There is a huge emphasis I see on just growing community size and creating an alternative to reddit.
Back in the day we used to hang out in irc chats with 5-10 active users or forums with few thousand users max. I made friends there I visted across countries. Years after Id log in and people would ask how you’ve been.
I had a reddit account for over 10 years and I dont think a single person would recognize my username. Its always felt like people aren’t talking to you but trying to appeal to the whole audience for points. Reddit exploits our psychology for attention but nothing humane is gained there. The super massive “community” ends up as a void where 99% of posts go completely unseen and any discussions suffer heavily from mod mentalities.
If this a place where even just ten people call home but feel good doing so, that is more good than a million being miserable. Maybe the best alternative is not to be reddit altogether.
Besides, good things have a natural tendency to spread, we don’t need to focus on it.
Sort of sounds like my little Arizona town. “No, we don’t want this economic opportunity, we like the town small and manageable!” The average age ten years ago was 55, and now it is 65. What is going to happen to the town in 20 years?
Also things are a bit harder if you have a niche hobby. I started a community for back country skiing and I am still hoping that we get more content posters.
I agree and congrats for starting that community. My reason for being here is to connect with other flashlight enthusiasts. The other site has a large, tight-knit community and already a surprising amount of posts have come up on Lemmy. c/flashlight I hope yours continues to flourish.
The original post alludes to that point, where they mention logging in after years had passed. Sounds like the community fizzled out, much like every irc chat I frequented bank in the day.
I get being wary of growing into something recognizable, but the growth is already happening. Hopefully that growth can be community oriented and organic.