And I’d like to block users with consistent negative behaviours.

This is where I’m at it with it. Votes are already public to those who really want to see them and that cat’s not going back in the bag. Anyone that goes out of their way to inject it into the conversation is showing their ass and adding a (likely extra) level of toxicity that blocking would fix.

I was never much of an /r/all user, it’s always been niche communities for me. I feel like almost all of my niches have content here now (if not quite as much engagement as I’d like). !retrogaming@lemmy.world in particular has exploded with activity lately and arguably can now serve as a full replacement for its subreddit counterpart.

Thing is, when I try to bring people on Lemmy, it’s always “why?” and if I make it that far, “how?” With the how, I’ve been using the analogy of signing up for email, though it’s still not as smooth as it could be. Eyes glaze over when anyone starts asking me about how the Fediverse in general works.

The why is harder. I don’t know how much user bleed-over niche Reddit got from /r/all users but I’m guessing it wasn’t a trivial amount. I’m sure a lot of Reddit’s growth was owed to AMAs, so it’s possible Lemmy might need something flashy to draw in users who will then filter into communities waiting for them. Some sort of content unique to the platform. I do think before we get there we need a friendlier way to help new people find communities they may have interest in.

I’m out of the loop, what are the highly requested features?

Subscribed to Imaginary Witches, thanks!

Crossposting from popular posts is also a good way to promote your smaller communities!

What I’ve been running into is that even if it’s the same link, if you change the body text it won’t list the crossposting.

lemm.ee has been great, very level-headed administration.

Welcome! Hopefully you know about Lemmy Explorer, I’ve found it very useful in finding communities of interest to me.

We’re doing our best!

If you’re in a niche community, don’t be afraid to put some content out there. Niche communities are generally so happy to see any conversation. The amount of criticism/downvoting I’ve seen on topics in slow communities has been very low.

Yep. I’m on lemm.ee and I don’t even think about what content I might be missing.

Unfortunately, the shadow of Voat still looms over this conversation. Redditors are wary of platforms that have a perceived radical userbase, and Lemmy as a whole has been painted as far left.

Toxic discourse in large Internet communities predates Reddit, even. It’s been a thing since before there was the web, becoming significantly more likely to find once you get to a critical mass of people.

It’s a good time in the political cycle to find and contribute to niche communities. I almost never come across this kind of thing because that’s where I hang out.

Indeed, if these places are able to survive, they’ll survive. No need to force it.

This kind of worship at the altar of efficiency is a big part of why we are losing our third places in society. Half the reason I’m here is to build. Not consolidate.

I don’t know about huge but the data on the same page supports the observation on post quantity. It’s still steadily increasing.

Comments might be currently on a stable trend.

No discussion? In the past few days you’ve commented in !games@lemmy.world and !technology@lemmy.world, two of the most active discussion communities on Lemmy. And you’re getting it here.

You also don’t have any posts in over three weeks and 13 in total over five months. People, if you want more active niche communities, you need to contribute to the discussion. You’re not going to be able to passively, endlessly doomscroll here. That level of content may never arrive, but there’s still plenty to build. Sure, it could be easier, with duplicate communities all over the place and defederation on the rise. For now, use Lemmy Explorer to see where the activity is and help us build those smaller communities.

What are some examples of niche communities that are declining?

Granted, I’ve only been here since the reddit migration, but after a short chaotic period, I’ve only seen growth in the communities I’ve been an active participant in.

!gaming@beehaw.org !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works

The genre/publisher/series/individual game-oriented niche communities are generally still small but are growing. !baldurs_gate_3@lemmy.world has been active though.

What I’m seeing right now in the smaller communities is sufficient voter and comment engagement but not enough people making new posts to drive discussion.

lemmynsfw also banned CNC and is hostile to the drawn/animated side of the medium, which, if Pornhub’s numbers are anything to go by, is going to cut your participation big time. People love hentai and kink.

lemmynsfw’s admins never seemed to get that running a successful porn site means hosting content that might turn you off personally and trusting your mods to handle content control in categories unfamiliar to you.

Not surprising at all to me that a bunch of reposts and sex work ads what they were left with.

I doubt it is overall, but I’ve certainly seen more talk about it lately than I ever have. Not surprising considering how many reddit refugees I’ve been chatting with.

I started on kbin myself. It was mostly a population consideration, though I did like the downvote accounting. Community moderation is one thing Tildes does right, and that was a step in that direction.

I ultimately bailed when even the big magazines weren’t being moderated anymore (spam everywhere).