For me, it’s a few things.
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A way to burn time that doesn’t feel like a digital sugar rush.
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Support, camaraderie, and kindness, primarily from /r/stopdrinking.
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Niche stuff, like ideas for local hiking and backpacking trips, propaganda posters, and kayaking info.
My need that I want to fill is a bit unrealistic and unfair to expect but… everything.
What made Reddit slowly morph from just another interesting webpage for amusement to a place where I spend a lot of my time and rely upon for so many things was how it slowly came to intersect with everything.
It became a kind of a separate google when you didn’t get much joy from traditional web searching. It was a place to feel one belonged but at the same time a place for anonymity when I wanted it (at least to other Redditors anyway), a place for serious discussion and pointless shitposting seeing news as it unfolded but also stupid cat videos.
It was a placeholder for every niche you could think of so if you were trying out a new hobby, or watching a new show, or starting a new career, or trying new software there was always a sub for it.
Lemmy and other alternatives theoretically could do that, but, it’d be hard. Reddit couldn’t really do that because of a great design, it just naturally progressed that way when it had more and more people in one place. That centralisation was it’s flaw and it’s strength so it’s a difficult line for any would be successor to straddle. Ultimately though I think, if nothing ever does pull that off, Reddit ultimately created the need for Reddit and we were all fine before it and should be fine after.
I see a lot of potential and huge advantages with the approach of Lemmy. I’m interested enough and it feels fresh enough to keep using and watching it evolve. All it takes is the a decent enough sized community to keep at it.
I think you are right on all your points about what made Reddit great. For as much as there was hive minded tedium, rage baiting and corporate manipulation. There was also a very diverse and intelligent group of people having interesting discussions and supporting each other on everything. Anonymity and a well-functioning comment system is all we really needed to get together and discuss globally. I feel I have extracted huge benefit from Reddit over the years. I would feel a loss if I couldn’t turn to an intelligent and diverse community like that.
