Think about things from the point of view of someone who has never used Reddit or the fediverse, but you’ve heard about them both from recent news articles and want to see what they are about.

Reddit:- You Google Reddit and your first result is Reddit.com. You click the link and are presented with the front page. You from scroll from a few hours and end up signing up and staying.

Lemmy:- You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister… Your second result might be join-lemmy.org, which you’re smart enough to realise it’s probably more likely what the news is about.

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code…

There is very little chance you’re going to investigate further.

If we want the fediverse to replace Reddit then either
A) Lemmy needs to improve its initial impression and Search engine optimization
B) We should be promoting a different platform with a better initial first impression.

I’d recommend kbin personally as it gives the same sort of experience as Reddit from the initial interaction.

  • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
    11·
    1 year ago

    I believe the compulsion of speech, particularly insisting that all of society adapt their language to accommodate individual identities, is a terrible approach. The notion of forced speech is problematic to me, and worries me greatly.

    …

    Instead of dictating specific definitions, it might be more beneficial to cultivate a culture of empathy, understanding, and open dialogue around these issues. This perspective is unpopular and contentious, but it is a conversation that we should be willing to engage in.

    Anyways that’s what I see as the moderate take, and it’s what I believe. I had to tiptoe pretty hard there and I’m sure what I said still comes across as hate speech to some but I don’t feel it is.

    If you had to tiptoe pretty hard then what you wanted to say was worse.

    What, exactly, is the harm in calling someone a “He” who considers themselves a “He” or a “They” if they prefer, or “She” if they prefer?

    Do you consider all social conventions about how we address people to be “dictating specific definitions” or “compulsion of speech?”

    Can I decide to call you the opposite gender of what you know yourself to be, and you have literally no feelings about that? What about using words like “Sir”, or “Ma’am?” Have you felt unfairly compelled each and every time you’ve had to use them? How about “Doctor?” “Mr.?”

    • JamesGray@kbin.social
      14·
      1 year ago

      It’s actually even stupider than they’re presenting it to be. The speech that was being “compelled” was explicitly not intentionally and repeatedly misgendering someone after being informed of their identified gender while working in a publicly funded position. I.e. when someone is acting as an agent of the government of Canada, they’re not allowed to intentionally misgender people.

      They can literally quit their jobs if they don’t want to do that, our speech is constantly compelled in similar ways in the workplace but they never care about that, because that’s how jobs work. I may want to tell customers to go fuck themselves if they’re rude, but I’m compelled to smile and nod and keep that for the break room afterwards if I want to keep my job.