As you can see from the screenshot, we have been the top community on Lemmygrad for this month. This is likely due to the sudden influx of users following the Reddit ban. However, as time goes on, I would expect this to fluctuate again as the new Lemmy users find their way across this platform and gain more familiarity with different communities on the Lemmyverse.

With this likely upcoming change in mind, I created this post after I had this conversation right here, where some users pointed out the difference in reach between Reddit and Lemmygrad.

On the old sub, we had an automod (preprogrammed responses) that provided short answers to the same frequently asked questions that we have all seen many times. For example, typing !holodomor would trigger an automod reply with a short introduction and additional links and information for further reading on the topic.

Example of automod reply for !holodomor

The Holodomor

Marxists do not deny that a famine happened in the Soviet Union in 1932. In fact, even the Soviet archive confirms this. What we do contest is the idea that this famine was man-made or that there was a genocide against the Ukrainian people. This idea of the subjugation of the Soviet Union’s own people was developed by Nazi Germany, in order to show the world the terror of the “Jewish communists.”

There have been efforts by anti-Communists and Ukrainian nationalists to frame the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 as “The Holodomor” (lit. “to kill by starvation” in Ukrainian). Framing it this way serves two purposes:

  1. It implies the famine targeted Ukraine.
  2. It implies the famine was intentional.

The argument goes that because it was intentional and because it mainly targeted Ukraine that it was, therefore, an act of genocide. This framing was originally used by Nazis to drive a wedge between the Ukrainian SSR (UkSSR) and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In the wake of the 2004 Orange Revolution, this narrative has regained popularity and serves the nationalistic goal of strengthening Ukrainian identity and asserting the country’s independence from Russia.

Additional Resourcs:

While such automod responses were very useful on a platform like Reddit (where all sorts of users might get recommended the subreddit or a particularly popular post among their suggestions), those automod responses are less relevant on Lemmygrad itself because of its nature (an openly Marxist-Leninist forum with a registration procedure) and its defederation from other instances (defederation simply means other instances are no longer allowed to interact with/view content of Lemmygrad itself).

Lemmygrad has already defederated from more reactionary, liberal or “apolitical” instances. To my knowledge, these are all the instances that do not allow Lemmygrad to interact with their own instances:

I got the above list from here, where you can read some of the instances’ own “reasoning” for defederating from Lemmygrad…

TLDR from here ↓

So, while Lemmygrad is clearly a safe space for Marxist discussion where there is less harassment from anti communists, this comes with limited reach outside Marxist communities and posts/comments from Lemmygrad will not appear on those instances, limiting cross-instance visibility.

This is not necessarily a drawback, of course. For example, from my point of view, being on a platform like Lemmygrad involves fewer daily actions required as a mod than I had to perform on Reddit. But if you are one of the users that joined more recently, you might see it differently. So it really depends.

That is why I am opening this discussion, to hear more opinions from the very same users that interact with this community.

Do you see Lemmygrad primarily as a great space for studying theory among fellow communists and building solidarity in a protected space? Or maybe you think the Deprogram is more about outreach and engaging with a broader leftist audience (including those not yet Marxist)? Or maybe something else entirely?

Feel free to express your thoughts and opinions on this, so that we can have a better understanding of the type of user that interact with this community.

  • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
    39·
    7 days ago

    As I understand it, Lemmygrad does not de-federate from any instances. Those instances de-federated from Lemmygrad in order to censor their own communities from communist discourse. They are run by fascists. World made a big show about it. Acting like heros for blocking Lemmygrad. You want to make you own instance in order to do outreach? Lemmygrad was already spreading left wing discourse. The fascists blocked it. You think they won’t block your instance of you try doing the same thing?

    • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml
      18·
      6 days ago

      Yes, we only de-federate from spam and porn instances. This means technically you can read comments from worlders on say lemmy.ml, but they won’t see your reply. Other users however might still see it. Defederation is one-way, and lemmy.world is able to refederate with us at any time, they just choose not to.

    • Horse {they/them}@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      32·
      7 days ago

      .world is also famous for de-federating from hexbear - preemptively, but only as a last resort! before hexbear even had federation turned on

      if this seems like a nonsensical series of words, that’s because it is

      • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
        23·
        7 days ago

        That’s what I was thinking about yeah. They pissed and shit their pants when they heard hexbear was federating. They knew they wouldn’t be able to control that narrative.

  • VladimirLimeMint@lemmygrad.ml
    21·
    6 days ago

    Time for some dbzer0 lore, back when they formed anarchism sub there was an actual fed informant on the sub, that same fed infiltrated antiwork, OWS, anonymous, lgbt and dozen of other “anarchist” subs. dbzer0 knew about that shit for years but keep it shut. They also know about Raddle aggressive takeover of anarchism sub. Prove me wrong that dbzer0 isn’t a fed by now. They used to even have a post complaining about the informant.

  • prof_tincoa@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    29·
    7 days ago

    Do you see Lemmygrad primarily as a great space for studying theory among fellow communists and building solidarity in a protected space?

    That’s what I’d prefer. I like having a safe, moderated communist space. The level of discussion rises when you’re not debating Stalin’s big spoon, or some other western/imperialist/liberal propaganda.

    • Ancient_Egg_57@lemmygrad.mlOPM
      22·
      6 days ago

      That’s incredibly accurate. On a personal note, it also makes my own browsing experience more pleasant when I can interact with well intentioned users who are simply chatting about theory and sharing memes.

      I like having a safe, moderated communist space

      Thank you for the clear answer!

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmygrad.ml
    261·
    7 days ago

    Not a consistent deprogram listener or subreddit user, just a commie that uses Hexbear.net, Lemmygrad.ml, and Lemmy.ml.

    Personally, I think everyone that wants to do agitprop should have a Lemmy.ml account, while also using Lemmygrad.ml/hexbear.net as a space to study theory and hang out with fellow communists. Keep the agitprop on one side, and the fun hang out space and theory discussion here. By building up spaces we control, it’s better for learning, while also allowing us to engage on our own terms in spaces others can widely see. My ML reading list is hosted on Lemmy.ml for this reason, and my own discussions on Lemmy.ml have done a fair job and seen a good deal of success, while also depending on these spaces for theory, discussion, and coherent analysis of modern events.

    Essentially, I see it as us needing to maintain our own spaces, while agitating elsewhere and bringing comrades over to our side. We should even still be on Reddit, X, etc and bring people to Lemmy, Mastodon, etc, focusing on building up these better spaces and bringing people over at the same time. It’s functionally the same stance as Lenin in “Left-Wing” Communism.

    • Ancient_Egg_57@lemmygrad.mlOPM
      16·
      7 days ago

      Not a consistent deprogram listener or subreddit user

      dean-frown

      just a commie

      dean-smile

      Funnies aside, my personal opinion is quite similar to yours, especially the “Keep the agitprop on one side, and the fun hang out space and theory discussion here” part.

      On Reddit, the Deprogram sub operated in a very similar fashion I would say. We frequently had new users who were just checking out the sub (maybe after interacting with a leftist post on Reddit or after listening to the podcast) as well as a portion of our users who were more familiar with theory and were there to answer questions and share memes.

      It could be argued that Lemmy.ml - being the largest openly leftist instance that hasn’t defederated from most liberal/reactionary instances - would be the closest thing available on the Lemmyverse to Reddit as a whole (no offence to Lemmy.ml of course. I’m not trying to insult this platform by comparing it to one openly defending Zionists and their genocide).

      And I’ve often seen your excellent reading list here, just like I’ve seen it being used by users that were not from 1 of those 3 main leftist instances. That level of usefulness and reach is in part what inspired me to write this whole post

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmygrad.ml
        12·
        7 days ago

        Yep, fully aligned! Lemmy.ml is IMO the best spot for agitprop on Lemmy. Lemmy.world is too hostile to leftists and removes our content, so it’s much harder to do, but also on Lemmy.ml everyone can see it! It’s still work, but not an uphill battle. And thanks for the kind words!

        For what it’s worth, I’ve watched Second Thought and Hakim for years, as well as a bit of Yugopnik, just not a big podcast guy, haha. I do tune in from time to time though!

  • Kras Mazov@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    19·
    7 days ago

    I think other comrades already gave pretty good answers here, and I absolutely agree with comrade Cowbee’s comment, even tho I personally don’t have another Lemmy account because that is a bit too much for me at the moment (being socially anxious, depressed and not nearly well read enough to interact in an effective way outside of a few topics sucks).

    I didn’t interact in The Deprogram subreddit (I don’t interact on Reddit much at all), but I usually lurked there from time to time and always saw posts every now and then on the timeline, and I think it is great we have y’all here on the grad! It’s also cool that it serves as an alternative/complement to chapotraphouse in our sister instance Hexbear (love you all too my dope ass shaped queer comrades!! 🫶).

    Honestly I think the automated comments are very useful, and even tho we are widely defederated since libs can’t handle anything outside of the US state department line, there are some sizable instances that still federate with us like lemmy.zip for example and the few libs at lemmy.ml that might roam here and so it could be beneficial to have such automated replies. There might also be people that join us but aren’t very knowledgeable on these topics and it could be a good way for informing them when they ask about it, because of that I think it would even be beneficial for these auto replies to be available instance wise for us, not only limited to the Deprogram comm.

      • Kras Mazov@lemmygrad.ml
        10·
        6 days ago

        Oh I didn’t mean that they would defederate, just that there are a few libs in there, although most of users there are completely fine from my experience. It’s great that Lemmy is made by two Marxists (although Nutomic is a transphobe last I checked 😮‍💨). In fact, that’s part of the reason Piefed exists since they can’t cope with Marxists developing something.

    • Ancient_Egg_57@lemmygrad.mlOPM
      6·
      6 days ago

      I think it is great we have y’all here on the grad! It’s also cool that it serves as an alternative/complement to chapotraphouse in our sister instance Hexbear (love you all too my dope ass shaped queer comrades!! 🫶)

      hexbear-pride stalin-heart flag-gay-pride

      Honestly I think the automated comments are very useful…

      Completely agreed! And from what I have seen so far, I think it would be possible to have an automated reply here on Lemmy too (that is my personal suspicion at least 😅). But I wanted to have such a post first to gauge the community’s opinions before investing time and resources into an automated reply. Especially because, considering one of the skills of the users of r/TheDeprogram was to dunk on the occasional libs who decided to be toxic, I would very much like to give them the same type of tools to be effective dunkers on Lemmy as well lol

  • dg2jeng@lemmygrad.ml
    15·
    7 days ago

    im new to the whole lemmy thing and admittedly im still sort of confused on how it works but I have appreciated the space. not only is it a solid ML space but I’ve noticed the culture is a bit different from communist communities on reddit. it is very nice, but am curious what viewing apps you use? I’m using blorp but its sometimes buggy

  • Malkhodr @lemmygrad.ml
    9·
    7 days ago

    I’m going to paste a comment I made on a previous post for the sake of feedback, as I was suggested to do so:

    I tend to use grad as a hub for information, which I then use in more pilubluc forums and settings. However if we’re interested in facilitating people to move away from corporate social media to federated alternatives, we want them to come here ideally, and for that we must build the infrastructure to accommodate that.

    Part of that is accessible information, (I get extremely annoyed by the search function on the jerboa app), along with welcoming communities. Sometimes people can be a bit quick to go on the attack I’ve noticed, though it’s not exactly unwarranted.