- cross-posted to:
- datenvisualisierung@feddit.de
- wolnyinternet@szmer.info
Two timelines I created of the total users at the top 10 Lemmy instances as a bar chart race and as a line chart. The line chart only includes the current top 10 Lemmy instances as of the 9th of June 2023 because Flourish only allows ten lines at a time.
I used the Federation to determine the current top 10 Lemmy instances as of the 9th of June and the 14th of July 2023. The website only has sorting function for the current data, and the instances have to opt in to be included. Therefore, it is likely that some instances are not included. Furthermore, the website seems to only contain data from the last year, so the website do not have documentation on the top instances prior to this period. Additionally, I excluded instances that have had quick growth in total users but not in posts and comments.
Why is lemmygrad so popular?
If I remember my Lemmy history right (someone correct me)…
In the early days of Lemmy, everyone was on one instance (lemmy.ml). The founding Lemmy developers (and their friends, I guess) were tankies. At some point they decided to make Lemmy more attractive to the general population, and make the flagship lemmy.ml less overtly Marxist-Leninist/offputting. So they split lemmy.ml into 2: lemmy.ml for non-commie stuff, and lemmygrad.ml for commie stuff. Since the bulk of Lemmy users in the early days were still tankies (or their friends), they were still generally using both instances very heavily.
The day that lemmygrad.ml ceases to be the #2 instance and becomes just another niche-interest instance is the day we can say Lemmy has truly become mainstream, I think.
All the cancerous social rejects and useful idiots. Wouldn’t be surprised ir it’s being propped up by Russian/Chinese propaganda machine either. At least I sincerely hope some of the people there are not real.
Tankies are the persistent type.
I had to look up what a tankie was. Back in the day, we called them ‘pinkos’.