I think it’s a cool idea, and it could be the best way to help users on Reddit learn about Lemmy and migrate over.

I have some concerns though

What I like:

If you go to communities like !datahoarder@selfhosted.forum, you can see what I mean. Lemmy commenters are generally more helpful, more detailed, and get to the posts a lot faster than Reddit users.

If I understand correctly, once the network is implemented:

  1. Reddit user signs up on Fediverser
  2. Reddit user posts on a subreddit that has a Lemmy equivalent
  3. Post is crossposted to Lemmy
  4. When a Lemmy user replies to the post, that comment is reposted by a bot on Reddit

Users on the Reddit post will:

  • learn about Lemmy
  • see the good quality reply (if the reply is good, Reddit mods won’t ban the bot)
  • get a direct link to a community/instance relevant to them

Users in the Lemmy community will

  • get more content from people that are already curious about Lemmy

That would be really cool!

HOWEVER

Right now, the network isn’t fully implemented. Instead, in communities like !datahoarder@selfhosted.forum, there is a flood of ALL content that is posted in the respective subreddit.

This is bad because:

  • Lemmy users don’t know that no human will see their replies, and the helpful Lemmy users are just talking to a wall. This will make them… less helpful in the future
  • Because ALL content is being mirrored, this spams out the actual Lemmy posts
  • Reddit users have no idea, and no control, over whether their posts are mirrored. I only noticed on the datahoarder community, but there are more sensitive subreddits where I would want control over where it is posted. I would also need a way to delete the content from Lemmy, and right now the users can’t do that.

Proposed fixes

  • Don’t mirror all content, only the stuff from Reddit users that sign up. There is already an incentive for signing up (more replies, better replies, better reach). If a user doesn’t sign up, their post will not be mirrored, and they will not get the benefit.
  • If two communities WANT full mirroring, let them decide and have them contact directly (ex. from Modmail). Encourage them to talk to their communities before deciding
  • Any automated post NEEDS a note saying so
    • Posts to Lemmy should have a link to the Reddit user, the Reddit post, and an “about” page for Fediverser
    • Comments to Reddit should have a link to the Lemmy comment, an “about” page for Fediverser, and a link to some “what is lemmy”/“new to lemmy” article.
  • If it’s not being implemented like the above, maybe change it up to consider the points about user control

As it is, reposting everything is damaging to Lemmy and potentially harmful to Reddit users that don’t know their stuff is being mirrored.