Found it mentioned as an alternative when Reddit announced their API changes.

I came over in the API exodus. Lemmy lacks niche content, so I went back to Reddit. I stick around here because I’m so used to Sync.

When Reddit shut down 3rd party apps. I only used Joey for a single reason, it autohides post after scrolling past them very well, it was the only way reddit is tolerable is by only seeing a post once. Now I use Connect which has a similar autohide feature and I am enjoying Lemmy a lot more than i ever did reddit.

During the api debacle I just looked on alternativeto.net and found lemmy. I didn’t want to switch at the time, so I just used both until Relay stopped working and then I just used lemmy.

Created my account 3 years ago so I could still access one of the piracy subs in case they were banned from reddit, they used to have an alt community on lemmy.ml…

I came over properly during the reddit blackout, set up the communities I most wanted to see over here (that didn’t exist already), and have stayed ever since

I like the fact that the posts have (generally) sensible comments, without 1000 replies of inane drivel to sift through, overall it feels like a nice quiet corner of the internet where I can recognise usernames and have a brief chat, then be on my way

reddit locking their api was the last straw for me. so i wanted to stand up a reddit clone to fill that hole for me and others.

surfin the githubs for federating platforms… lemmy was fugly, i started with kbin.

i ended up with an mbin instance so i could connect to mastodon as well as all the lemmy content/users.

Reddit.

Reddit.

I read about and liked the concept of the Fediverse, opened a few accounts across various platforms, quickly got bored with the small userbase. Then reddit did their thing with the API, I wanted to stop using it entirely, and enough people also migrated to Lemmy at the same time that this is now a level of users and activity to hold my interest.

During the Reddit API stuff, same as most of the folks here. I tried kbin first but lack of an API or mobile app at the time pushed me to Lemmy instead.

I eventually caved and started using the official Reddit app, but I still check here as well - less content but I like the vibes here. Reddit hasn’t been the same since the protests - might just be bias but I feel like ‘brain drain’ was real and quality discussions over there are a little less frequent than before.

Knowledge of lemmy was the last great gift that Reddit gave me before it finally completed its transformation to shit.

Reddit referred me to Lemmy just like Digg referred me to Reddit and Slashdot to Digg

Reddit APIcalypse. Downloaded Jerboa and came to World after I saw a post in the middle of it.

I only started using Reddit regularly when I learned of the third party apps, so when they killed that, this is the thing all the other quitters were talking about.

Tried out a few apps and instances. It seemed very slow and quiet, but much nicer as far as the personalities. Was just a lurker at Reddit, so I had nothing to leave behind, so I stayed here.

It’s not quite as nice now as during the mass migration, but I’ve found a nice niche for myself here and I participate much more often than I ever would have at Reddit. There’s a decent audience now, but still enough room to find your own voice and to build the type of community you want.

Quit using Reddit for like a year after the API changes, then used it again for like a week primarily to search for an alternative (… Reddit sadly still is best for searching information), used both for a while before I stopped using it again, this time primarily because it’s overrun by bots and the first party app is absolutely awful and I still heavily dislike their API decisions.

Only Lemmy now :)

I’m also a huge open source fan

And the brain drain on Reddit is real.

Reddit API fiasco. Practical issue since I didn’t want to use Reddit’s shitty app for my phone browsing and it was just the writing on the walls.