this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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I feel like things on Lemmy were pretty chill several months ago, and that’s started to change.

People used to talk each other like they would talk to a neighbor. Now I get the sense that people have become quick to be negative, attack, and not be constructive.

Am I crazy in feeling like the vibe has changed?

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[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 235 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

Worth noting, the number of people who come here "to escape authoritarian moderators". Nearly all of them were moderated for good reason.

I also don't think the presence of places like hexbear are doing us any favors.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 86 points 9 months ago (3 children)

You can see them jumping from Lemmy server to Lemmy server as they get banned from each.

Eventually, they'll just set up their own instances so they can bother people with impunity.

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Isn't that basically what basedcount is?

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm unfamiliar with it. Would you be so kind as to explain what you mean?

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 6 points 9 months ago

This guy
From the siderbar:

Avoid Censorship. Stay Based.

[–] themadcodger@kbin.social 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And then we block that instance! Or it gets defederated.

[–] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It would be super nice if users could block instances.

Like, I have no desire to see anything from the furry instance.

[–] mom@nom.mom 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It became a thing in Lemmy 0.19 - as long as you're on an instance that has updated to that, it should be available to you. At the bottom of the settings page in the web ui, but if you use an app they might not expose that to you yet.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I think that came with version 0.19.1 specifically.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 49 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

The thing that actually worried me a little bit more was people upvoting the aggressive comments to be top comments.

I was reading some thread over at !politics@lemmy.world today, and a lot of stuff advocating for political violence were the top comments. Mods yanked it, but nevertheless, people were vibing with some comments about dragging people through the street. I felt like I was on X/Twitter.

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Yeah, I think it's a legitimate and growing problem. I think a lot of folks don't realize, but since growth has slowed from Reddit more broadly, the people who feel they have been "unfairly silenced" are the fastest growing subpopulation around here. If I'm honest, I think the only real antidote is to reestablish growth from communities with kinder dispositions.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

We don't need to take from nicer communities, we need to build nicer communities. Right now there aren't any left wing instances, which is a big problem. It was nicer back when lib.lgbt existed.

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Right now there aren't any left wing instances

Bro what

Also it doesn't have anything to do with political distribution. It's an issue of habit and disposition.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 0 points 9 months ago

Left wing people are disposed to helping others. Right wing people aren't. Nobody's cultivating left wing spaces where kindness is a habit.

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I was reading some thread over at !politics

There you go, that's your problem. Political topics always gets heated and brings out the worst in people, no matter the platform. The first thing I did is block all politics (and general news + sports) communities, and it's been a fairly pleasant experience so far for me, except for the odd troll or fanboy that shows up every now and then.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lemmy.nz also defederated Hexbear, which helped a lot.

Technically they pulled a "you can't fire me, I quit" and defederated first, but whatever.

[–] DrRatso@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

Yea, they tend to do that, think they did the same with blaahaj. Pretty funny tbh.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee -2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You didn't block all politics. Everything is political.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No it's not. You can have casual communities or gaming or sports communities that aren't political.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 0 points 9 months ago

Casual conversation, gaming, and sports are political.

[–] kromem@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

People like to fetishize revolution.

Even offline I have friends that talk that kind of way and just reveal themselves as being poor students of history.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You read my mind. It's the same feeling I got when a reddit sub would degrade into a toxic circle jerk, and I'd have to unsub. Except it feels like it's a lot of lemmy communities lately. I feel like I can't respectfully disagree with anyone without being met with ad hominem attacks. I don't think something like changemyview could survive.

Also reminds me of those anti-moderate subs, which is a sentiment literally synonymous with radicalization. I'm all for free speech, I would just rather they state whatever take they have with a calm, measured demeanor.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee -2 points 9 months ago

You have a problem with people being against the status quo?

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Well remember that any instance you federate with also gets to vote. If you feel like votes aren't matching your values, perhaps you should try an instance with more of the "aggressive" stuff defederated.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Possibly, although those instances also have less content. I remember starting out with a BeeHaw account like many of us here. Trade off was often less content, no ability to create your own communities, but less people lashing out at each other.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 10 points 9 months ago

Beehaw is very selective though (and that's fine). There is a middle ground between lemmy.world and Beehaw though.

But you said elsewhere that you go on American political communities. I'm not American but from what I've seen, it is hardly surprising that those places would be toxic. I think at this point, arguing US politics online seems like a lost cause. You're probably better off discussing politics IRL.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 0 points 9 months ago

You think Beehaw isn't aggressive?

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Indeed. And looking at the deleted post... definitely a power trip.