For me:

1. Privacy reasons. When a comment is "deleted" on Lemmy, the comment is actually only hidden to all except instance administrators. The comment remains on the post and continues to display the poster's username. kbin is also not a beacon of privacy, but it at least removes deleted comments from threads. This is also why I try to interact more on kbin magazines than Lemmy communities.

2. kbin has a sweet community search tool that not only searches kbin magazines, but also Lemmy communities and even Mastodon groups. This means you can easily find communities all across the #Fediverse for any of your interests.

3. kbin has a much nicer/more modern UI. It's got some quirks, but it's easier to read and navigate than Lemmy by default.

4. Customization options! Lemmy has themes, which is cool, but kbin has themes and lots of fun toggles to change your experience.

5. Last but certainly not least, Lemmy devs have a pretty shit stance on human rights. (See here: https://mstdn.social/@feditips/106835057054633379). There are communities like #Beehaw, which are super friendly and non-problematic instances separate from the Lemmy devs, but it's worth noting that instances like Lemmy's flagship instance and Lemmygrad are run by folks with some grossly misguided views.

For me it simply came down to the fact that I prefer the layout, and it's also nice knowing I can block whole domains (looking at you, furry spammers). It also integrates with Mastodon if that's your thing (it's not my thing), and I have high hopes for the ability of Ernest (the founder and only dev, to my knowledge) to usher it in a good and healthy direction. I can see all content from Lemmy and interact with it though, so it really just comes down to personal preference.

Lemmy is developed by tankies who deny and censor talk about human rights violations.

https://kbin.social/m/lemmyworld@lemmy.world/t/47012/-/comment/196579

There is this post by fedi.tips that explicitly warns against using Lemmy because of developer concerns: https://mstdn.social/@feditips/110476830253102884

Lemmy devs are tankies.

The main difference is the UI. A lot of people like the interface of Kbin over Lemmy, but really there's nothing from stopping you choosing one or the other. I'm replying to you now from Lemmy.

A friend told me to try Kbin when the owner of Reddit turned out to be so terrible.

I like it here.

1. I like the UI more
2. Not developed by tankies
3. Catchier name IMO (reminds me of GabeN, while Lemmy makes me think of Lemmings, which isn't the best)
4. Microblogs are neat

Kbin's software is much more impressive to me, despite being a lot newer it's far more robust. Having dual functionality for both threads and microblogs is really cool for the Fediverse.

And yeah, the tankie thing.

Lemmy developers support the CCP and Russia,
Kbin dev doesn't.

I'm new to Lemmy and kbin, so these points may be more a me-thing than a Lemmy/kbin-thing, but from what I can see:

• Accessing Lemmy content from kbin is pretty seamless, but it's difficult to access kbin from Lemmy.

  • Ex) It's easy to access gaming@beehaw.org from kbin by going to https://kbin.social/m/gaming@beehaw.org, but I couldn't find a way to access https://kbin.social/m/Amsterdam from beehaw

• kbin's integration with Mastodon/microblogging fediverses is neat.

• kbin seems to have more magazines catering to more of my specific interests and hobbies, while Lemmy's communities are more generic.

• This is specific to the instance I am on (beehaw.org), but I can't access the Lemmy instance when I'm using ProtonVPN.

• I just read through the Mastodon thread on how the Lemmy developers are not consistent with their own policies of human rights. While that doesn't automatically mean that Lemmy is bad, I feel more comfortable using software by developers who are not known to be "tankies".

1. Better UI
2. the initial lemmy instance I had was error-filled
3. Microblogging built in

Wider layout, actually black text (compared to Lemmingish grey), and clearly distinguished boxes with comments. Plus several "skins", including solarized light and dark. Less eye strain.

Kbin has access to lemmy stuff and mastodon stuff without needing multiple accounts/sites/apps.

Also I heard some rumors about tankies and that sounds like drama I'd like to avoid. I believe there are other instances not involving them but it's confusing about what instance to sign up on when you're new.

I like the looks and the features of kbin. I looked at lemmy a year ago but the whole communist vibe on the, then only, instances was too much for me. There are more "normal" instances now, but I still gravitated towards kbin more.

100% because the tankie thing.
A long-time believer of "you can't separate art from the artist".

Mainly better UI, less questionable dev, and better support with mastodon if I chose to browse mastodon.

When the blackout came, Lemmy had some dissent (people couldn’t fully recommend it). A community about Kbin got banned and I came and looked at it. I just liked the way it looked.

Took a bit to get used to it, but the layout makes sense and it made me look into Mastodon.

Once federation kicked in, I could easily see posts from everywhere here, and the local magazines had nice people. Didn’t see a reason to look elsewhere.

I can’t speak to “why not Lemmy”, but genuinely I like it here and don’t see a reason to go elsewhere

Better layout, and it was showing me all the Lemmy threads anyway.

Lemmy wouldn't let me create an account after several attempts.