I came here around the time the rif app shut down, and the general vibe I get from this place is much more negative than when I joined. Is Lemmy growing more toxic or is it just my imagination?
It’s not a Lemmy thing. People (at least here in the States) are feeling anxious and defeated about the state of the world. That shit makes people irritable. Irritable people are prone to lashing out at anything that trips over their last nerve.
My wife works for a nonprofit that focuses on providing services to families with children who have emotional or intellectual needs. She told me she’s witnessed more meltdowns from parents these last 6 months or so than she’s seen in her 15+ years in the field.
I think part of it at least is reaching a critical mass.
Lemmy was definitely a collection of relatively like-minded geeks at the start. Even when we disagreed on issues, we all agreed that we needed to work together to make the community grow.
Now that it’s grown to a respectable size, there are more dissenting opinions as well as less tolerance for dissent; and more to the point, there is space for absolutely vile content that used to get choked out. Now to stop this sort of thing, the ‘old-timers’ are more likely to say "shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down, and behave!!!’ before they can get a solid foot hold.
Meanwhile, the worst of those people are feeling both entitled and persecuted, and shouting their garbage louder than ever.
This happens everywhere that gets to a certain size. I remember when reddit stopped feeling like a secret community and more like a warehouse.
Of course, there are other reasons that people have mentioned below: The world is tired, worn out, and PISSED OFF at the half that disagree with them. The president of the United States has broken every rule of diplomacy, grace, and civility that people tended to follow in social life. Social Media has made it far easier (too easy) to dehumanize people and turn them into a one-dimensional pastiche of their posted opinions.
And we’re facing the destruction of the planet, genocide, and the global resurrection of fascism.
The world is getting worse, I’m afraid. I really wish it wasn’t true and I spent a lot of time emphasizing the good to my mom before she died; but honestly, it’s getting worse.
As the space becomes more popular, the level of social cohesion goes down.
Also, every space on the internet where users talk is now infested with shit chatbots trying to keep poor people angry with each other to prevent us from flaying rich people alive
Facism is making the people that would normally be reasonable get really emotional and people love to lash out anonymously.
I haven’t noticed much, but I do have a lot of people blocked…
The most important thing for me is that the amount of truly thoughtful comments I’ve seen is higher than on any other platform I use.
And discourse is generally more respectful. Disagreements are handled in a constructive manner at a much higher rate than on any other platform I have used.
Yeah, it’s nice to be able to have actually constructive discussions with people I don’t agree with. That’s rare on the internet.
I’ve blocked a few, makes a huge difference.
No, fuck you
/j
While Lemmy might be getting a larger variety of personalities, some of them being jerks, I still find it a far more pleasant place to be than reddit.
Fuck off /s
It doesn’t feel unique to Lemmy to me. I’m seeing higher levels of hostility in just about any environment broad enough to include left and right wingers
I have been threatened and harassed in person multiple times the past few years. but left and right wingers. by trans and anti-trans folks, etc. i’ve had people shove and try to physically start fight with me while i was waiting for a takeout order or coffee.
angry people just want to beat up any one that is in front of them. and they will see what they want to see. the angry left assumes i’m a meathead trump supporter, the angry right assumes i’m a soyboy homo.
So wait are you wearing both thigh-highs and a maga cap?
I’m resisting the urge to jump to conclusions, however I can’t help but observe that objectively there seems to be a common denominator in your situation. Either way, it sucks that that’s been your experience and I hope things change for the better for you.
So what are you really
Lately? Were you not here during elections when a bunch of kids were accusing everyone of supporting genocide?
“Republicans are fascist”
“I know. That’s why I’m voting Democrat.”
“Democrats aren’t real leftists”
“I’m aware but this isn’t the time for purity politics.”
“Democrats support genocide.”
“And Republicans don’t?”
“Both sides are equally bad so voting is dumb. Don’t vote.”
“Listen, I’ve got friends and family with skin in this game. Both parties fucking suck but you know what really sucks? Having a fucking fascist dimwit who thinks your cousin is subhuman because she was assigned male at birth as your president.”
“So you support genocide? Typical libshit.”
“Ok, then what is your alternative?”
“You would know what it is if you read this dry, arcane bullshit about the reification of contemporary autonomous groups in Third World popular movements.”
“Both sides are equally bad so voting is dumb. Don’t vote.”
The lack of perspective from leftist that say that. Sometimes I’m not sure if they are fed posting.
The lack of perspective from leftist that say that.
Those ain’t leftists. They’re enlightened centrists. I.e., poorly disguised fascists trolling and sowing dissent.
Nailed it! That’s damn near a perfect representation of ever conversation with them.
Were you not here for that same year when anyone who said that democrats shouldn’t be supporting genocide was accused of being a russian chinese trumper republican tankie bot? Oh, and as you accused in your comment just now, a child.
democrats still have no business supporting genocide. It’s shameful and there needs to be accountability. None is forthcoming.
As you can all see, some of them are still around.
I was just saying that there was also hostility and accusations against the anti-genocide left from the pro-genocide center.
Which continues to this day. Not gonna start accepting genocide just because you don’t like hearing that it’s wrong.
Removed by mod
Genocide is not a new thing.Genocide is not a new thing. It’s always been around. And no matter how much people cry about it, it’ll continue regardless. It’s always been around. And no matter how much people cry about it, it’ll continue regardless.
Gloat.
They still are but I’ve learned to love the block list and use it judiciously with people who go beyond good faith arguments of any sort.
That’s most of the people here in political conversations.
I think it’s still like that, actually.
It’s actually quite a bit more tame than it once was.
Not that I’ve noticed, but the whole world is growing more toxic as far-right ideology becomes more and more accepted everywhere, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
The world has been deteriorating a lot in recently years and inflation is high.
Yea the shitposting has steadily increased. That is probably to be expected on a platform that is also steadily increasing.
However please don’t let the trolls think they turn this into the failure that is now Reddit.
Instead just call out the bullshit for what it is and carry on.
I don’t know that I’ve noticed a real uptick. But in the past couple weeks I have noticed a few ridiculous right wingers and I blocked most of them since seeing their bullshit is bad for my mental health.
Yeah maga place looks like it’s up to 21 idiots sharing a brain cell now, whereas I think it was 12 a couple weeks ago. Wonder if there’s a critical mass for those fucks or if they’ll find lemmy too progressive to stick around. I guess they could just circlejerk on their own instance.
Hmm… maybe. The state of the world has been pretty awful for the past year so I imagine that plays a part. Aside from trolls, lots of us are on edge as the whole world seems to tilt right with propaganda and AI.
That said, I like us.
I browse bluesky too and find I actually prefer Lemmy because it’s a bit more self-policing… Like regarding AI slop, bluesky is fucking rampant with it, like Trump dressed as a clown or Newsom with abs, it’s fucking awful. Lemmy has a couple communities for AI but on average, you try that shit and you’ll get publicly shamed. That could be considered mean, but I appreciate it (especially if it’s AI I can’t even tell).
