My experience with Lemmy feels like my experience with Linux. I’m a nerd at heart and have played with a thousand variants of Linux over the decades. But as much as Linux is sold as the next Windows/MacOS, it never gets to that level. Trying to get people to understand the quirks of Linux (and why they are “better”) has been an act in futility. Linux just isn’t user-friendly, no matter the variant.
I see so many posts of people trying to understand what Lemmy is, what an instance is, why usernames are not unique (unless you include the server name - like email), etc. I just see it all as a huge hurdle to overcoming Reddit.
I’d be thrilled to be wrong.
You seem to imply that Linux is doing bad, too. It is not. Linux is thriving with a huge community of people who have mutual appreciation for what Linux does better and how it does this. I feel like Lemmy will be the same thing. It won’t be for everyone, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Linux will not be the next Windows or MacOS but it doesn’t have to be and it’s not a bad thing that it won’t.
Imo, a large community of people who share a passion for a platform like Lemmy sounds awesome! I love using Linux and even though I won’t recommend it to my mom, friends with whom I have nice and technical conversations have joined me on the Linux journey and it’s awesome to discuss various opinions and share the passion for it. It doesn’t take a huge community. It just takes a community of people that care and are passionate and enthusiastic about it.
Also, millions of people are using Mastodon. I would call that far from bad.