probably because a hashtag is already a thing that means something else in other apps. making hashtag mean a community here would give it 2 meaning depending on the app and that’s not user friendly cause people will make mistakes if they move between apps.
therefore a new character was chosen for communities to avoid such confusion
You already said that
But you didn’t say why Lemmy does not use hashtags for communities.
probably because a hashtag is already a thing that means something else in other apps. making hashtag mean a community here would give it 2 meaning depending on the app and that’s not user friendly cause people will make mistakes if they move between apps.
therefore a new character was chosen for communities to avoid such confusion
I explained that hashtags use the pound symbol already, and usernames use the @ symbol. Communities needed their own symbol.