

how are piefed and lemmy different from one another
Think of “the fediverse” as a language spoken; Lemmy and Piefed (and Mastodon, Misskey, etc.) all speak the same language (ActivityPub) but they have different regional accents, so how the language sounds is a bit different depending on who you’re talking with at the moment. Each speaker has their local idioms and slang, if you will.
For Fediverse users, the interaction is mostly at (a) the web browser layer, and (b) the phone app layer. The piefed and lemmy softwares are written in different programming languages, have slightly different features and look slightly different in your browser - sort of how a Honda and Nissan are close, but different.
Same for phone apps, but “not the same” since many fediverse apps support multiple services, like the Android app “Fedilab” - they can support many at once by speaking the ActivityPub language generically and implement custom features for each type on their own. (meaning independent development of the language, ensuring that the language itself, ActivityPub, is conformant).
Edit: picture is worth a thousand words - view these two presentations of the same content, this post with our comments:
Colors, layout, element positions (links etc.) are all just a wee bit different between them but it’s all just wrapping the same content in different views. I personally feel Piefed has a lot of work to do to make their webUI appealing to me and it’s what keeps me from using it as I use the browser a lot.
Even if it’s not misery per se, it’s an opportunity to find a current partner who holds more interest in shared hobbies (travel e.g.) or even find such a partner while traveling! Ending the current relationship now on a good (better?) note instead of letting it fester and breed resentment is worth a lot in my opinion. Part as friends or friendly if possible.