diff --git a/nixpatches/2023-06-10-lemmy-downgrade.patch b/nixpatches/2023-06-10-lemmy-downgrade.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd441e652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixpatches/2023-06-10-lemmy-downgrade.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+diff --git a/pkgs/servers/web-apps/lemmy/pin.json b/pkgs/servers/web-apps/lemmy/pin.json
+index 5b7b9aa49a5..6cd30d294d8 100644
+--- a/pkgs/servers/web-apps/lemmy/pin.json
++++ b/pkgs/servers/web-apps/lemmy/pin.json
+@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+ {
+-  "version": "0.17.3",
+-  "serverSha256": "sha256-BOYJQLxamzfHKzfbzJEL3BEwPAlJegc+BBi0eSxuTW4=",
+-  "serverCargoSha256": "sha256-gYWcaSIPR8FXk6blzEnuN27v5fushwk4LJEl6g3W+W8=",
++  "version": "88a0d2feec3f9b4a06f2d8d090894111afcbd9e2",
++  "serverSha256": "sha256-jVa7SckpH21TG+i1yjJOkhEgjnZ0Zgk2IUP7sCdtv1Y=",
++  "serverCargoSha256": "sha256-trp/TCGtAtZlKdZk2CaJ3E9Lj95cq797PLWUF/DD6/M=",
+   "uiSha256": "sha256-MsQjfX0hS1eZMQql7xWQZKAM2H4EzbbLKZcAw4mfiCE=",
+   "uiYarnDepsSha256": "sha256-aZAclSaFZJvuK+FpCBWboGaVEOEJTxq2jnWk0A6iAFw="
+ }
diff --git a/nixpatches/list.nix b/nixpatches/list.nix
index b48190c8c..539ab7743 100644
--- a/nixpatches/list.nix
+++ b/nixpatches/list.nix
@@ -152,6 +152,17 @@ in [
   # Jellyfin: don't build via `libsForQt5.callPackage`
   ./2023-06-06-jellyfin-no-libsForQt5-callPackage.patch
 
+  # pin to a pre-0.17.3 release
+  # removing this and using stock 0.17.3 causes:
+  #   INFO lemmy_server::code_migrations: No Local Site found, creating it.
+  #   Error: LemmyError { message: None, inner: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "local_site_site_id_key", context: "SpanTrace" }
+  # more specifically, lemmy can't find the site because it receives an error from diesel:
+  #   Err(DeserializationError("Unrecognized enum variant"))
+  # this is likely some mis-ordered db migrations
+  # or perhaps the whole set of migrations here isn't being running right.
+  # related: <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/236890#issuecomment-1585030861>
+  ./2023-06-10-lemmy-downgrade.patch
+
   # for raspberry pi: allow building u-boot for rpi 4{,00}
   # TODO: remove after upstreamed: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/176018
   #   (it's a dupe of https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/112677 )