Are there any Reddit refugees spending more time on Lemmy than Reddit?
I am theoretically switching over from Reddit to Lemmy. Finding myself spending more time on Lemmy than on Reddit. Maybe it's because I am limited to using the desktop and can't aimlessly browse Reddit on my iPhone. Of late, the only subreddits I cared for were on sports and their matchday threads and r/watches. I found myself aimlessly browsing through r/AskReddit and asking and answering pointless questions.
Oh definitely. I've been on a continuous Lemmy/kbin binge since Friday. This place is way more enjoyable than reddit because:
Your voice matters. People actually upvote and reply!
There is no karma! One less thing to obsess over (though you can see how many posts/comments a user has made).
The content is much more interesting and reminiscent of the early days of Reddit.
Maybe I'm too nerdy but I like how clean the site is.
There is absolutely zero commercial interest across the entire lemmyverse and it's awesome. You can talk to actual people and have fun!
It feels magical that there are all these different Lemmy and kbin servers and you can see people from 10 instances talking to each other in the same thread.
Your second to last point really rings in for me. You'd think with all the posts and traffic on Lemmy that there would be ad clutter or push for other internal paid brands, but it's just so clean and only about the posts and comments.
I just got started here after days of no reddit as more mainstream media picked up the protests and mentioned the Fediverse. Honestly, I love it for the reasons you outlined. Can't imagine going back. There's still some communities I don't have here, but I imagine they will form up eventually, and if they don't there's nothing I'd really miss, or if I did I'd create it myself.
I had eyeballed joining Mastodon when he-who-sucks took over twitter but wasn't real comfortable with figuring out something new at the time (for personal reasons). Glad I've gotten the kick in the butt to join the Fediverse! It's fun here!!