Hi folks!

Over the past few months, we have started seeing a significant amount of new user sign-ups. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our new members, and to share some useful resources and info about lemm.ee.

First, some stats

Here is a bar chart of daily new users (this is only counting users which have been approved by our admins):

As you can see from the chart, for most of 2024, we were accepting roughly around 10-20 new users every day. Then, from the start of this year, the daily numbers have been constantly growing. Yesterday, we approved a massive 609 new users on lemm.ee.

The increase in sign-ups is significant enough that I have been taking several steps to improve our monitoring & anti-bot measures, but so far, it seems the vast majority of the new users are completely legitimate real humans! (Thank you all for not being bots 😅)

About lemm.ee

This Lemmy instance is turning 2 years old very soon. It was initially created around the time of the Reddit API changes, when existing Lemmy servers were getting overloaded with new users - lemm.ee was intended to help spread the load. We’re now the second largest Lemmy server when it comes to monthly active users.

Our core philosophy for this instance has always been to treat it as a generic gateway to the Lemmy network. I want to provide our users a stable and reliable home for their Lemmy account, so that they can have easy access to all of their communities, regardless of what instance the community is actually hosted on.

We run on some decently beefy hardware, and our setup is fairly customized in several ways in order to ensure a smooth experience for our users (most of the time, this has worked out quite well!). Our servers are currently hosted in Finland.

Our infrastructure has been funded by the community almost from the start through GitHub sponsorships and Ko-Fi donations. I am sure I speak on behalf all of our users when I say that I am extremely grateful to all supporters - you are really responsible for the continued existence of this instance!

Lemmy itself is open source software, and while it has improved massively during the time I have been using it, it definitely still has some rough edges. Please be patient when using Lemmy, and remember that it is being built collaboratively by humans (not corporations), without any intent of ever turning it into a business.

Useful resources

Don’t forget to participate!

Communities on Lemmy only work if people actively use them. Even upvoting/downvoting based on quality of content is a great start, but I would really like to encourage you all to comment and even write posts, because that’s really the best way to build communities.

If you have any questions or thoughts about lemm.ee or Lemmy in general, feel free to post a comment below this post, and myself or one of our veteran users will definitely respond.

I hope you enjoy your time on lemm.ee, and I wish you all a great week!

  • SpicyMcHaggis@lemm.ee
    1·
    2 days ago

    Signed up awhile back, finally started using it yesterday. Thank you for all the work you all do!

    Using browser and boost for lemmy

    It’s really nice to see this kind of growth because it’s decreasing the overall share of the Lemmy userbase on lemmy.world and therefore increasing the stability of the network. There had been worries that lemmy.world would steadily increase its share of the userbase and become a single point of failure, but that seems increasingly unlikely.

  • imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
    96·
    13 days ago

    Remarkable growth in the past week, and indeed past 3 months. Thank you for providing the stats.

    Lemm.ee and sh.itjust.works had been similar in size for most of 2024 (2500-3500 MAUs), but you’re now nearly twice our size!

    It’s really nice to see this kind of growth because it’s decreasing the overall share of the Lemmy userbase on lemmy.world and therefore increasing the stability of the network. There had been worries that lemmy.world would steadily increase its share of the userbase and become a single point of failure, but that seems increasingly unlikely.

    Lemm.ee has always been a well-run server with great performance and an excellent admin and it’s great to see that new users are choosing an option that will give them the best possible version of what Lemmy can offer.

    • AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee
      18·
      13 days ago

      One of the reasons I use this snippet below to promote Lemmy is that it defaults to lemm.ee and users don’t run into descision fatigue when picking an instance

      Try out the European-Hosted Reddit alternative, Lemmy It also has a Mobile-App

      I use it alongside Reddit, and I’m enjoying it more and more, slowly switching over

      It would be nice if it could also default to eg. sh.itjust.works and other generalist instances

  • lakemalcom10@lemm.ee
    61·
    13 days ago

    I’m a sponsor and I’m not saying this to get thanked or something, I just want to say that I kick in $2 a month. It’s not a ton but if I can help keep this place running then I’m happy to toss a coin to my admin 🙂

    • sunaurus@lemm.eeOP
      40·
      13 days ago

      Thank you very much for the support!

      Our infrastructure costs are currently quite stable at around 200€ per month, and considering that the instance is right now quite decently supporting nearly 6000 monthly active users, you could say that you are indeed relatively contributing a ton - you are effectively covering server costs for 60 people!

      The fact that it’s a monthly amount is particularly great, because with recurring income, we will get advanced warning if there is danger of funds starting to run low.

    • pixelpure@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      I’m using the Voyager app. Do I donate through the website? I want to cover some costs too.

  • CringeWaffle@lemm.ee
    55·
    13 days ago

    Hello lemm.ee!

    I’m one of the 609 new users who joined yesterday 🎉

    At first, I didn’t know much about Lemmy, I just found lemm.ee through join-lemmy.org (filtered by “All topics - english - most active”) and joined because it was the most popular instance…

    Initially, I thought I needed to create an account on every instances I wanted to join to access more content, but after reading a lot of posts (in particular in this community!), I finally understood how federation works.

    Now that I know more about Lemmy and lemm.ee itself, I’m actually really happy with my (uneducated) choice!

    As for the “why now?”, I think like many Reddit users, I’m getting tired of the ongoing ensh*ttification, especially with the recent issues around upvotes… And yesterday was a rainy day, so I took the time to finally understand how Lemmy works, and here I am.

    Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

    • abobla@lemm.ee
      10·
      13 days ago

      I just love when reddit makes crappy decisions, haha.

      Welcome to Lemmy, hope you enjoy!

    • Psythik@lemm.ee
      9·
      13 days ago

      Lemmy.world is bigger but they also have a bit of a reputation. Nothing wrong with that instance, but they’re often disliked by other instances for the same reasons why people from other websites don’t like redditors. Lemm.ee doesn’t have that same stigma from what I’ve seen.

      • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
        5·
        12 days ago

        I use to dislike lemmy.world, because I kept seeing divisive posts from them trying to stir up hate against other instances. I find that kind of unprovoked unnecessary shit-stirring to be ugly.

        But then I realised that these negative posts were always coming from the same couple of users, every time. So it wasn’t because lemmy.world had that attitude, but rather there were a couple of zealots who happen to be on that instance.

        And I think of that whenever someone says bad stuff about other instances; because it’s probably a similar situation - just a couple of people giving the instance a bad rep.

  • pixelpure@lemm.eeEnglish
    47·
    13 days ago

    I’m excited to be part of this growing community! The increased censorship of Reddit and breaking away from U.S. services were the biggest reasons for me trying Lemmy out.

  • DioEgizio [he/they]@lemm.ee
    42·
    13 days ago

    I joined yesterday here too! I already hated reddit for the API thing (even though I use infinity) and for the enshittification that was happening, but censoring Luigi was way too much. Happy that I’m not the only one making the switch

  • Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee
    37·
    13 days ago

    Hey! Any idea on why this wave is happening? Also, how does it compare to the initial Reddit “refugee” wave?

    • SwizzleStick@lemmy.zipEnglish
      49·
      13 days ago

      As for why, it’s probably due to the censorship screws getting tighter at Reddit. Luigi is a bad word. Eating the rich is verboten. Just 2 examples. Interacting/upvoting such content is now also an offense even if you didn’t write it yourself.

      For many, it’s their stop to get off the train. Mine was the API boogaloo.

      • CallateCoyote@lemmy.world
        22·
        11 days ago

        Yep, I’ve been flirting with Lemmy for a year and a half and come here every time Reddit really pisses me off or bans me for something I would have never been banned for 10 years ago.

        I’m not flirting with it anymore. This recent batch of censorship is too much. It’s the last straw. Left my Reddit account for good. I can still use it as a resource to get answers to questions without needing an account.

        • vaguerant@fedia.io
          12·
          13 days ago

          If you’re accustomed to using Reddit via Android, you might like the app Stealth (download from F-Droid, source code at GitLab). It’s a privacy-focussed Reddit scraper/client with no account support. I don’t interact with Reddit any more, but on the rare occasion that I want to check on a community there, it does the job. You can bookmark communities you want to follow and get a feed, all the standard stuff you’d expect to do, besides logging in.

          • CallateCoyote@lemmy.world
            6·
            13 days ago

            I love that idea, thanks. There are smaller communities on there that are going to be hard to replace for information and news on some of my more obscure interests.

    • sunaurus@lemm.eeOP
      28·
      13 days ago

      We had a few really huge days in 2023, but other than those, it seems like the growth so far in March is definitely outpacing our initial wave of new users in 2023.

    • AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee
      27·
      13 days ago

      a big driving force is r/BuyFromEU with 150k active subs and r/BuyCanadian with 300k

      They’re trying to move away from US products, including tech.

      Also the Luigi censorship as mentioned.

      Now is a good time to comment something like this on those subs to help guide people.

      Try out the European-Hosted Reddit alternative, Lemmy
      It also has a Mobile-App

      I use it alongside Reddit, and I’m enjoying it more and more, slowly switching over

    • Flummoxx@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      13 days ago

      I saw a r/YSK (You Should Know) post about Lemmy today and was curious and had some time . I’m intrigued.

      • Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee
        3·
        12 days ago

        My congrats! Hope you enjoy your stay here in the fediverse, and don’t forget to donate to the admin that keeps the server running!

        • Flummoxx@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          12 days ago

          It’s crazy. I loved Digg until I had to go to Reddit to get the experience I loved once Digg began it’s enshitification. Now that Reddit is experiencing enshitification, I’m coming here. I hope this is the next iteration of the pure experience that I’m looking for.

  • Condiment2085@lemm.ee
    351·
    13 days ago

    Just joined a few days ago, actually loving it so far. Of course we lack a few of my fav subs here but I know it’ll grow.

  • Bederckous@lemmy.world
    28·
    13 days ago

    Signed up last night. With the oversight dumpsterfire that reddit has become, I really hope Lemmy continues to grow at a good clip.

  • Foni@lemm.ee
    25·
    13 days ago

    I carry here as a year and a half (before I was in another instance that closed) and I can say that the increase in traffic, participation, comments, vows etc. For a couple of months it is remarkable.

    I don’t know if it’s for Trump pushing Europeans and Candadia outside their products, for Reddit turning its platform into shit full of bots and unpopular standards or a combination of both, but I think that the network and community is doing really good (we even have a community of conservatives, half a year ago something like that would be unthinkable)

    • oblabs@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      13 days ago

      I would say getting banned for upvoting a couple of popular memes becoming the official site policy is definitely going to motivate tons of users to leave and I would also include myself in that group as well

      • Foni@lemm.eeEnglish
        5·
        12 days ago

        I guess everyone has their own turning point, but Reddit seems to have a new controversy every two weeks, so I suppose things will just keep escalating here.

        Personally, I jumped ship during the API controversy, not because it directly affected me, but because ever since I discovered federated networks with Mastodon, I’ve thought it’s the perfect idea (in fact, I had an account on the server that disappeared even before that). I have accounts on all the federated networks, even though I don’t use them much, and I’d love to see them replace the traditional ones.

        In any case, welcome

  • Kuwoka@lemm.eeEnglish
    261·
    13 days ago

    I’ve been wanting to get away from the primary social media platforms because reasons and I’m glad to have found lemm.ee just yesterday! I’m still looking for good alternatives for instagram and youtube but in fairness I haven’t done a lot of research yet. Happy to be apart of something new!