I wanted an actual leftist instance, not Libs pretending they're left while upholding the worst parts of capitalism and imperialism. I wanted viewpoints outside of the colonial center. I feel like I got what I wanted. They're pretty up front about what you'll find inside.

Why I chose it? I liked the general political leaning.

What could be better? The more nuanced political leanings.... I'm talking about the leftist infighting. I pissed off a ton of people, including myself, the last couple of times I commented on some posts. You say the wrong thing and you don't get polite discourse, you go straight to mudslinging. And yes I'm including myself in that.

It makes me want to interact with the instance less and less.

I’m not trying to start a fight or mud slinging, it would be good if several people could say their piece and nobody shame or attack them for it no matter how much you disagree.

🤥🤥👖🔥🔥🔥

You know we can see your history right?

I joined because I wanted access to a reddit-style place that wasn't part of the neoliberal echo chamber that is culture in the imperial core, but I had gotten tired of the bear site.

I like the instance, I like the moderation, I like how its widely federated. I wish it did not have downvotes like hexbear does, but I find the .ml community to be much better in general, though a bit too sectarian at times.

I prefer .ml to hexbear because hexbear has big time "midwestern covid conscious lesbian bar" vibes at times.

My main issue with .ml is how other instances act. It's pretty common to see ridiculous lies about .ml with a bunch of upvotes and the OP is never able to provide any proof when asked for it. But people still believe it because it's .ml
Same with how a lot of users' brains will shut down when they see anything they disagree with posted by someone from this instance. All rationality goes out the window and they retreat to a frustrating ad hominem of "you're using this instance, thus I dont have to take it seriously" - "ml detected, opinion disregarded" it's so sad to see people be so scared.

I also see users from other instances cry about .ml moderation. Personally I feel like it is pretty evenhanded and fair, but moderation will always skew against outsiders. I've been banned from some communities due to incivility while the equally uncivil person I was replying to was not. That's just how it is everywhere, I dont go about pretending like thats some special feature of .world.

So all in all I like it and my issue with it is mainly other instances.

The stuff that gets banned on .world news gets posted to .ml news and the stuff that gets banned on .ml news gets posted to .world news.

You need both to get everything, otherwise you end up with too much of a bias from one instance.

It was the first instance.

I joined lemmy because I was a big proponent of federated networks. I had had accounts on other federated networks before this one, some of which died out entirely. (I think the first "reddit-like" network I was on was called prismo? Diaspora is more facebook-like and still exists.) I had no clue it was going to get anywhere near as big as it has, and I definitely did not forsee how fucking stupid the instance tribalism would become where new users don't know so just pick one and then seem to be judged for their decision when other members of their community are jackasses in one way or another.

I think overall I'm happy lemmy caught on, but it definitely felt more like a community before the redditors came over. On the other hand, I do think part of the reason it was able to catch on in a way the others weren't was how much it felt like a friendly community here. There was already something with a good culture to migrate to.

It's a nice place. I've never had any issues with it. I like that I have a space to be with like-minded people after spending most of my time around people who very much aren't. I like that I don't often encounter racism and while I do encounter misogyny it is less common here than other online spaces