Why are so many people so fixated on Lemmy's growth?

AstralPath@lemmy.ca to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 307 points –

...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.

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I just joined. What’s some good sub communities with good engagement?

Welcome in from the cold. We've got hot cocoa and marshmallows.

Honestly, browse by All, Active, Last 6 Hours or New and block communities you dont like. Subscribe to your favorites but since this is more garden hose than firehose, drinking from the tap isn't too bad.

For months, I kept saying "I'll only do that until my subscribe list gets good/busy enough”. It's been months, and still isn't good enough.