this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy
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Open license software will never beat paid software in the consumer space. I know that’s a controversial opinion, but it’s been proven a thousand times. There’s no way to beat the user experience of Reddit when they have a hundred experienced UX designers doing nothing but optimising for engagement. We think the overall experience is worse, which is why we’re here, but we are the minority. Lemmy still hasn’t figured out basic problems like what happens to the user experience when an instance defederates from another. The user had no control over that, but suddenly their subscribed communities have disappeared without notice or explanation. Now they have to find another instance to subscribe to, and they lose their entire Lemmy identity.
Well, the website and mobile app are overwhelmingly hated (just look at the reviews on the PlayStore). I think there are two major things helping Reddit: It's easy to grasp (Lemmy has instances, dozens of different apps, etc.) and the fact that Reddit already has a community for basically everything.
I generally agree, but one counter example I keep thinking of is Wikipedia. Massively successful site with few rivals despite being a nonprofit. I imagine a social media app could build some degree of success with that model. The main obstacles to my mind are a good UI/UX and a community funding approach sufficient to keep ahead of growth. It’s not yet clear whether Lemmy is “the one” to provide either. As great as the fediverse concept is, it’s harder to use and to consolidate funding for than it perhaps should be.
Wikipedia is a good example but they actually employ designers and developers. I think the secret sauce is paying people to build great software. So a non-profit with donations could absolutely work.