As someone who started and is extremely active in a small community, I find Lemmy actively hostile to the point where I'm considering closing up after less than a month.
The number of indignant replies and comment-free downvotes we get inundated with continually is... disheartening.
People want content, but actively detract from any content that doesn't cater to them. It's hard to take.
Oh sorry, I knew what you meant. I was just being tongue in cheek haha. But you're right, we don't have any niche presence and that's what made reddit what it was.
I recently showed up here from Reddit and it’s pretty disappointing. I found a few interesting-to-me niche communities, but most of them seem to have a dozen or so posts from 8 months ago and then nothing. That timing coincides with Reddit’s API changes, so I’m left to assume there was a burst of activity driven here at that point but that it fizzled out quickly.
The infrastructure and UX here seem ready, but the network effect is very slow for a long time. Without a lot more real users (and diverse niches), it will be difficult to attract and retain a lot more real users. The initial confusion about federation and technical concepts also needs help to get them started, but the niches are needed for retention.
Tldr, I don’t want to read about technology and Star Trek, I need cast iron and Costco, 3D printing and landscaping, cycling and idiots in cars.