…relative to Reddit’s size?

I see so many posts and comments voicing disappointment with Lemmy’s lack of massive expansion.

I too want to see Lemmy gain more users, but I do not want it to grow to Reddit’s size. If Reddit is the yardstick, I’d say that a population that large attracts a lot of negative behaviours; degeneration of discourse, amplification of echo chambers and hive mind behaviour, etc…

I started on Reddit in 2010 and found that by 2016 things were really bad in comparison. A fun and engaging site was experiencing an obvious devolution that persists to this day, accelerated by Spez’s enshittification of the platform. Obviously the fediverse insulates us from that occurring here but I think you get what I mean.

Do you you think Lemmy is too small? I don’t. I’ve been here since the great migration last year and have had a really good time. I see a lot of familiar names in the comments on a daily basis. It actually feels like a community here. I guess I just don’t understand the fixation on the size of Lemmy’s user base. Curious to hear your thoughts.

[EDIT] Thanks for all the responses, everyone! Lots of perspectives I hadn’t yet considered.

  • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Because there are only a handful of communities that have enough traffic to sustain a meaningful conversation.

    Even popular activities have low traffic, god forbid you want to participate in a community based around a niche activity.

    I love Lemmy and I’m not going back to reddit… But sometimes it feels like a desolate wasteland here.

    • rglullisA
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      1 month ago

      I need people like you to join https://fediverser.network to become a community ambassador. Please join it, find the subreddits that you would like to migrate and let’s bring the people who are interesting.

  • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    They are used to the short-term goals of stonks.

    The more people there are, the more popular it is with the working class. Instead of being a niche community, you can meet non-tech people that know about Lemmy.

    Lemmy is good as is; slow growth is better, IMO.