Technically and practically much more open.

Slick, not burdened by ads and marketing.

I've always preferred threaded discussions over short messages or linear feed to read and take part in discussion and comments.

Not sure I prefer it. Just another in my list that I use.

More ownership over my data. Now I don’t really own anything I post on my Lemmy.world account but they also can’t stop me from exporting my subscription list and moving my account to somewhere else on the fediverse. And if I wanted to, I could port my account to a single user instance and I would actually own my local copy of the data (of course federation means I don’t really own the federated copies since it’s all public.

It’s more relevant on a platform like mastodon where I not only can export my follows but can port my followers to my new account if I move.

I like how it's more decentralised but still feels easy to use, and also has no ads and isn't controlled by companies trying to make money. I also love how it is easy to curate a feed with only content that you want in it, and none that you don't being shoved in by algorithms that collect all your data

No ads, much less corporate influence, smaller, no spez, API access, and generally more chill

Because even if I have to read stupid opinions here, they are written by humans and not artificially inflated ads or bots

There's no incentive to enshittify. Donations from myself and others cover at least the ongoing cost if not the labor. There is nothing here trying to compete for my attention and keep me here as long as it can. No bugging me with notifications that I'm missing out on conversations or posts. I just use it here and there and if I need a few days because I'm not in the right headspace to socialize I just take it without it trying to guilt me or FOMO me into coming back.

It feels like back in the early days of the internet. You can run out of new content: go do something else for a bit. I feel like people are kinder and more polite here, though it could be my aggressive blocking of people I don't enjoy interacting with combined with my own increased effort to extend people grace.

the green flash revealed it to me

All the sweaty nerds circle jerking about how great federation is. That, and all of the politics that goes on between different hosts and their moderation policies.

I don't dislike federation, but I think it introduced at least as many problems/nuisances as it fixes.

It's smaller and friendlier, no ads, no big tech, non-commercial, open source and I can host my own instance on a potato that connects me to people all around the globe.

Functionally, I don't. Just because Mastodon is Fediverse won't make me "Tweet" more. Same thing here. In fact, I use Lemmy less than I used Reddit. Element does not measure up to what Discord does at the moment.

So outside of my beliefs of what the internet should be and the alignment of my choice of platforms with my beliefs, I'd rather be using the thing with the widest userbase and/or the best functionality. However, I no longer believe in Reddit, Discord, nor hardly any other big tech products; and so, here I am.

I do like the idea of federation, and I wish it were the norm for society when it comes to choice of product. But we're at a point where many people my age don't even know you can host your email outside of Google, and it's not really their fault. If I could wave a magic wand and snap every service to a federated nature, making everyone who uses the internet accustomed to using the federated web, I would do so in a heartbeat.

That said, does anyone know of a good chat service that actually has desktop audio on screen share? Preferably federated and similar to Discord, but obviously that's really specific.

It's not corporate owned. No profit motive to turn things to shit.

I really loved Reddit.

I got banned from Reddit, not sure why, but I am sure I deserved it.

This is the closest I have found to reddit.

all the comments are written by humans and no bots.

It is MINE. My data, my privacy, my communities. I can have accounts for my family and no one can access it conversations. I selfhost and I can still interact with the broader world.

FREEDOM

Also I LOVE trying out the new software coming out. THIS is innovation. Big Tech doesn't want to allow you to watch you're content from anywhere. They have to harvest you, feed you ads, keep you addicted.

Nobody knows who I am and everyone else here is just as nerdy as me.

There's other social media?

I guess there's also IRC, matrix, and individual forums here and there but it seems like fedi is an easier habit to get into.

The ads are much better here

Centralised social media corrupts, but I do have a craving for social media in this form.

Among many aspects, I liked that at first I had to figure out what instances are, that some instances required an application and I had to wait for approval, and looking at all the other instances users come from. It’s a very different feel than reddit et al, and I hope itv stays that way.

Decentralisation.

Don't really do social media, and sometimes I question if being on here makes me happier. Anyway I Used to be on reddit but left when I could not use the 3rd party app without paying.

If I'm gonna be mad at people's half-baked, ignorant takes, I'd rather it were e-strangers instead of people I know?

Also, the other alternative for online discussion is Reddit and that's a Western imperialist propaganda mouthpiece/controlled environment that was literally managed by the Epstein folk, so you can imagine how I and anyone with a modicum of sanity and morality had to leave as it became unbearable.

Actual discussion is still possible in the Fediverse, at least for now.

Somewhat recently I was talking to a close friend about their brother and how he has been acting, particularly how he approaches discussions with those around him. My friend was telling me about a discussion they were having, and the only response his brother could give him was "you are uneducated and misinformed", but couldn't actually formulate an argument to back up his side. I physically laughed when he told me this and jokingly responded that he "sounds like a standard Reddit user", my friend paused for a second, chuckled, then replied "he basically lives on that site".

I'm yet to have this kind of online interaction on the Fediverse, and that is nice ☺️

Other social media is all crowded with an endless amount of humans, and most of them are trash. Here there's only a handful of people so even though we're mostly trash too it's not nearly as built up into stank mountains.

Also the frequent pauses in loading pages here reminds me to do other things.

No ads, better control over the feed, conversations with real people, being part of an exciting socual experiment

Basically, the good parts of free speech arguments.

I do think there are things that can just be banned from existence, and be made illegal, but it's significantly more tolerant than the current vibe.

Reality doesn't give a shit about our systems of morals. There is a certain "mainstream, harmony and political correctness" creep that sometimes happens. And what's bad about that, is that bubbles brain wash themselves into believing that the way they think the world works is really how the world works. And what they hold isn't just a perspective and an opinion, but a fundamental truth about the world and deviation needs to be purged. And that eventually collides with reality. This is both true for racists and for people who think racism can be "cured" or "educated away" or "people can just consider the facts and change their mind".

The fediverse allows a more gradual interaction than centralized social media sites. Because centralized social media must decide how to deal with... depiction of politics, religious subjects, NSFW topics, which btw, covers everything from violence over nudity to medical conditions.

If there was a medical community sharing discussions about medical topics, I can block that and be unburdened by it, but there is no central fediverse authority that needs to decide if that medical picture is not allowed because there is a boob in it.

In short, banning a social group on social media, like racists, doesn't convince anyone or remove that group of people from factually existing and factually organizing.

Open Source Software works the same way, you can't be sure that math library isn't being used to control a remove controlled ballistic missile, but pretending that you can "ban math" depending on the purpose is stupid, so there is no point in worrying about it.