Some people on Lemmy are getting weird about Piefed lately—accusing it of “stealing” users and driving down Lemmy’s numbers

Some people on Lemmy are getting weird about Piefed lately—accusing it of “stealing” users and driving down Lemmy’s numbers.

But let’s get real. The main reason for Lemmy’s user dip is simple: lemm.ee, its second-biggest instance, shut down. That’s a crater no growth chart recovers from overnight.

And then there’s the long-standing elephant in the room—Lemmy’s tankie reputation. Fair or not, it exists. Some folks don’t want to post on a platform they associate with hardline communism, and they’ve gone looking for alternatives.

Thing is, Lemmy and Piefed aren’t competitors. They federate. You can use Lemmy to reply to a Piefed post. You can use Piefed to comment on a Lemmy thread. That’s federation. That’s the point.

Piefed growing is Lemmy growing. Every healthy, active Fediverse project adds gravity to the whole. It’s not a zero-sum game—it’s an interconnected network. If you want to see the Fediverse win, you should be thrilled Piefed is doing well.

Because when one service grows, the whole thing gets stronger.