this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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In recent weeks, I have posted an absolutely staggering amount of content on Lemmy.

My goal is simply to support the platform. I hate huge corporations.

Now I'm taking a break. I won't post anything or I'll post very little (I still feel a little guilty!! Who will post new content 😢?)

But I need to focus on improving my own life and relax.

However... I'm just curious.

Is the number of Lemmy users actually increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Is that data even available?

Edit: I will still post stuff. I'll just post a lot less!

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[–] Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I’m curious what you think makes email easy enough to understand for the general population, but lemmy to hard.

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If a 'professional' can't even find a file in a computer, should we really allow them to be a part of our society? They could be a danger for us all.

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Good question! I say yes, because a functioning society is formed from the combined knowledge, skills, and efforts of it's unique and diverse constituents, each of whom have strengths and weaknesses. However, if one does not have technical aptitude, then they should not be in a position that decides or controls technology - there are plenty of other non-techy jobs they could do, like farming or fishing.

[–] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I feel like we should keep those degenerates away from our society and replace them with people who know how to use technology.

We don't need more Amish like savages

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that technology is not point. It's just a tool, like a magnifying glass. Stop focusing on the tech, you're going to waste what little time you have here on Earth. People are the point. Relationships are the point. Feeling emotions and expressing them is the point.

I have worked in IT almost my entire life. I watched computers shrink from refrigerator size to watch size. I witnessed the birth of the internet, and watched it grow, increasing in size and complexity until it seemed to connect everything. I could have been a programmer, or database architect, or systems administrator. But no, I chose to stay in tech support because that is how I connect with other people. Some of the best conversations I've ever had were when I was working under someone's desk. I've seen ten thousand people in person struggle with tech problems that you and I would find trivial to solve. Are you saying that all those people, all those farmers, doctors, teachers, public defenders, artists, and parents deserve to be banished to the Phantom Zone because they can't edit a PDF? Get the fuck outta here with that shallow thinking, and re-evaluate your life, and what is truly meaningful in it. May this conversation be the seed that helps you grow to your full and wonderful potential.

All my love, Biped # 117 Billion +1

[–] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

I just want to win the lottery to get out of work and be free

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It took me a while to get my head round, but I'm in my 40s and shit with tech

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 4 points 3 days ago

What harms people is not the lack of knowledge but unwillingness to learn.

That said, there is only so much attention span to go around:-).

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

That email comparison annoys the fuck out of me. How is any of this like email?

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Email and Lemmy are both digital communication systems where people use personal computers connected to the internet to socialize across the world. To you, they are completely different. To my parents and most of my clients (boomers), they are one and the same. Is the Nintendo Switch the same as the Steam Deck? Hell no, I don't even game, but I can rattle off a dozen differences between the two platforms. Yet, to those who are technologically illiterate (which is most Americans), they are one and the same. But I can understand your frustration, I had a Sega Genesis growing up, and my parents always called it a Nintendo, to which I would autistically shout "Moooom, it's a Seg-AH GEN-esis, it's totally different!"

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Very relatable, of course, and triggering a bunch of that type of memory, thanks for that. But bizarrely, it's the opposite. The first thing I read about the Fediverse is how if I can understand email, I can understand the Fediverse. This was people who are way more geeky (and presumably autistic) than I am. I've seen that comparison several times since then and I still struggle to understand what the fuck they meant by that, other than "your username is username@hostname.suffix which looks like an email address" which is so fucking surface level it makes my head spin and has fuck-all to do with how you use the various platforms.

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think you and I are in that sweet sweet band of The Spectrum™ where we have heightened senses, intelligence, thirst for knowledge, ability to see things from unique perspectives, but without all the autistic screeching 😁

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I couldn't possibly disagree with that, for obvious reasons. (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 2 points 1 day ago

Obama_awarding_Obama.gif 🏅

[–] Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wow, calm down. It was just a question. The core difference between Reddit and lemmy is in my mind like the core difference between something like whatsapp and email.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago

Wasn't directed at you personally, sorry. I've seen that comparison before and it makes me doubt my sanity.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)
  1. Domain + Username
  2. email is also very flawed (think spam, and spoofing, etc)
  3. its federated
  4. people usually just pick one of the big platforms, but there are other options.
  5. email servers get banned from interoperating with the network all the time

The comparisons could go on. I’m sure there are contrasts too. But email is a point of reference most people know about. Unless they don’t have an email address. I guess.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

And you think the average user thinks of ANY of this when they're using Lemmy for the first time so they must conclude "oh it's just like email"? This has absolutely nothing to do with using the platform.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I answered your question about the similarities man. Settle down. You asked any and I gave you it. You didn’t ask for how it’s exactly like email.

Also, I think tech nerds tend to look down on others in this topic. “It’s too difficult, it’s too much to learn.” —- and thus it won’t be profitable? What are we worried about?

Activity pub and related networks didn’t just shrivel up and die right away due to this problem. I’m arguing with a stranger on the internet via a newer activity pub platform, in fact.

[–] quid_pro_joe@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago

You're right about tech nerds - I'm pretty sure most are borderline autistic, with a common trait of being far too literal in casual conversation. I (on the spectrum) spent a lot of time and effort conditioning myself to be more chill with neuro-norms. And it worked! I don't get bent out of shape anymore discussing techy things with non-techy people, not do I correct them, because they are going to forget the technical details the second I turn away, but they will definitely remember (and dislike) the nerd who starting arguing over some trivial detail.