what was Lemmy before this?

A microscopic collective few had ever heard of.

And what is it now?

That same thing, just slightly less microscopic.

Honestly while I'm obviously still here, anyone pretending this is any sort of apples-to-apples replacement of the overall Reddit community is only engaging in so much wishful thinking.

Not that it's impossible for Lemmy to get there eventually, but it's not even close to it, and honestly I really don't see it happening.