The fediverse is small, and thats both a blessing and a curse - one of its several blessings is that in a smaller space we all individually have a bigger impact on what the culture of this space is like.
On this comm (and on lemmy broadly) there’s a lot of discussion about how to grow the fediverse, what to improve, but an easy thing you can do for the fediverse is right in front of us-
-
Be kind
-
Ask people what they think, and why
-
Approach folks you disagree with with curiosity rather than hostility (EDIT: no, this is not specifically referring to Nazis. I get it, they’re the first thing that comes to mind. I’m not telling you to approve of Nazis I’m just saying be kind to your fellow lemmites)
-
Engage sincerely
-
Ask yourself if there’s something nice you can say
-
Make this small space worth being in
A platform lives or dies by what’s available on said platform and often we have this conversation in the context of “content” or posts - and we may never have as much content as reddit does. But content and posts aren’t the only thing this kind of platform offers- it also offers people. It offers community, and human interaction.
Culture and community is lemmy and the fediverse’s biggest differentiator, and we all have a role to play in shaping the culture of this space.
The biggest thing you can do to help the fediverse is make it a place worth being.
Well I came here to chew bubblegum and talk shit, and I’m all out of bubblegum.
I am sorry surph_ninja, but I have to be honest, I was the one that stole your bubblegum
I generally say bullet points are good ideals, but there’s a much bigger issue with mental health.
There are certain people in lemmy that need to learn what “you have no enemies” and “I’m gonna do my own thing” means. It’s fine people are different live on earth is very diverse
I agree, and like with many of the culture issues we have challenges with, I think the extent to which Lemmy is a echo chamber or political and philosophical monoculture really sets us up to struggle with those kinds of problems
You’re not wrong though. Even I sometimes find myself falling into it, it’s hard. And a lot of people believe following the behavior their anger drives them to isn’t just okay, it’s actually a good think and combats the problems they’re angry about. Personally I think that usually couldn’t be any further from the truth
Regardless, I hope you have a good one :)
Lol so you agree with this post I made just not the other
Oh, I hadn’t realized it was the same username! I’ve replied to like a billion people on this thread, the only usernames I really absorbed are the couple of folks I recognized from prior interactions
But yes, I’d say I agree very much with the idea you expressed in this comment chain and generally disagree with what you said in the other comment exchange. And that’s okay! We can share some amount of common ground even if we don’t agree on everything :)
Agreed, love it!
Hey this is a nice post, I wonder what the comments say :3 click
“Oh you think being kind is good? You’re a fascist OP >:T. You can’t make me vote republican”
Im not a US citizen (or a citizen of any other country that has a republican party), so that may be more work than you’re signing up for on your end… getting a citizenship can take ages :3
Not if you ask Republicans. You can be fresh off the boat than you can run to the nearest voting booth and steal the election
Well wouldn’t know :3 I’ve not tried it x3
What pisses me off the most is that Republicans will say “they can come here, they should just do it illegally”, as if they don’t realize that process can take nearly a decade… which they probably don’t.
I’m glad there’s still sane people here.
I can imagine x3 clicking on this gave me mental whiplash
What about people that like to talk shit? I enjoy banter give and take. Reddit is full of soft whiners and I’m not into it.
Ikr, I like pissing people off then making much of them for not being able to defend their position. I think it’s good for engagement
We do not need all the engagement. Just engagement that most lemming users enjoy. The comments of spam bots for example are also good for engagement but are not enjoyable content. I personally hate being pissed of online cause it caries into my real life and people in general also do so most people come to this general idea that they don’t piss anyone of and expect other people to come to the same conclusion of not pissing anyone of. This leads to a less toxic environment which allows them to spend more of their time and energy on more productive stuff. Cause at the end of the day needlessly making other people feel bad for your own entertainment is a downwards spiral if everyone’s doing it.
So all your saying is don’t engage with bots (even though it’s fine because bots can get you information quickly), and that you can’t ignore negative people online.
I said don’t engage with spam bots. And no I can’t fully ignore baseless negative comments when I see them. They still register in my brain. I would need to have a filter in my brain or eyes that blanks them out. I wish I had one. Because they affect me even if they aren’t directed at me. Not in the same way but more in the sense that when you see a mother hitting her child on the train you feel compelled to say something. If I don’t I feel a sting and it doesn’t sit well with me. Because I care about others in general. Not implying you don’t. I know not everyone is a helpless child but a lot of people are mentally not in a state where they have the ability to deal with this stuff myself included sometimes. That’s also why I try to be kind to strangers on the internet in general.
I think it’s worth being warry of making other peoples misery your own entertainment, that’s a really good way to end up a deeply cruel person.
What you’re describing sounds like Ben Shapiro to me. Scoring cheap points through argumentative tactic rather than actual merit of stance. Personally I see more value in legitimate exchange of ideas where involved parties can all walk away with a more well rounded perspective.
I see debate as an opportunity to learn from and teach others, not about dunking on people in pursuit of humiliating them
Just my two cents.
Lol my argument automatically has no merit without you hearing any of it. That’s like bigotry or something.
I guess Ben Shapiro argues with people that aren’t media trained to make his stance look better, do you want me to say people Ben Shapiro argues make some awesome argument all the time without exception?
I’ll teach you that it’s not on me to make your arguments, get your evidence. I just put it on myself to communicate my arguments and poke holes in other people’s arguments
my argument automatically has no merit without you hearing any of it
I did read both of your comments in full and think about them, but if you have more specific thoughts on why you hold the perspective you do I’d be open to hearing them :) (full disclosure though, it might take me a bit to get back to you- with how much I’ve engaged with this thread I’m starting to kinda run out of social energy 😅)
I guess Ben Shapiro argues with people that aren’t media trained to make his stance look better, do you want me to say people Ben Shapiro argues make some awesome argument all the time without exception?
Its a little hard to follow exactly what you mean towards the end, I think there are a couple typos, but no. I just personally see a distinction between productive conversation and making a game of humiliating people by talking circles around them regardless of the merits of their arguments.
I can’t know that you exactly meant the latter, but it’s kind of a spectrum and when you said “I like pissing people off then making much of them for not being able to defend their position” it did sound like you were advocating the idea that it’s good or productive to take joy in making people feel foolish for their inability to argue as well as you. I think there’s a big difference between the merits of a stance and someone’s ability to argue them. That’s why I expressed I disagreed. And that’s why I made the connection to Ben shapio, he’s really good at arguing, and makes sport of trying to make people look bad when they make the sort of arguments I personally agree with.
I’ll teach you that it’s not on me to make your arguments, get your evidence. I just put it on myself to communicate my arguments and poke holes in other people’s arguments
I think I see argument as much less of a zero sum game than you do. I don’t wanna score points, I wanna learn about what people think and teach them why I think differently.
You’re not wrong to point out flaws in peoples arguments, or to expect them to make their case for themselves, but that’s not the same thing as treating it like a game to win, and considering yourself victorious once their day is worse for having interacted with you. I think the former is appropriate and healthy, I think the latter is destructive and doesn’t actually accomplish anything 🤷♂️
Yeah the merit of a stance is different than someone’s ability to argue. They’re different concepts.
I think there’s a fine line between banter and trying to humiliate folks, and sometimes it’s awfully hard to find.
I don’t really mind banter or jokes, but the idea that it’s humor is often what people hide behind when they’re being cruel and want to excuse their behavior.
If you can find that line and still be respectful of the human beings you’re engaging with, I don’t think there’s anything at all wrong with that :) enjoy your banter!
Best I can do is rewind.
Okay I agree, so let’s start from Linux related any post, tell them if somebody asks a problem don’t tell them just install mint , or how one is crazy because they are facing the problems in Linux or if you are not using Linux what idiot are you. I stopped participating because
- Linux dude bros are just idiots troubling me
- I can’t find content which is though not niche is just is plain not news or Linux
- It’s very confusing to use fedverse as I don’t know of i can go all subs via my boost app or do i need something else , if so where to access them.
So let’s make it ACCESSIBLE, NON DERAGORTY FOR ANON LINUX USERS ALSO
It’s a great idea but unfortunately we don’t live in that world anymore. I do hope one day we can get back to that world.
I think a lot of folks immediately thought of something very specific when they saw my post, I really meant to be kind to the people you share this space with :). I feel like maybe it would have been best if I had left all these examples in my original post itself instead of moving them to the comments
- Compliment people’s art and ask about their process
- Teach people about something you’re knowledgeable on
- Give constructive criticism on peoples projects when it’s welcome
- Thank people for posting things you’re glad you got to see, tell them you enjoyed it
- Tell people you’re glad they’re here
- Tell people you hope they have a good day
I moved them cause I wanted to keep my post succinct so folks would actually read it (I have a bad habit of being REALLY long winded lol. Can you tell? 😅) But I think they really exemplify what I was trying to get across, and leaving only the more challenging philosophical ideas like “approach people you disagree with with curiosity rather than hostility” I think kinda prompted people to misunderstand what exactly I meant.
I can absolutely empathize with it getting harder to find common ground and build bridges. There’s no easy way to do that when more and more people think your humanity is up for debate. But I still think in this little corner of the internet, it’s worth trying our hardest to uplift the folks we sit shoulder to shoulder with :)
If I’m in a toxic mood, I go to reddit.
I goto tiktok comments
There was a movement in the blogging community ~15 years ago to leave positive comments on posts you like. It was an approach to conquer negative comments and a general destructive nature of online conversations. I still do it to this day. If I really like something or appreciate someone’s work, I leave a nice comment.
A big problem is too much politics, feels like politics is always brought up even in posts where it’s not the topic of discussion. Just look at this post. Then if someone disagrees with your view they’ll attack you and then they’ll claim they “are on the right side”. People have forgotten the golden rule.
Dunno maybe you can subscribe to more instances (sublemmies? I don’t know the lingo) and somehow filter out the ones that go bad quickly. My enjoyment of Lemmy went up by a lot once I started ignoring the front page and curating my subscribed instances. Just make sure you visit the list of communities every so often
It’s very front of mind because these are the “interesting times” from the Chinese curse. Even people I’ve always known to say they don’t pay attention to politics, can’t watch the news it just makes me sad, etc. These people are talking politics every day. It’s hard not to.
I disagree, if political discourse can’t survive public debate, then it isn’t a very good political ideology.
We have been artificially hampered on other platforms by having to be nice to the nazis, we don’t have to do that here and I fully welcome such debate because none of their abhorrent ideologies hold up under scrutiny
As for left leaning political debate, we have ALWAYS argued with each other. That is one of our greatest strengths that we just don’t all into line with everything the top says. Also one of our greatest weaknesses.
But to stifle that artificially will just force it to bleed into other discussions.
I say up with political discourse and let the marketplace of ideas be conceptually free of bias and the results will be that humanity in general considers nazis pretty bad people
disagree, if political discourse can’t survive public debate, then it isn’t a very good political ideology.
They made it clear they’re talking about spaces and topics not about politics. People who feel entitled and compelled to make everything a political culture war are insufferable. Made worse when they call everyone who disagrees with them a Nazi. The word has lost all meaning now.
I’m sorry the world is so scary you have to segment parts of it away from your daily life, I don’t have that weakness
Nearly everything has a political facet because politics is at the core of how humanity can even live in this modern way.
Not talking about politics at the dinner table is how we got here and I will not sit by idly while people like you perpetuate that disservice
yeah I don’t wanna watch WikiLeaks footage of civilians being shot and you cant convince me to
So don’t? I don’t.
I’m sorry the world is so scary you have to segment parts of it away from your daily life, I don’t have that weakness
Yeah some parts of the world are scary and segmenting parts of it away isn’t a weakness. It’s just common sense. (edited to change whats quoted)
What has that have to do with not wanting to watch a russian info asset?
OH you thought it was because I didn’t want to see people getting shot?
Son, I was one of the early distributors of 1 man 1 jar
Yes – you should definetely segment away politics from some parts of your life. You should not fully disengage with it, but take a breather every now and then. Go for a walk, talk with some people about a hobby you enjoy despite your differences or just take a prolonged toilet break.
I find it infinitely exhausting that it seems like everything online these days evolves into a political discussion. I recently saw someone asking about how they can make more time for reading in their day – someone mentioned that they read in the morning when working from home while having their morning coffee. And someone barged in and were like “Oh MuSt Be NiCE to HAve ThE TiMe FOR ThaT! No, soMe of Us Have To CommUTE 2 HouRS each way DaiLY BeCAuSe Of LAte StAGe CaPItalisM”. And then it evolved into some revolutionary eat the rich stuff from there – which i for the most part can follow.
But it was a post about asking how to make more time for reading… How did it end up with revolution? I personally believe the main problem with injecting politics into everything is that it becomes predictable and bland. Just like my example above. It’s an interesting discussion for sure! But perhaps don’t force it down everyone’s throat all the time. It’s like that friend who has a hobby that they just wont stop talking about all. the. fucking. time. It dissolves the seriousness of the discussion and makes other people tired of it.
Again, i’m not saying abstain or fully disengage from politics. But for gods sake, let people take a break every now and then if they’re able to do so, and for five minutes just focus on something joyful eventho everything is going to shit at the moment.
Strawman from ‘we shouldn’t segment away politics’ to 'we must inject politics positively everywhere.
Intellectual dishonesty at its finest.
What a great reason to block feddit.dk
Wait how? I’m not sure i follow - if i committed such a stupid mistake i’m genuinely interested in understanding how :) Btw don’t block feddit.dk it’s just a danish focused instance with a lot of kind folks :)
Yep. Nazi bar analogy. Tolerance paradox.
That’s because politics are getting to the point where people cannot ignore them any longer. Think it’s bad now? Just wait till the grocery gets hit.
I disagree, yes being kind is very important but even more important is people engaging and upvoting comments.
Reddit was great because of what happened in the comment section, not the headliners, and I see very little voting engagement even in active posts.
Remember, it’s free to do and it encourages others to engage as well. But yea be kind too
Voting is boring. Just comment yourself. Thats much better. We want content and discussions, Not just numbers;)
Did you not see the part where I actually commented myself?
Thank you for commenting! I agree too, it is conversation that makes a place a place, not headlines and articles handed down to silent readers.
@Angry_Autist@lemmy.world
@Cris_Color@lemmy.world
It is only “free” if you choose not to pay. Unlike commercial social that’s free for you to use BECAUSE you are the product being sold, federated social is only free to you because someone else is paying.
I completely agree that mass adoption requires well primed communities which requires early adopters to put more effort into engaging.
I would also add that clicking on anything linked helps too… Many news outlets are data driven. If you want them to invest more with federated social, click the links so the engagement shows up in their analytics.
Right. The Fediverse is the PBS of the social media.
“It’s made possible by people like you.” Is it worth a few dollars a month? Yes!
sexism does exist on lemmy but the algorithm is less aggressive about pushing rage-bait, so it rarely shows on the front-page. also, the people here are a bit more considerate, i’d say. but that is mostly because it’s a lot of nerds here (heheh).
Yes, that algorithm is definitely way better! I’d argue though that people aren’t more considered here because they are nerds. Communities, such as the gaming and anime communities, are often one of the most misogynistic ones online. I think people are more considered here, because they are politically on the left.
