It got mentioned a lot on /r/RedditAlternatiives and since its API is already up and running, there are a whole bunch of apps for it. With mobile apps being the thing that started the whole Reddit disaster, it makes sense that Lemmy would grow quicker than kbin which doesn’t have mobile apps yet.

For me, it was the top google result for “Reddit Alternative”. There was a github post explaining the basics of Lemmy and essentially said if I wasn’t sure where to sign up, just head over to lemmy.world.

Now that I’m here I can safely say the interface feels like an improved old.reddit.com and am quite pleased.

Take my answer as snark, but: it has a catchy name that sounds like a thing. And it’s not invite only.

Probably luck, really.

A bunch of subs moved to Lemmy, first and foremost, which spread its popularity more than other apps, as more subs went and joined up with Lemmy.

Alternatives like Kbin followed behind, but since Lemmy had already taken first spot, that was more or less that.

You also had a few that were also closed, that hampered their growth, for better and worse.

For me it’d be word of mouth and a more memorable name. It was people making posts about Lemmy over on the sinking ship that caught my attention first and kbin second. Call it lizard brain or whatever but “Lemmy” is close to “Lemmings” which is a game I loved as a child while “kbin” makes the mistake of not being a single, simple word. One sounds personalable and a finished product, the other sounds like the backend of bigger software.

For me it’s straight up the fact that the guy who made Sync is porting it to Lemmy.

It’s a great client, and if he picked this I guess he thinks he can keep that quality on this platform, so here I am.

The fact it was recommended more, and doesn’t require an invite like Tildes. I only heard of any of these because of the migration, and only heard of Kbin here on Lemmy.

I wanted to try Tildes after seeing the page, but I have no friends there to invite me to try it.

I’d say the main difference is Lemmy has been around for 4 years and Kbin is only a few weeks old.

So when I was scoping out an alternative, there were five platforms I was looking at.

1. Lemmy
2. Kbin
3. Squabbles
4. Tildes
5. Raddle

I opted against places like tumblr since I was looking for a similar experience to reddit (didn’t mind some innovations, but places like mastodon or tumblr weren’t the right fit)

Squabbles was interesting but I did not care for the interface, especially on desktop. It’s a bit better on mobile but it’s basically the card interface on steroids and it’s not my preference. I like the flexibility in apps/ways you can consume Lemmy in comparison

Tildes is invite only and tightly controlled. If you aren’t interested in like the 4 topics of discussion they have there it’s just not that engaging.

Raddle is open source and not for profit which are pluses, but outside anarchist political communities and a few meme ones theres basically nothing else there. Also some of the theming for their forums on desktop are atrocious.

Kbin has some pluses in that in that it can interact with Lemmy and the fediverse. It even has some better integration with places like mastodon due to the microblogging tab. It’s still an option in my mind depending on how it and Lemmy evolve. But for now im on Lemmy and haven’t regretted it.

I think the big reason Lemmy grew though was exposure and circumstance. It’s very decentralized nature I think appealed to people who have experienced what guys like Musk and Spez have done to their social media sites lately and the idea that if an admin/owner here goes off the rails there’s some recourse available besides having to entirely leave the platform they’ve invested their time and energy to. Squabbles, tildes and raddle can’t really promise that by the fundamental fact they are closed platforms. So when the reddit drama popped up and after what people have dealt with in Facebook, tumbler, digg, Twitter, etc this place and the fediverse was pushed really hard as an alternative experience that sought to resolve this recurring problem.

Lemmy has been around for a while. I was lemming back in early 2022. Lemmy had time to iron out their technical challenges and have a solid product before the Reddit drama began.

Honestly, I’d say because I’ve never heard of the other two whereas Lemmy is pretty much plastered over Reddit as an alternative

When I was browsing options, Tildes didn’t even allow sign-ups. I tried multiple days and eventually said fuck it and checked other options, settling on kbin.

It’s down to the apps available from my point of view. Using wefwef and enjoying the fresh content through a very Apollo-like interface.

I am also a complete noob when it comes to the fediverse and Lemmy just seemed more accessible.

I go back and forth between Kbin and Tildes, with a toe still left in reddit for a few niche communities. I like the idea of the fediverse, but there are definitely a lot of growing pains that it seems to be going through, and kbin just seemed like the most modern, polished, choice. (plus the devs are much less sus than Lemmy)

Tildes on the otherhand feels a lot more close knit, and more about discussion specific topics rather than being a collection of different communities. I kinda like the smaller size, plus the overall tone there is very respectful, so it’s great for more nuanced conversations. This is where I come for my memes and my random conversations though.

I’m weirdly nostalgic to the era of hanging out on a random phpBB forum with 40 or so active users, so a part of me feels like maybe they’re right. :)