemmy.zip, it was tiny then, but it had a lot of things going for it, multiple admins, multiple communication channels, transparent finances and good base rules. What it lacked was content. So I had to decide if it was worth my time to start over by creating another community and help it grow. I re-started !globalnews@lemmy.zip and !databreaches@lemmy.zip and just started posting without any expectations. It was an outlet to share what I found interesting or what caught my eye. Eventually, people started commenting, and organic discussions started happening. I expanded the number of communities I moderate now, but the principles are the same. No expectations.

    So the reason for all this backstory is that I stay motived by believing in the project and wanting to help good instances to grow. If not for Lemmy I wouldn’t be posting anywhere else, never moderated on Reddit, never even posted on Reddit, was a habitual lurker there.

    Just find topics you are interested in, maybe set up an RSS client and share the content that you find interesting yourself.

  • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    I’m kind of giving up. When I came over during the Reddit APIpocolypse, I tried to post as much as I could. My posts here don’t get much engagement, and only seem to reach a small audience, so it doesn’t feel like it’s worth the effort.

    I still try to post and comment, but it feels like a slog sometimes.

    • misk@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Don’t ever think it’s up to you or any individual to carry the success of Lemmy or individual communities. Post what you think is worth sharing and don’t force yourself if you don’t feel like it. If Lemmy is to be more popular it will be on the backs of many people collectively.

  • Blaze@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Sometimes I question the fact that some communities might be too niche, but even on something as generic as !movies@lemm.ee there aren’t that many people wanting to talk about movies

    • misk@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Isn’t this because there’s already moviesandtv which seems to be better suited to the current community size?

      • Blaze@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
        0·
        4 months ago

        moviesandtv exist, but don’t really allow people to discuss movies and shows, it’s mostly about news.

        I suggested at the time to just have a pinned post like “what have you been watching”, but got banned by the mod for “backseat moderation” (see below: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/8381687)

        The other issue is that as Lemmy posts don’t have unique URLs that can be used by every instance, you can’t just have a megathread with links to discussion threads, as that would work only for one instance

        • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksMEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          The other issue is that as Lemmy posts don’t have unique URLs that can be used by every instance, you can’t just have a megathread with links to discussion threads, as that would work only for one instance

          I’m curious as to how Lemmy apps solve this issue (which they seem to have done), and why the web interface doesn’t have similar functionality. In Eternity and Thunder, I can tap on a link to a post on another instance, and it opens the corresponding post on my home instance.

          Is there some lookup table under the hood to match post IDs between instances? Whatever system apps are using, why would this not work more broadly?