We out here!
I've been a full-time lurker only at Reddit for over 10 years, never made a single comment there. Never even created an account. I suppose I don't have any interesting reasons other than I never really had a desire to engage in those communities but did like it as a lookup resource. I'm an 'internet old-fart' that has always preferred forums and even ran a few back in the day.
The fediverse is the first 'newer' social system that gives me those old-school forum vibes while at the same time being fresh and more connected. It feels like this is one of those 'shifts' in internet history and is a good time to hop back on the internet social train.
Agreed.
I’ve never really experienced that so much since I didn’t actually engage with Reddit but I understand what you mean. In the forum days, we used to do ‘Post Exchanges’ or other events with other communities (shout-out to ye old: https://www.theadminzone.com) to try and increase engagement. This federation system is the perfect evolution of that, its like having all of these forum communities but we can all see and interact with each other.
My only concern is that like most things, if/once it gets popular it will start attracting more of the worst of the internet (and humanity). Right now people flocking here are usually more technically inclined or those willing to put more effort into trying something new. But hopefully this is were federation can help some as its much easier to have separate communities that make it less effective for bots, trolls and other degenerates to overtake, thus keeping the content appealing and interesting to engage with.