Why is Lemmy not a place for thoughts and observations, rather than just links, questions, and memes? And could it be? (programming.dev)

submitted 2 months ago by connect@programming.dev to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

92 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Does it have something to do with the rise of smartphones and no one typing on real keyboards? (Maybe why blogs died.)

Is it a consequence of voting, which blogs didn’t have?

What happens to your thoughts? Do you turn them all in the form of a question? Do you tear them down into a Mastodon one-liner and hope a popular person notices it?

If Lemmy had more of ourselves in this way, maybe it would be a healthier place.

Being idle until the media put out an article on something for us to talk about gives them too much power over us.

There’s an actual_discussion community, which isn’t exactly lively. There’s a casualconversation community, and even that’s all in the form of a question.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] connect@programming.dev 0 points 2 months ago

I’m not thinking specifically of deep thoughts or shallow thoughts, but when I happen to think of anything, it could be nice to communicate it to other people where it might spur thoughts for them or conversation or even just put it down in writing even if no one cares. If it’s casual enough, there is casualconversation, but if it doesn’t fit in the box well, it doesn’t fit in the box well. Or not even thoughts exactly as I might want to talk about what I did today or saw today.

[-] MagicShel@programming.dev 9 points 2 months ago

It sounds like you are describing a blog. If you want to stay in the fediverse, there is WriteFreely. I have an account on paper.wf, but I haven't used it yet tbh.

[-] connect@programming.dev 7 points 2 months ago

I tried to have blogs back in the day. People were not terribly interested, and the prospect of having to cultivate being-known so that anyone will see the thing I found unpleasant. It’s strange to think how many people are very driven to promote themselves. Self-promotion feels dirty, and writing for no one feels foolish.

[-] IMALlama@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Building an audience over time is exactly how blogs, and publishing in general, work unless you start off with a lot of advertising or endorsements. For better or worse, there's far more content than there is time for a large audience to read it all.

This gives you three choices:

specialize and post in an existing community that's aligned with that specialization. People will nearly always engage, especially if the content is good
specialize and start your own blog. You could even try seeding it by referring people to it from already existing specialized communities. People will know what to expect content wise and keep coming back if the subject you're talking about is interesting to them and the content is good
don't specialize and strike out on your own. If the content is good and you stick with it your audience will eventually grow. This will probably take more time because your audience will initially be looking for content that relates to what they've seen in the past, but what you're really offering is your personality, writing style, world view, etc

Personally, if I'm looking for engagement I choose the first option.

[-] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

Perhaps a new community is called for; something which encourages earnest thinking and open discussion but is not hardcore technical philosophy. I think it should be called 'interestingthoughts' or 'thatsinteresting' or maybe even just 'thoughtful'. There is already 'showerthoughts' but that seems to be a bit more humour-based than what you're talking about.

I would enjoy reading and replying to posts on it and posting to it myself too. I haven't started a community on Lemmy before and I've got quite a bit on my plate at the moment, so I don't think I could take it on as a mod alone but if you want we could try doing it together. Let me know what you think :)

[-] connect@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago

I think I’m going to take some days to find out what my brain’s impulses are to want to do over time. Does it have any intention of having interesting thoughts semi-regularly? I don’t know that I could promise that :)

this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2024

42 points (67.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26669 readers

1609 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics.

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.