OK so if you feel Lemmy has been trending towards hostility in the past weeks ppease here me out, interact in the comments but keep it civil.

Lemmy vs Reddit

We all had our reasons to move to Lemmy. What I remember clearly from the beginning of the summer was that we were all praising the tone. Over the years, Reddit has become increasingly toxic - most of all in the comment section. To me, that was what made Lemmy special. Even with less content, the general vobe was what made me come back every time.

clash of the clans

Due to the nature of the fediverse, we get to interact with people with different backgrounds and dofferent ideas. Potentially an incredibly enriching experience for everyone. Anti-defed lemmings defend staying federated with everyone for that precise reason, which I really get. But lately the vibe has turned sour. Every post that has the slightest political undertone becomes this big us-vs-them show. Please stop

discussion vs. shitshow

I am not arguing for stopping discussing our opinions. I also get the whole they don’t have downvotes thing. But can we please treat eachother with dignity, and when writing comments say ‘I believe’ or ‘in my opinion’ instead of ‘you all this or that’?

I think this is the only way forward if we want to prevent everyone from personally blocking a lot of instances in the furure.

  • whelk@lemm.ee
    1·
    1 year ago

    (TL;DR: I’m blocking users I feel are significantly cluttering Lemmy with trolling or annoying posts of no substance, not ones that have different ideas than my own. Acknowledging different ideas and perspectives is good.)

    I feel like we’re already being hurt by algorithms and whatnot only sending us what we want to hear and filtering out opposing views or ideas. If someone disagrees with me or has an idea different from how I already think, I should know that someone is out there who thinks differently than I do. Maybe I’ll even learn something or come to appreciate a perspective I hadn’t considered before. It can be interesting and even enlightening to see differing viewpoints, and that’s part of what’s so fun to me about the Internet. We can easily see there are all sorts of people out there with different thoughts and ideas.

    We’re all bound to lose our cool sometimes, but if I see a poster consistently being inflammatory or trollish, I don’t find value in trying to digest that kind of exchange. Some people may enjoy watching the setting of the bait and seeing others walk into the trap of engaging. It’s just not the type of content I’m into and I found it was becoming increasingly common so I started blocking users that I felt were consistently producing these kinds of situations.

    • darq@kbin.social
      2·
      1 year ago

      This comment is weird because it doesn’t really follow from what I wrote.

      I just find it strange that people value the tone of a message more that the content. Surely the content of the message is far, far, FAR more important than the tone it’s conveyed in?

      Like, when people post genocidal rhetoric, it’s not better because they say it in a polite fashion. And it’s not worse if they were raging while they said it. It’s bad because of the content of the message.

      But then people say stuff like you did, and it’s kind of unbelievable to me because it seems like valuing the lipstick more than the pig it’s slapped on.

      I feel like we’re already being hurt by algorithms and whatnot only sending us what we want to hear and filtering out opposing views or ideas.

      Wow. My experience is quite precisely the opposite. With algorithms on most social media constantly trying to shove “opposing views” in my face at all times. Except those “opposing views” are usually that I am a danger to society and should not be allowed to exist as an LGBTQ person. Because that is what drives engagement.

      So uhm, maybe an echo chamber is a privilege you enjoy, but it’s not universal.

      If someone disagrees with me or has an idea different from how I already think, I should know that someone is out there who thinks differently than I do. Maybe I’ll even learn something or come to appreciate a perspective I hadn’t considered before. It can be interesting and even enlightening to see differing viewpoints, and that’s part of what’s so fun to me about the Internet. We can easily see there are all sorts of people out there with different thoughts and ideas.

      But… I genuinely do not understand how you can say this? Because you have primed yourself to ignore anyone who disagrees with you with any degree of vigour. Some disagreements are not going to be civil. But those are often the MOST important disagreements! The ones that people are passionate and angry about.

      I’m not saying every troll has something of value to say. But in my experience, you have it precisely backwards. The people who are angry are more likely to be sincere in their beliefs, while the dickhead who types like they’re participating in a debate club is usually the one trolling.