I'm guessing it has to do with our early-adopter status still. Gotta remember, we're still the scrappy little underdog that only the weirdos know about. We are all weirdos, you, me, everyone else. Being here is sufficient to make that true. Over time that'll change, but for now we're just too unknown still.

So, what you have here is a lot of idealists that disapprove of reddit, a lot of people that got banned from reddit and can't go back, and a lot of tech bros and excited young people in general.

You can probably see how these different demographics can kinda come together to create what we see around us here, while a lot of the more "normie" content is still mostly back where we came from. (for us reddit refugees anyway)

That said, you can find a small handful of support group communities for things like alcoholics, and the food and cat subs tend to be fairly active and not so much of a constant clickbait downer. The various AskWhatever subs aren't bad either, though activity is still very light.

We're still in the very early stages though, a phase that'll probably last another year or two. Give us time, we don't even have our software at full functionality yet.

I just want some reasonable and active communities. Those "wholesome" based communities often end up feeling really fake.

I really agree. I want to like Lemmy, I really do, but every post is doom filled negativity. It's like a big negativity circlejerk where people are only ever posting about stuff they hate, like Elon and Twitter/X and Chrome and capitalism. There is very little content that actually celebrates something. Perhaps this is the issue with social media in general, as that has been the vibe I've gotten from Twitter and why I've never really been much of a user of it. There is definitely a similar thing on Reddit but Reddit is large enough that you can find pockets (usually smaller niche communities) that are more filled with positivity. But maybe Lemmy doesn't have enough of a critical mass to foster those sorts of communities yet.

If you are a Trekkie, you can join the premier meme community in the fediverse, !risa@startrek.website

All of my subscribed lemmy communities have no new content.

You gotta browse through the list of communities and go more niche lol. For example, I'm subscribed to stuff like aquariums and plantscaping, travel, NFL, horror movies, awwducational, 2000snostalgia, food, ramen, true crime. Of course local communities, my state and local area for example. I like birds, so birding, why not? I'm watching kaiju movies now, so I subscribed to a kaiju community. Specific games I like. Specific music genres I like, shoegaze for example, but alternativenation's an easy start. Explain like I'm five (ELI5) and Today I Learned (TIL) are popular and not full of downer stuff. I'm subscribed to stuff even if there are no\few subscribers, because one day, there will be more.

The only thing that sucks is that I'm also subscribed to tech and news, and being that those communities are the most popular, they're always flooding the top of my feed. Sorting by "hot" helps.

I'm not well versed in Lemmy so this might be totally incorrect but I think if you share a link, instead of the c/ you put "!" at the front so people of different instances can open them community on their own instance.

I'm basically just regurgitating what I've read and it could be wrong.

Also just for the sake of conversation, one of my favourite wholesome Reddit subs was mum for a minute where people without mother's would go for motherly support and congratulations. I haven't seen anything like it here yet.

I get you, but this is how people are today - and the internet feeds it. We get a lot more positive feedback from negativity these days and the internet brings more people together which means there's more chance for a spontaneous negativoty circlejerk. And honestly, it's harder to be positive against the grain in such a situation than it is to join the circlejerk.

This behavior has nothing to do with Lemmy or Reddit or Mastodon or Twitter or whatever platform. Yes, each has a "culture" but those cultures are easily changed as more people join. And that's the problem with Lemmy. What you remember is a smaller community with enthusiasm for a new platform. Over time, as Lemmy gets more people and the "newness" dies down, negativity will surface. The only difference between Lemmy and Reddit is the management and federation, the people are always going to be the same.

The only thing we can do is be the change we want. Create your own positive posts. Interject negative circlejerks with positivity. Run against the grain. What you'll find is that, whilr you'll get hate, people will come out of the wordwork to join in your positivity - but only once someone else does it first. Misery does love company, by positivity is infectious and sometimes needs a patient zero.

Think about your contributions to this goal. You saw a lack of positivity and your immediate response was to complain about it with this post. You're feeding the thing you hate with this very post. If, instead, you had posted something positive, then you'd be woking towards a more positive Lemmy. But instead, this post is pulling it down and forcing everyone to wallow in the very negativity you think is destroying Lemmy.

Now, of course you did it because it's a much easier way to force a conversation. You see a problem, you want to talk about the problem. But that's exactly why you see more negativity. It's way easier to see and react to the negative than to react with positivity. And that's why no matter what platform you're on, you're always going to have this issue.

The best anti-war stories are those that are set during peacetime, because they show the alternative, rather than glorifying the violence of war. At the same time, you cannot fight negativity with negativity.

If you want Lemmy to be a more positive environment, you'll need to add some positivity of your own. But I promise you, your investment will pay dividends. People will come out of the woodwork to join in whatever positive message you put out. Sure, you'll have haters, but others will defend you. You just have to start the ball running.

The /c I found relaxing include:

• !Aminals@lemmy.best

• !andfinally@feddit.uk

• !animals@beehaw.org

• !animalswithjobs@lemmy.world

• !Awwnverts@lemmy.world

• !calvinandhobbes@lemmy.world

• !cyanideandhappiness@lemm.ee

Well, there are a lot to list (I only got to 'c'). One of the best things you can do is, post positive things that make you happy on the /c you follow for your fellow lemmies. The happiness this generates are multiple times worth the posts you read. Try it. Be a positive content relayer / originator yourself.

If you like art there's...

!abstractphotography@lemmy.ml

!collage@lemmy.ml

!printmaking@lemmy.ml

also

!traditional_art@lemmy.world

!artporn@lemm.ee

I've curated some other art communities in the side bar at !artistlounge@lemmy.ml including watercolour, art share and one of the photography communities

There are also lots of science and nature communities on mander and beehaw, if you search by 'all' in the communities tab at the top, type and just go down a few rabbit holes...nudibranchs, orchids, botany, minerals, geology, animals and pets etc all exist, you just need to start searching

Happy trails :)

edit forgot !awwnverts@lemmy.world and !natures_patterns@lemmy.world

Pop over to !ukcasual@lemmy.world There's a few non-Brits signed up, so you'll won't feel left out. Bring some chocolate Hobnobs and we'll put the kettle on.

At least we don't have fightporn justiceserved and all that bullshit

I don't know if these were mentioned yet (didn't check the entire thread), but since i really liked the question, i wanted to add some more:

!beebutts@lemmy.world

!nathanwpyle@lemmy.world

!upliftingnews@lemmy.world

!dailydoseofcute@lemmy.world

!bats@lemmy.world (this will melt your heart, i promise)

Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods? Where's the streetwise Hercules, to fight the rising odds?

If you find the wholesome, funny lemmy let me know. For months this site has been like 80% porn, Linux autofellatio and making safe spaces for extremists.

!lemmybewholesome@lemmy.world

I feel ya, a few of my personal favorites when it comes to escaping all the politics are:

!aminals@lemmy.best

!itemshop@sh.itjust.works

!nathanwpyle@lemmy.world

!raccoons@lemmy.world

!witchymemes@lemmy.world

And then of course all of the ImaginaryX communities, which I'm sure there exists a register of somewhere, but I just sub as I stumble across them.

Upliftingnews on Lemmy.World is a good one. I'm on kbin so not sure how to link:

@upliftingnews@lemmy.world

There are some surprisingly active craft communities here that are by definition pretty wholesome, but I guess probably not that interesting if you're not into the specific hobbies themselves. ymmv. You can find a sticky thread with a ton of them listed here https://lemmy.world/post/1715954

To keep negative things to a minimum I have subscribed to a cat community, aww community, two dog communities, and have restricted myself to only one technology community. No news communities.

!risa@startrek.website