Why YSK: Getting along in a new social environment is easier if you understand the role you’ve been invited into.


It has been said that “if you’re not paying for the service, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.”

It has also been said that “the customer is always right”.

Right here and now, you’re neither the customer nor the product.

You’re a person interacting with a website, alongside a lot of other people.

You’re using a service that you aren’t being charged for; but that service isn’t part of a scheme to profit off of your creativity or interests, either. Rather, you’re participating in a social activity, hosted by a group of awesome people.

You’ve probably interacted with other nonprofit Internet services in the past. Wikipedia is a standard example: it’s one of the most popular websites in the world, but it’s not operated for profit: the servers are paid-for by a US nonprofit corporation that takes donations, and almost all of the actual work is volunteer. You might have noticed that Wikipedia consistently puts out high-quality information about all sorts of things. It has community drama and disputes, but those problems don’t imperil the service itself.

The folks who run public Lemmy instances have invited us to use their stuff. They’re not business people trying to make a profit off of your activity, but they’re also not business people trying to sell you a thing. This is, so far, a volunteer effort: lots of people pulling together to make this thing happen.

Treat them well. Treat the service well. Do awesome things.

      • Zagorath
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        161 year ago

        Stop trying to make lemoning happen. It’s not going to happen!

        • @Euronomus
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          51 year ago

          Just don’t invite the whores, I hear they steal lemons…

        • Excel
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          21 year ago

          It’s a travesty that this doesn’t have more upvotes

    • @OatmealAC
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      91 year ago

      Lemmy Lemon is an amazing concept, plz make real 🙏

        • @46_and_2
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          21 year ago

          No one knows what it means, but it’s provocative… It gets the people going!