I’ve switched to Lemmy for about 4 days now. Here’s my opinion on the platform:
Is it good?
Yes. I found many common communities I follow, such as Degoogling, open source, Linux, self-hosting, history, maps, space, Minecraft, etc etc. Many of the more obscure communities are a bit off-limits, tho, like Polandball or alternate history. I was able to find more underrated Degoogling things on this platform more than on Reddit, which is a huge plus
What caveats do I have on this platform?
Again, obscure communities are a bit off-limits, and while I was able to find SOME, most were non-existant. Other than that, I haven’t encountered any other issues other than not being able to create a community
How’s the universal community?
They are really helpful. At times even moreso then on Reddit. Again, I found more obscure and underrated things on this platform than I do on Reddit
Is this viable for casual people and would I reccomend it?
If they don’t care about the specifics, then sure, this is a viable option. But if they follow obscure communities and care about the specifics, they would have to push through. I so far did, and it’s a great experience so far. Would I RECCOMEND it, tho? Yes, I would. Again, tho, it depends on wether you care about obscure communities or the specifics
Conclusion
Lemmy is, so far, great for my experience. The communities are good, the platform is good, and overall it feels fresh that I don’t have to be tracked by a centralized platform at all times to fuel their greed. I love the idea of it. I just don’t think I’m gonna ever switch fully to it, however decentralized Reddit frontends like Redlib help with me viewing the obscue communities I follow without having to use ths proprietary platform directly
Just in case, the area of expertise for me and lemmy happened to be the war that Russia started against Ukraine.
If a person just says once or twice something from the usual pro-Putin propaganda texts, then so be it. Can be discussed etc, but it’s not propaganda itself. But if you see that a person literally has a job, from the amount of time spent, posting memes or quoting other people about it, and they’re constantly making logical fallacies, not seeing them, misquoting others etc etc, then well you have a propaganda worker. With years, it frequently becomes evident or proven that all this time they were paid money to say that.
In case of Russia the job of proving lies frequently becomes a bit absurd though, because the bad and good sides on the conflict are quite evident. But of course only if you know enough details, so if unsure, the path above is a good way to find out.