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?

  • spaduf@slrpnk.net
    24515·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      905·
      11 months ago

      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.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      514·
      11 months ago

      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 [email protected] 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·
        11 months ago

        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.eeEnglish
          43·
          11 months ago

          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
            31·
            11 months ago

            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.eeEnglish
              22·
              11 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.

        • LunarVoyager@lemmy.world
          1·
          11 months ago

          Why not just have a federation of instances dedicated to aggressive moderation, and a federation of instances devoted to being the greasiest, dirtiest cesspools of hate and despair? Then people can choose where they would like to be. Toxic trolls can have fun destroying each other while we take pleasure in constructive discussions. I guess what I’m trying to say is that each individual cluster of instances should be very clear about what they stand for and hold each other to it.

      • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
        16·
        11 months ago

        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
          102·
          11 months ago

          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·
            11 months ago

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

          • blackn1ght@feddit.uk
            31·
            11 months ago

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

      • kromem@lemmy.worldEnglish
        197·
        11 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
        122·
        11 months ago

        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.

      • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
        8·
        11 months ago

        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.worldOPEnglish
          9·
          11 months ago

          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·
            11 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.