As a result, our instance https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/ got 625 new user registrations (of which 536 where accepted) in the past 24 hours! And the registrations are not abating even now. We still get like 10 new ones per hour!
I suspect this is probably the largest advertisement, for lemmy specifically, since the main reddit blackouts 1.5 years ago.
Have your own instances also seen an influx of new users?
I’ve noticed that every different social media medium/site has its own Eternal September moment. I think, optimistically, that we’re still before that point. If we get popular and the general population arrives, it’ll also attract the predatory ecosystem of state actors and corporate bullshit.
I think Lemmy and the Fediverse in general is resistant to that, but not immune. I expect an effort to create One Big Instance that most people use, or an oligarchy of large instances working together, like Microsoft and Gmail and co do with email.
Lemmy has a long way to go before eternal September to be sure. It’s once people don’t know individual commenters across the entire platform we might get there, but as is the regular users are unlikely to get drowned out anytime soon.