Where else on the web does everyone hang out?

I’m really curious where else everyone here hangs out on the internet besides Lemmy.

I myself am frequently on discord with my wife and friends playing games. I’ve also found myself in and around smaller blogs spaces like Kev Quirk and related people. Reddit used to be a place for me to hang out but I never found a community that I felt connected to. I don’t know if YouTube would be considered a place to hang out, but I frequently spend way more time there than I should. IRC used to be a great place for me.

So, where are your favorite places?

I like Mastodon, but I gotta say, Lemmy has basically taken over as my go to boredom relief app. When I’m not on Lemmy, I’m probably on YouTube.

Then there’s work: GitHub and email.

And play: Steam.

I don’t get the whole twitter-like microblogging thing. Mastodon feels kind of strange to me because it’s similar to that. I try to find a cool place to hang out there, but it always feels like a waste. But YouTube… the amount of time I give YouTube… lol

Agreed, YouTube first, Lemmy next, then either Steam or Xbox

I’m still on IRC! There’s a raw simplicity to it that I appreciate. You don’t have to use a bloated Electron app to connect to a proprietary service, you can just go straight text on the protocol-level in terminal (if you’re nuts), and the protocol is open and simple enough to understand that you can easily make your own client even if you’re a lazy or mediocre dev.

So IRC, Lemmy, and I guess Instagram (if that counts)

What IRC servers still exist that allow random people like me to just join but have interesting people and channels and not just trolls and spam?

I second this question! I’d like to know some good servers with healthy communities.

Probably should not post those publicly, even on Lemmy.

Follow-up question: Are there any IRC channels where people don’t just talk about compiling their favorite IRC client on their favorite linux distro?

Yeah it’s feels really nice. I’m not on it now but I remember loving the feeling of it because it’s not fucking big tech shit.

Cool, Im going to see how I can sell ad space irc channels this week and then sell it.

Ever since Reddit killed itself, the only places I really lurk are Kbin (and therefore Lemmy by proxy) and Discord. That’s pretty much it.

I have ignored Discord for years until recently. It just seems like IRC with a lot of flashiness and emojis. Is there more to this experience? I don’t intend to be disparaging, but I looked for some specific topic servers and just found the quality of discussion to be low and the experience to be chaotic.

I’m willing to be told I’m doing it wrong though - is there a “here’s the right way to get into discord” approach I’m missing?

Discord shines when you use it with a tight-knit group. A RL friend group, a gaming clan, etc.

But there are a ton of these big public servers that are essentially just spam, because that’s what happens when you collect a load of random people in one place who have one minor interest in common at best, and then try and get them to hang out socially.

It’s a group chat app, not a forum. And being thrown into a group chat with 100 strangers is kind of the worst.

Discord shines when you use it with a tight-knit group. A RL friend group, a gaming clan, etc.

I have barely ever used Discord. What does it offer that you couldn’t find in, say, a Signal Group?

It’s a group chat app, not a forum. And being thrown into a group chat with 100 strangers is kind of the worst.

I do appreciate that nuance but IRC (as of last I checked - admittedly it’s been about a decade since I was habitually connected to IRC) is not really like that despite fitting essentially the same description.

Discord shines when you use it with a tight-knit group. A RL friend group, a gaming clan, etc.

That makes sense, I can see that.

Yeah seems so, it’s pretty ok though. It tracks what is new and your mentions so it’s vaguely like a messaging app instead of IRC.

There are a lot of game development communities there. It’s basically a cheap, more public alternative to Slack.

I personally think the best way to use discord is to create a server and invite people to it as you meet them online. For me, it’s gaming that connects me with people. My wife and I meet people that we like and want to play with more, and so we invite them. This usually results in getting invited to other small community servers.

I can’t even get past the user interface at Discord. Rarely have I felt so uninvited to participate, even as the site aggressively invites me to participate.

Mostly the same for me. I’ve been poking around Bluesky too but I’m having trouble finding content/follows I like.

Feeds are the secret at Bluesky. Once you have a few of those you like, look at deck.blue.

It’s interesting that you say that because I have trouble finding content that I like on all microblogging platforms : Mastodon, X, threads and all. If you crack the code, let me know.

Reddit is doing great, actually

Maybe (though this is not the description I typically see about reddit these days) but a great many of us are here because we refuse to be there.

98% YouTube and 2% Lemmy

If rest of the internet dissapeared it would take a while for me to notice.

I’m like 90% YouTube, 2% Lemmy and 8% just googling random stuff. Celebrity facts, historical events, programming problems, stuff I want to buy. YouTube is king though. Kinda hate that I waste so much time on it.

Kinda hate that I waste so much time on it.

You watched some learning materials—programming problems, historical events, etc. That’s educative. At least you learned something.

Also, time you enjoy is not wasted.

The problem with YouTube is that is so easy to just default to letting it feed your brain. Frequently it’s not even enjoyable, it’s just straight distraction from anything meaningful. On the flip side, YouTube can be the absolute best place to learn anything.

What do y’all do on YouTube? I have a couple of subscriptions, but after I watch those, YouTube only recommends garbage to me…

I have a couple of subscriptions

That is why, you need to ‘tune up’ the algorithm 😂

Many of us have been using YT a lot since its conception, that is why the big devil knows us even better than ourselves… Most of the time.

I have almost 600 subscriptions. I’ve been on YouTube since the beginning, pretty much.

Educational stuff mostly. I will learn about mostly anything even it’s not applicable in my life or a topic of fancy.

I avoid every bit of pop culture and drama that fills the site but I will watch a three hour video on the varieties of algae.

Honestly, I read more, do more gardening, play more videogames. Kinda a weird benefit, but I joined two book clubs and a walking group. Started going to a parenting group on Sundays so my kiddo and I are making more friends. I guess reddit just pissed me off enough to go out and be more in my community. It’s kinda nice.

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Where else on the web does everyone hang out?

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