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

  • vas@lemmy.mlEnglish
    29·
    13 hours ago

    I don’t have a proof in a mathematical sense. Nobody here would have. I have, however, a combination of observations here (posts, comments), and first-hand experience with the details of a working propaganda machine from back when I lived in Russia. They are details that unique, in my experience, to propaganda.

    • Active pushing, usually by small select number of people. This can happen without propaganda, too.
    • Obvious conflict with another group of people that claim the opposite. This obviously happens to at least 2 parties during a conflict of opinions.
    • Usage of easy-to-understand, but not detailed underneath, explanations. Especially common is “everyone is against us, so we’re fighting back”. That can happen without propaganda and by itself as well, although here we’re already in the dangerous zone because especially the “everyone is against us” is 95% likely propaganda, even though not 100%.

    And the final give-away is… details. You can’t be an expert in every topic, so from e.g. posts of a suspected propaganda worker, you take a claim that you feel unsure about, or that contradicts with someone you currently trust, or that contradicts just another group of people who’s views is in any way coherent.

    And then you dig into that topic. It works best if the topic was native to you to begin with, due to work or hobby or whatever. You drill down on this topic, you find answers and evidence, you fact-check claims. It’s not simple, because “simple” you could rotate around. It’s tedious. But it works.

    The best analogy would be the famous text about Ilon Musk I think.

    He talked about electric cars. I don’t know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius. Then he talked about rockets. I don’t know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.

    Now he talks about software. I happen to know a lot about software & Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard anyone say, so when people say he’s a genius I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets.

    • vas@lemmy.mlEnglish
      36·
      13 hours ago

      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.