Sure, there are always outliers and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s just the overall impression I have.

(I wasn’t sure if !asklemmy@lemmy.world or this community would fit better for this kind of question, but I assume it fits here.)

  • Cowbee [he/they]
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    45 months ago

    Lemmy is always going to lean more radical than other platforms. Not only is the lead dev a Communist, but to pick Lemmy over Reddit is an ideological choice to begin with. There is an ideological barrier to entry, and this won’t change until Reddit goes under.

    • Lovable Sidekick
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      35 months ago

      For me picking lemmy over reddit is a matter of liking the software a lot better. As a dev myself I think lemmy is much more elegant and usable, and IDGAF about the lead dev’s ideologies, as a dev they kick ass.

  • TimeSquirrel
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    25 months ago

    I’m here because I DON’T want to have to read fucked up opinions. People here are mostly nice compared to mainstream platforms.

    I’m all for difference of opinion, but not when one of those opinions is “we should oppress LGBT people” for example. 10-15 years ago, I’d have been more receptive to discussing opposing opinions, but shit has changed. A lot of those opposing opinions are now simply unacceptable to even entertain, because they’ve become a real, actual threat to my well-being. People aren’t discussing tax policy anymore, they are discussing imposing states of emergency to do some kind of purge on undesirables.

    Some people call it an echo chamber, I just call it chilling and having fun with like-minded people. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what forums have always been.

    • Miles O'Brien
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      05 months ago

      Yeah, I don’t think anyone would ask you “Are you okay with sitting at the bar with nazis?” yet plenty will happily judge you for saying “I’d rather not have to deal with MAGAts and their opinions”

      Sorry but if your opinion is “trans people aren’t people” or “blacks need to know their place” then your opinion is shit and no the fuck I don’t have to listen to it

      • Lovable Sidekick
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        5 months ago

        I agree, which is why I recently kicked a MAGA guy out of my D&D group that meets at my house. I had tolerated him up to then because he generally acted decent and was a good player. But after the election I decided I just don’t feel like extending my hospitality to that anymore.

        But on the flip side when I hear a phrase like, “uncomfortable with trans people” my first reaction is, “What makes you uncomfortable?” instead of, “Fuck you you fucking bigoted fuck!” For that moral imperfection in my character I’ve received name-calling and at least one ban. Whatever. People have irrational fears and I’m not going to exile them to the desert because their “eww” reflex isn’t pristine.

      • @ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        05 months ago

        But another question, “are you ok with sitting at the bar with nazis, but they’re wearing red shirts with a hammer and sickle on them and espousing the same propensity for murder?”

        Lemmy is fine with murder and genocide so long as you wear the right shirt while doing it.

        Source: .ml, grad, hexbear.

    • @cRazi_man@lemm.ee
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      05 months ago

      People here are mostly nice compared to mainstream platforms.

      Try disagreeing with the hive mind. Anyone can be nice to someone who echo’s their own opinion. The real niceness of a person is revealed when they can show civility to people they disagree with (I’m not talking about LGBTQ oppressors or Nazis…there’s a huge spectrum of opinions that aren’t extreme).

      • Blaze (he/him)
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        15 months ago

        I’m on BlueSky on top of IceShrimp because anything better than Twitter is good to use at this point.

        Let’s see how downvoted I get.

        • @Serinus@lemmy.world
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          15 months ago

          I’m also on BlueSky as well as Mastodon, because BlueSky has the momentum right now, and critical mass is important.

          In that same vein, I wish you’d treat LW as you do any other instance. We’re not hostile to other instances, and I think there’s a healthy balance right now. It doesn’t hurt Lemmy to have a bigger, more mainstream instance. I think defederation solely for the sake of defederation does hurt Lemmy.

      • Brave Little Hitachi Wand
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        05 months ago

        I don’t know. I am still as opinionated and difficult as I ever was on Reddit, but I also turn it around, display civility, and cede points far more often here. Maybe I’m becoming better, but I think it’s just a better situation overall.

        • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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          05 months ago

          I’ve received way more bitter and raged out responses here than I’ve ever received on Reddit for very lukewarm vanilla takes. I’m not saying Lemmy is full of extremists but there is a user base here that is all or nothing. My guess is it’s age related though.

          • OpenStars
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            15 months ago

            Overall the people here are nicer.

            The extremes are higher though - some people were booted from Reddit for a reason, and they came here.

            • @TheFonz@lemmy.world
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              15 months ago

              Yea. I agree. There is a nice median and really strong extremes. But those extremes sometimes hog up the convo.

    • FundMECFS
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      -15 months ago

      Honestly the tankie takes justifying atrocities is nearly as bad as the conservative takes justifying the same.

      • Skiluros
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        -15 months ago

        Why nearly? They are just as bad, if not worse.

  • @FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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    25 months ago

    Echo chambers are never good, no matter the politics. Just reading this comment thread is proof. Some of these comments are fucking ridiculous.

    • granolabar
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      -15 months ago

      Half of Lemmy working to ensure that we never get any diversity of opinions or anymore normal people lol

        • granolabar
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          25 months ago

          They still have to suffer from shiti health insurance…

          But sure let’s make sure nobody but a good neo libs “allies” are permitted here champ

          • OpenStars
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            25 months ago

            Totally. Maybe we should invent some kind of… oh I dunno, ideological purity test? Surely that would not eat our faces off, hrm? Surely we can exclude only “them”, while keeping “us”.

            Smh, it’s always the same. People don’t even see it.

  • nate
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    15 months ago

    @crimeschneck Personally I’ve decreased my Lemmy usage a lot due to its echo chambery-ness. I avoided the political subs since day one, both since I’m personally not a big politics junkie and because I’m not in alignment with Lemmy’s specific brand of politics, but things also extend to other topics as well.

    A lot of the enjoyment of using Lemmy is getting news/articles and seeing what people think, but even in the tech spaces the range of tech news is somewhat limited and the top comments are almost always in line with Lemmy’s specific tech thoughts (regardless of my agreement, I’d like to see interesting thoughts/commentary, if I can predict the theme of what’s said it becomes less interesting). Sorting by new did help a little, even if a dissenting but well thought out idea was downvoted to oblivion I could still read it - but the value of link aggregators to me is articles + strangers thoughts, and if all the strangers have the same thoughts then I might as well stick with RSS.

    My 2c anyways.

  • @jet@hackertalks.com
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    15 months ago

    There is a bunch of angry brigading here for any of a multitude of reasons, and that shear wall of vitriol thrown at people doesn’t help lemmy grow.

  • lilpatchy2eyes
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    15 months ago

    I just wish the top posts on the meme pages were more than just an anti-capitalist caption and a vaguely related image.

      • OpenStars
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        15 months ago

        Omg !tenforward@lemmy.world is also amazing, check it out! Also there’s Risa and the Star Wars memes etc. - there are so many fantastic memes communities available:-).

        Separately, you may be interested to know that the entire “vibe” of Lemmy has changed in the last two weeks. Very seriously, check out an instance where you are not logged in and just take a peek at what the most popular content is lately. I’m not suggesting that you wallow in it but you should know what’s going on lately bc it affects the future of us all.

        • Blaze (he/him)
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          25 months ago

          I’m not familiar with Star Trek, so I usually don’t get those memes

          the entire “vibe” of Lemmy has changed in the last two weeks.

          The entire USA vibe has changed in the last two weeks, from what we can see on every social media. What happened is an important historical events, it has repercussions on all aspects of USA society

          • OpenStars
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            15 months ago

            True, and btw I don’t mean that there is not good/great reasons for such even - people are DYING.

            I was just pushing that thought since we were initially responding to:

            I just wish the top posts on the meme pages were more than just an anti-capitalist caption and a vaguely related image.

            It’s creating an environment where people who can’t handle the cultural shifts (e.g. not everyone is neurotypical) are having to heavily curate their experiences.

            • Blaze (he/him)
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              35 months ago

              It’s creating an environment where people who can’t handle the cultural shifts (e.g. not everyone is neurotypical) are having to heavily curate their experiences.

              Non Americans already had to curate their experience for weeks before and during the US presidential election

              • OpenStars
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                15 months ago

                Not everyone wants that, but excellent point about the fact that some do:-).

                And there, as now, it would be nice to constrain things.

                Though you mentioned the rather powerful counterargument earlier that this was a MAJOR event, and it’s understandable that it’s leaking.

  • JackbyDev
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    15 months ago

    I view the focus on Lemmy’s political opinions as a weakness for attracting new users.

  • @realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club
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    15 months ago

    It’s certainly a weakness, especially since the Lemmy echo chamber is ever more extremist than the echo chambers you’d find on a place like Reddit or Truth Social. But I don’t think it makes it uniquely bad. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

  • lizard-socks
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    15 months ago

    I don’t see it as either. I don’t come to social media to engage in political discussions, so for me, the bigger issue is the lack of thriving communities around topics outside of national/world politics and technology. I’d love to see more places like startrek.online.

  • @zxqwas@lemmy.world
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    15 months ago

    Weakness, If you’re here for anything other than the narrow view.

    Even if you’re here for the the narrow view take a moment and consider if an echo chamber is good for you.

  • Admiral Patrick
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    5 months ago

    I don’t care so much about the range of political views, just the quantity of them.

    Too many people on Lemmy make their political ideology their entire identity, and it’s just freaking exhausting.

    Can we not just be people talking to other people about cool stuff? I just get sick of political ideologies masquerading as people.

  • Cris
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    15 months ago

    I think it’s both. I can avoid having to engage with cruel or shitty perspectives as often, but I also don’t love spending so much social time in an echo chamber, it’s not great for you.

    I think echo chambers are really bad for a culture and for people immersed in them, but like not seeing Nazi shit is certainly nice