cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/65824884
Hey everyone
We’re really sorry to say this, but lemm.ee will be shutting down on June 30, 2025.
What you need to know
As of now:
- New user registrations are disabled
- Creating new communities is disabled
What you should do:
- You can export your settings at https://lemm.ee/settings to take them with you to another instance.
- If you’re moving to another instance, consider adding a note to your lemm.ee profile with your new username. Your old profile will still be visible from other instances even after we go offline.
- Alternatively, if you want to delete your lemm.ee profile, now is the best time to do it, so the deletion can federate out before we go offline.
- If you’re one of the folks supporting us with a recurring donation, please remember to cancel it (Ko-Fi donations should have been cancelled automatically already). Our leftover funds are already enough to cover our bills for next month, so we can keep things running without any more support.
Because of how Lemmy is built, everything posted on lemm.ee will still be accessible from other instances, even after we go offline.
Why this is happening
The key reason is that we just don’t have enough people on the admin team to keep the place running. Most of the admin team has stepped down, mostly due to burnout, and finding replacements hasn’t worked out.
The sad reality is that while there are a lot of great people on Lemmy, there are also some who use the platform to attack others, stir up conflict, or actively try to undermine the project. Admins are volunteers who deal with the latter group on a constant basis, this takes a mental toll. Please understand why our admins chose to step down, and be kind to the admins on whatever instance you decide to join.
We know this sucks. We’re genuinely sorry it’s ending like this. Thank you to everyone who spent time here and helped make it better.
– lemm.ee team
Thank you and the admin team, past and present, for their time and care.
Damn, even if it was to be excepted with how the admin issue was evolving, it’s still sad.
But i guess the strengh of the fediverse come from the fact that such an issue can happen without impacting the entire lemmy community as a whole.
I’m just worried that the lack of moderation becomes a recurrent issue in the future of lemmy with the userbase growth and the lack of revenue.
I wish best luck for communities moderators and EE users!
What’s really disappointing is that I just made my Lemm.ee account because Lemmy.One had announced they were closing down. Kinda disheartening to make a new account only for the new instance to also shutdown.
It was the first foray into the fediverse and helped wean me off reddit. Sad to see it go.
The settings import / export feature is extremely cool.
Reminds me of the many times I was banned from reddit for no good reason and then had to reset every one of my subs. So much easier, and just goes to back up the decentralized philosophy of lemmy.
so where do i go now?
Please say it ain’t so. I know it’s hard work, but hang in there. The trolling is on hyperdrive now so that people don’t act at this critical moment. Reddit sold out because of Elon Musk, and there is a new need for Lemmy because of it. I would forgive you if you did ads or used AI to moderate. The point is, either we fight the trolls online from the safety of our homes or we will have to deal with them in real life. Trust me, you don’t want that. These are real people with a sick agenda, they are 1000 times worse in the flesh. If you need help, PM me. I’m sure others will step up to the plate. Anyone here willing to help Lemmy, please say you will in the comments.
I’ve only been on Lemmy for a year, but this feels pretty significant. How do we prevent this from happening to other instances? Or do we not see it as a huge problem if we assume most active users will migrate to other Lemmy instances?
Also side note, I think Voyager defaults to lemm.ee.
I literally just woke up and opened Lemmy to see this. As a lemm.ee user this is sad news but I respect the decision of all those involved as they navigate this
aww man, this is actually depressing. Hope Lemmy as a whole grows back better after this blows over. o7
So long, and thanks for all the fish! o7
This is sad, but also not unexpected. I’d noticed a lack of engagement from their admin team for a while, and very often they wouldn’t respond to reports. Still sad to see them go, and also slightly worrying since there are a lot of active communities on there and many many users.
The OP has comments disabled and it didn’t seem right to not say thank you and goodbye.
To the entire team past and present at lemm.ee- Thank you for the time and resources you poured into this platform. You will undoubtedly be missed.
why are comments even disabled in the first place?
Probably because if they were enabled it would be filled with people soapboxing about their irrelevant hobbyhorses or offering to help just to keep the instance alive. Neither are useful or relevant. If people wanted the instance to survive then they should have been volunteering months ago, not at 11:59 on the Doomsday Clock.
The sad thing is that nobody knew there was a doomsday clock.
There always is. No one is getting paid to do this, they’re giving up their free time and (often) money. Leaving it to the last minute to volunteer or donate is never sustainable long-term. If people really care so much and are willing to sacrifice either, they need to be proactive rather than wait for emergency pleas for help.
On the other hand, as far as I can tell, they only called for new admins/mods 4 months ago and not since then. I agree that if you care about something, you should support it and not wait until they cry for help, but there is also a matter of being proactive and transparent about how volunteer recruitment is going (well or badly).
Completely. This feels like a major communications fail. It’s a basic technique of fundraising and mobilization: put a big ticking clock on your campaign and people will step up in time.
Yet, they’re entitled to their own decisions, triumphs and failures. So, they can shutdown the instance. Now, it would be a different thing if people really want them to be around again, raise some money, grab a backup, buy the domain name, let’s gooo!! …or not. Fine by me. If only 2 users from the instance decided to start a new one this is a huge win :)
I think you’re missing the point. The call for new admin volunteers was stickied by the instance for an extended period. Even using an app rather than the web interface, it was stuck at the top of my feed until I hid the post.
The group of people who ignored that call to action yet would have volunteered with a follow-up post of a “big ticking clock” as it were, aren’t necessarily the type of people you want to admin an instance. Especially one as big as lemm.ee. Certainly, if any admin will do then increasing recruitment efforts makes sense.
… They are literally saying they don’t have admins/mods enough. You want to strain your mods? Allowing comments on that sort of post is how you do that.
it could have been a cool free 4 all like in the good old internet times xD
Yeah sure its all fun and games until people start posting csam.
He said he’s fine with csam on lemmy, as it will be voted away
“Think of the kids”
Seriously, I have enough of people using this kind of reasoning for censoring everything and having strong moderation. I’m pretty sure nearly no one does that
then block them with your user power. i dont see the problem?
The problem, besides that just being gross, is that hosting csam is a very serious crime in most places. Leaving that unmoderated can very easily end with alphabet agencies from around the world shutting down lemmy instances.
And hosting CSAM is immoral.
CSAM stands for Child Sexual Abuse Material (child porn under its old moniker).
I’m going to assume you didn’t know what the acronym meant because saying “just block them I don’t see the problem” to CSAM posts is very idiotic.
Removed by mod
Yes officer, this one right here.
good
Was it?
its probably because its just an important announcement post they plan to pin for the whole month and they dont want it to get filled with people talking in it which could led to the comment derailing the discussion
❤️
I’ll need some time to find where to migrate, if at all. Lemm.ee was very well managed and I would’ve gladly volunteered to help out. My bad for not paying closer attention sooner.
Soon to be homeless noob here, shopping for a new home. Is there an easy way to see what instance X has defederated from? I’m looking for an instance that doesn’t defederate much (as I just aggressively block the specific communities inside of questionable instances). Looking for an instance with few technical issues/downtime that doesn’t defederate from NSFW/piracy, etc
