Curious to know, I’d heard “lemming” used in a semi derogatory way, since “a person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement, especially a headlong rush to destruction” is the dictionary definition. It seems to be the first thing to come to mind as to what you’d call a Lemmy user.
This platform certainly is embodying a mass movement to get off of reddit, and I’m definitely all for it! But I can’t help but feel this could be one of those baby names that sounded cute and catchy but could be bullied later into life. What are your thoughts?
I appreciate it as a self-aware jab at the nature of online communities in general, and it amuses me. Every human is a lemming in some way, shape or form, there’s just nothing new under the sun so-to-speak. But by being aware of this tendency we can control our own behavior more consciously and effectively.
Gotta be able to laugh at yourself though, which is a capability that not everybody possesses.
Sir, you are a Buddha.
I like self sorting systems. Let the easily offended become offended and go somewhere else. They do have the right to be offended, after all.
Which group of easily offended people is going to be the largest?
- Those who get offended and therefore leave,
- or those who get offended but stay, because their curiosity won’t let them go,
- or those who get offended and stay to troll and throw 💩 around and watch the world burn.
Tough to say. But everyone in category 3 would have done it anyway.
It does kind of lack the same embarrassment that comes from self identifying as a Redditor
Just thinking about how at some point in the future the lemmyverse will be replaced over some dumb shit and the tremendous amount of absolutely trash memes about lemmings jumping off a cliff that follow fills me with joy.
The internet is a cycle and it’s fun to witness a new cycle now.
When I used reddit, I hardly ever felt the need to call anyone redditers? Do people that use Twitter call themselves twats? Cause they should. Damn the Faceboomers too.
Ah, I see. You never truly savored the Redditor experience - the Fedora, the bliss of basement living, the Cheetos-inspired physique. Without such rites of passage, how can you claim the title?
As for Twitter users being “Twats” or Facebook users “Faceboomers”, that’s an interesting proposition. But remember, le Redditors bear our stereotype with pride. The basement always has room for one more. ;)
/s <- do we still do this?
instead of fediverse perhaps it should be fedoraverse
I always used to do /j for joke/joking but I like to differentiate myself so YMMV
also fuck you
-basement dweller
/j
I hope not. Let’s just assume we all know 95% of people who would post on this site are being sarcastic, at all times.
If anything, we need a symbol for “I’m serious”…maybe /s?
You’ve got two duplicate comments
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I hope not. We all know the majority are being sarcastic more than we aren’t. Maybe we should have a tag for “I’m serious”… Would /s work for that? Haha
Oh yeah, very alideen! /s
Spoken like a true lemon
Those darm lemon stealing…
That definition comes from a false myth; a documentary made a bunch of lemmings fall to their deaths and purposefully misrepresented it iirc, fucked up.
It’s time we reclaim our name and honour!
plus they are cute af
I feel like there is some analogy to be made over how other social media platform leadership are all too willing to ruin our communities and run us out of them for their short-sighted goals.
Totally. They are Disney creating a scenario where the logical response ought to be to stop at the cliff (aka play by their rules). Lemmings “choose” to confront the unknown future and go over the cliff, as that’s better than obedience to the overbearing corporate entity.
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Lemming loaf!!
As a resident of Scandinavia I knew it was a myth, but I had to look up a source:
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=56
The lemming Wikipedia entry states lemmings seek out new habitats whenever population density gets too large. Kinda fitting to the reddit migration. Also loosely related to federations in terms of multiple habitats.
I like it because it’s like communal but with a limit, so not herd mentally.
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🤷♂️
It reminds me of the 1991 videogame I played when I was a child https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game)?wprov=sfti1
This is what I think of every single time I hear the word lemmings - a little line of those 8 pixel dudes trotting along.
Same, this is what I think of as well. So a cute and nostalgic connotations for me (even if they didn’t have a great sense of self preservation).
That’s one of the things that this platform’s name is appearently based on. Just FYI; so you and the main developer have something in common :)
As far as I know it was a disney "documentary " that perpetuated the falsehood of lemmings committing mass suicide so it seems only fitting that we rehabilitate the name that was so besmirched by that filthy corporate behemoth.
lemurs > lemmings
IDK, I’ll probably wait until the majority makes a decision and go with it… oh, wait
Personally, I think it’s on how you own it. You see a lot of people on right wearing deplorables as a sort of badge of honor. Same concept. People who would make fun of us for calling ourselves lemmings would make fun of us even if we called ourselves lions.
It’s the only sensible option.
I’ll just follow the rest of you and not think about it.
I don’t think it matters, if people have a problem with it they need to learn how to laugh at themselves. Redditors certainly behave like lemmings sometimes, and some self-deprecating humor over here calling ourselves lemmings is pretty funny
While I know that the origin of the stereotypes is false, the stereotype still remains. So I’m not fond of the term for that, but it’s not a super big deal. I might joke about it because it’s pretty fucking funny (c’mon… Redditors coming to Lemmy on a leap of faith? Like lemmings off a cliff is analogous as hell), but I mean… People who would use it to talk shit, would end up turning anything used to describe a group as a slur so there’s not really a point in caring too much.
I’m new but I’ve always mentally gone straight to lemming from lemmy. also, I love all iterations of the game.
There is also something called irony, which could be embraced and that would quell the bullying. Own it. It’s funny, stop taking things so seriously. Also, who cares?
Expanding on this, this is how language builds. Terms are often ironic or late take on different meanings than intended. I for one like lemmings, and I think it’s unlikely another term would stick even if we wanted it to.
