this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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General Discussion

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It feels like people are a lot nicer here than on Twitter and Reddit, and even when people disagree, it's generally civil and not an all-out flame war. Also, there's no algorithm promoting outrage all the time.

For me, the anticipation of toxicity was a huge deterrent for me ever participating in real discussions, but here I feel like I can be myself.

I think it's healthier this way.

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[–] Michal@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 years ago

Reddit used to be like that too, but those people gravitate to the community eventually. I think best we can do is recognize the behaviour early and down vote it on sight.

[–] ExtraordinaryJoe@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Give it time. Should it become more popular the trolls will come. In fact I've seen a few already (some anti Ukraine posts makes me think those were professionals trying to shift opinion, but what do I know).

[–] FatLegTed@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So far. One the nob ends find a way in it'll not be as friendly, that's why blocking them and their instances promptly is important. I saw something on blocklists the other day and will look into that. I may be totally wrong, but to me it sounds like the filters we'd use in uBlock Origin or similar. Sounds good to me.

[–] Magiwarriorx@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I did see a theory that part of the vibe is the result of federation itself. People drift to instances that align with them and their views, and instances have defederated each other based on hate or trolls. Basically the trolls start quarantining themselves.

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[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Agreed, on other platforms, as a generic trans girl, just existing there was call to action to yell at anything and everything I said or did or anything. I had boost when I was on Reddit and my filter of people and subreddits was extreme because of the hate they had.

I only had to block sp*ders because of a extreme fear. Feels nice here.

[–] DigitalFreedom@reddthat.com 9 points 2 years ago

Agreed. It’s peaceful for now at least, if the Fediverse becomes a huge mainstream thing; we’ll likely be right back at square one as far as community goes unfortunately. Right now, I guess people are nicer on the Fediverse because a lot of less-tech savy people believe there’s some sort of barrier to entry even when there really isn’t, essentially making the majority of people that join more deliberate in their intent to interact with a community as opposed to people on Reddit who might sign up just to insult everyone because in their mind, it’s just that simple.

The big advantage that the Fediverse has is that due to its decentralization, instances can govern their own communities in all sorts of unique ways.

So if the Fediverse ever becomes as big as Reddit and we end up with a bunch of trolls and toxic people; there could be your general public instances, but I imagine there would be more exclusive servers where the only way you could get in is perhaps by some sort of vetting that ensures you’ll be a good internet citizen so to speak; that could be anything from proving you have a good track record on public instances to downright having instances that aren’t meant to be interacted with anonymously such as small town communities and professional networking where you just get vetted with your identity.

It opens up a whole new variety of possibilities that would’ve been so much more difficult with Reddit; especially with everything being at the discretion of a single entity; with the Fediverse. It’ll be ran by many different people hopefully and we won’t face those same problems :)

[–] throws_lemy@lemmy.nz 9 points 2 years ago

Also, there's no algorithm promoting outrage all the time.

Here's why, there's no algorithm to promote certain posts unlike twitter, facebook, youtube etc

[–] Billy_Gnosis@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

I agree in general, however they are here as well. Already experienced it myself. Those types will never go away completely.

[–] mintiefresh@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 years ago

Yeah I've definitely found my voice here on Lemmy... And it might be for this reason.

I hope it can stay like this......ofc it won't. But I hope.

[–] IonAddis@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I've been telling all my friends this feels like the old internet, like early 2000s. It's been great.

I'm hoping at least some younger folks are around so they can experience something they might not have before.

[–] micanite@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Let's enjoy it while it lasts

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[–] Ggtfmhy@lemmy.fmhy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I just hate how “toxic cesspool” is the default. I was just watching a short video on YouTube about the US city of Baltimore, a place I heard about from an old family friend who studied at Hopkins many years ago.

The video was about the city’s decline, with the primary cause (according to the video) being the hollowing out of the manufacturing and logistics industries. The channel, Forgotten Places, doesn’t strike me as one that toxic people would be flooding to (those channels exist).

Can you guess what every other comment is about? Hint: it’s not the abandonment of productive industry. A small number of comments name more historical industrial employers that have left the city, but by far the comments with the most upvotes are “we all know we can’t discuss what happened to Baltimore 😉😉😉😉😉”

[–] notavote@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I think that is because all those sites (youtube, twitter, facebook, reddit,...) are promoting "user engagement" or whatever they call it, so they made algorithms that promote it. Of course, that means they promote toxicity and agruments, easiest way to motivate people to comment.

So the whole network becomea unhealthy and toxic.

That's also the reason I am against federating with them.

[–] Thcgrasscity@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ive encountered a few, and i think had a post deleted. Sure it was kinda low effort but i learned that old plates had lead on them so i shared. And some jesse dude got offended by it being low quality fear mongering even though its a fact the plate have lead paint. Kinda puts me off the TiL here.

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[–] amenotef@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

In my case it's like sitting to discuss on a table with 10 people versus 300 where noise is much bigger.

[–] the_kung_fu_emu@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Exactly the same here! I lurked on Reddit for yeeears (like, the pre Pao days). I made one post in a very specialized sub, and three general comments elsewhere. The post went well, I got a quick answer but it really could have been an e-mail or forum post. The general comments were absolute DUMPSTER FIRES, and so I never did engage or contribute.

Lemmy has been so different, the community is smaller, but every post interaction I've had it feels like the folks I am engaging with read what I wrote and are making a good faith effort.

After the last ten years of social media, it's a little... weird. But good weird. "Oh, this is what it's supposed to be like."

[–] rarely@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago

Not yet. I am working on, it give it time.

[–] Uriel238@lemmy.fmhy.ml 5 points 2 years ago (4 children)

My early Reddit experience was scary that way. I'd quickly learn the hard way (e.g. with antics and misunderstanding) that the name of a subreddit was either an early intention or an inside joke (that I didn't fully get).

Far right subs banhammered me for failing to speak the newspeak and signaling appropriate allegiances. Far left subs banhammered me for... saying something tankie-adjacient, I guess? I'm still not sure what atlantism is.

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[–] A_Wild_Zeus_Chase@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think part of it is early adopters of any new, not-yet-mainstream technology are more open to differences, after all, we’re all doing something different.

Also, when you’re an early part of something, you want it to be the best that it can be, whereas when you are part of this massive corporate social network you don’t feel that same responsibility.

[–] praxician@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I first joined reddit back around 2009 and this is pretty much how it was back then. Small discussions, generally pretty friendly. Discussion was ok, debate would usually have sources to back up claims. I wonder if anybody else here is from that time. It was about when Snoo became the official mascot, there was that narwhal bacon slogan, the scandal with the biologist that we all loved until it was discovered he was pumping up his own posts and comments with alts. Good times. I wonder if Lemmy will follow the same path

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[–] stillline@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago
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