Is it just me, or have the comments on Lemmy become extra aggressive over the past 3 months?

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 ,
@spaduf@slrpnk.net avatar

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 ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

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.

themadcodger ,
@themadcodger@kbin.social avatar

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

pearsaltchocolatebar ,

It would be super nice if users could block instances.

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

federalreverse ,

I think that's coming (or is it implemented already!?)?

spaduf ,
@spaduf@slrpnk.net avatar

I totally thought that was in 0.19 but I haven't actually seen that yet.

seathru ,
@seathru@lemm.ee avatar

It's under Settings -> Blocks -> then down at the bottom is the block instances option.

ShittyKopper ,
@ShittyKopper@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

the 0.19 implementation is so half-assed I genuinely think the Lemmy devs just don't want that functionality but expected quite a lot of backlash if they outright said as much, so they decided to implement something that ticks the box in the "wanted features" list without having any effect

afaik it only blocks communities and explicitly lets users from blocked instances through

nutomic ,
@nutomic@lemmy.ml avatar

Feel free to make open an issue to improve instance blocking. Or better yet a pull request. We are only a few devs with limited time, and hundreds of issues to work on.

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Sorry for this kind of aggressivity

davel ,

0.19.1

seathru ,
@seathru@lemm.ee avatar

You can on instances running .19 or newer. Settings -> Blocks -> then at the bottom is an option for blocking instances.

567PrimeMover ,
@567PrimeMover@kbin.social avatar

So there's going to be a fediverse and a mirror fediverse?

SnotFlickerman ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

That was always a risk of decentralized services, unfortunately.

Ghostalmedia OP ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

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 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 ,
@spaduf@slrpnk.net avatar

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 ,

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.

d3Xt3r ,

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.

exocrinous ,

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

Pratai ,

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/cff49925-44fb-4aa9-89a0-f98971f32596.jpeg

The irony.

lseif ,

thats something a complete idiot would say

lemmy ,
@lemmy@lemmy.stonansh.org avatar

😝

robocall ,
@robocall@lemmy.world avatar

My suspicion is that a lot of redditors migrated over here about 7 months ago when certain apps shut down, including myself. At first, they were polite in an unfamiliar environment, but they've grown comfortable and act out, or speak less thoughtfully, like they originally did on Reddit.

MargotRobbie ,
@MargotRobbie@lemm.ee avatar

The 80/20 rule applies to toxic Internet behaviors as well, 20 percent (or less) of the user base is responsible for 80 percent of the toxicity.

It's always the same people being awful here, if you are taking notes, you can quickly identify the worst posters on this platform after a week. People always complain about how they are unfairly banned by reddit moderators, but you have to remember, sometimes the bans are really justified.

I think the ony real (and unpleasant) solution is to moderate very aggressively whenever there is bad behavior (although, I must add, permanent bans should be rare and reserved for extremely bad behaviors)

ergifruit ,

this and a prodigious use of your block button. you don't owe anyone the right to talk to you like a jerk. and even more, you curate your online space. vibes are off? you're allowed to block people. even if they haven't said anything to you specifically. if someone is the sort of person you would never want to be around IRL, why allow them in your space online?

Kedly ,

The free ability to block users and instances here is AMAZING

NotJustForMe ,

As long as you are able to differentiate between bad language (skills), cultural differences, and bad behavior. On Reddit that's basically the same. Many things may sound harsh, but are often just expressed frustrations, voiced in an imprecise way. And often, nuance is lost in translation. Many foreigners aren't used to nuance like Americans are.

Many Europeans won't hold back. Like, you tell your neighbor that he's an idiot directly to their face. Out of love; how else would they know. Apparently, none of their friends told them. Poor fellow. Just an example. I've learned that Americans won't do that, for whatever reason. they would just call them idiots wherever they are not around, and keep smiling. ;)

Omega_Haxors ,

That really is the case. Back when I went to war with feddit de for constantly leaving shitty comments I was surprised at how few people I had to block from that instance before the abuse stopped coming my way. Now that you mention it, 20% of the population sounds about right.

sukhmel ,

Tangentially related, but yeah, some usernames one can remember after seeing them for the umpteenth time and then one spots the same people all over the hot topics 😅 that doesn't only apply to toxic ones, it's just that an active core of Lemmy community is still small enough, a nice time to be a part of it

thorbot ,

Lemmy is a left leaning echo chamber loaded with hateful and violent speech toward Trump and the GOP in general. Whenever I bring this up, I get downvoted to oblivion. I hardly engage anymore, not like I used to. Too much crazy. Trust me, I fucking hate Trump, but the death threats and shit are too much

DigitalAudio ,
@DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz avatar

I'm not even American and I usually don't care either way, but it's so annoying. Why can't we just have apolitical or at least more focused communities online anymore? I would literally join any community that outright banned all political speech for a change nowadays.

Baylahoo ,

I follow American politics because I know it will affect me. I feel like I need to know. I don't think that that info should exist everywhere. Getting a break is very important to me too. Everything seems to be much more political with the Internet because how much more aware we all are. I would like to see some community where it's not politics or governments or anything.

DigitalAudio ,
@DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz avatar

Exactly. Just discuss anything else. Whatever. I don't care anymore. I don't want to know. I have absolutely no control over whatever happens in most countries, and I only have control over my own votes (if anything). Online discussion and politics always gets insanely toxic and dogmatic.

Gabu ,

Being apolitical is the same as being worthless. It is the absolute duty of every member of the polis to participate actively, which includes praxis.

DigitalAudio ,
@DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz avatar

That doesn't mean we need to discuss it everywhere, all the time. For starters, not everyone is American and wants to see American centric discussions everywhere, and also, not all discussions everywhere need to start revolving around modern politics. Creating apolitical spaces doesn't mean being an apolitical individual. Just wanting to look for more peaceful alternatives.

I'm perfectly fine with being called worthless if you can't see the logic behind that, I legitimately don't give a shit as long as I can get a break from the insane and miserable shit throwing that is online political discourse.

If you like feeling miserable and angry every time you go online, great for you, but I'd much rather have an option not to do that.

Chadus_Maximus ,

Taking about U.S politics is a good way to make anyone not from U.S leave. I don't care about politics, yet my wish to not get bombarded by it simply cannot be fulfilled here. So I have to seek other social media platforms, which means I spend less time here.

littlebluespark ,
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

The simple (depressing) fact that U.S. politics affects nearly every single person on the globe to some degree makes your indifference towards politics in general somewhat dangerous on a personal awareness level. Consume what data you choose, but avoiding it only prolongs the inevitable?

Gabu ,

hateful and violent speech toward Trump and the GOP in general.

As should be the case :)

These groups are only alive by sheer mercy.

spider , (edited )

Well, that's what Trump and the GOP do, so turnabout is fair play.

However, "left leaning" is a relative term. Just mention the Green Party and you'll get a hail of downvotes and / or accusations of pro-Russian sympathy from establishment Dems.

Allero ,

Essentially this place is Palestine-Ukraine-Biden-centric, and that is long known.

Saying anything on the opposite, even marking the shortcomings of above governments and military will immediately get you downvoted, regardless of your actual stance.

This is a problem we have for a while.

One potential solution? Keep voicing it up, screw everyone who downvotes. If they want to bring arguments, they'll have to do it in text. If they make threats, report them to mods. Down arrow means nothing by itself.

Kedly ,

LMAO

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

You got to be edgy on the internet, it's the law

paraphrand ,

And it’s self reinforcing through irony laden posts like this.

MonsiuerPatEBrown , (edited )

I apologize if these include me.

As we in the US loom towards the election I am getting more and more raw and worried about it. And with that my fear brings out screechy obscene me. That is one of my fear responses that I lose the handle on a lot.

So please forgive me. I will try to avoid political threads as we ramp up to either the end of American democracy or the continuing gerontocratic oligarchic republic.

Baylahoo ,

I feel the same way. I'm not sure if it makes it better but you're not alone.

paraphrand ,

My sympathies. Really.

doctorcrimson , (edited )

Marked spoiler for potential vibe harshing

spoiler

It might be a mix of a lot of things. The Palestinian Genocide, Ukrainian War, Chinese Expansion, actual probable chance of a second Trump Presidency, and a great many other issues are probably weighing heavy on the minds of net denizens. That and less sunlight than in the summer months.

Plus I've never seen any posts from a Foodporn or cute pets lemmy community, but I have seen crimes against the culinary arts and some posts about pets that have died.

People are just not feeling optimistic, and that leads to feelings of repression and anger.

rbos ,
@rbos@lemmy.ca avatar

The superb owl community is pretty great for cute animals

littlebluespark ,
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

It really is. And, the Flammulated beat the Great Horned in a complete upset during the community-wide poll! 🤩🤘🏼

snek ,
@snek@lemmy.world avatar

The spoiler block doesn't work on Sync it seems, unless you used the wrong >!spoiler tags!<. I wonder if it was the full stop or it being broken over several lines.

doctorcrimson ,

I definitely haven't used the wrong tags because my instance formatted it for me when I selected the text and clicked the spoiler button above the text box. I'm sorry yours uses a different format or that your reader/viewer application doesn't support it.

snek ,
@snek@lemmy.world avatar

Weird, I did the same from the editor. it works for me on Sync bot not on lemmy.world on web /:
Guess they need to sync these, otherwise we'll have spoilers floating around everywhere in the face of unsuspecting readers

sukhmel ,

Seems like Sync only understands one-line spoilers, so you need each line in a separate spoiler

Porokoro ,

The Palestinian Genocide

Lol imagine believing this

Katrisia ,

I haven't noticed, but some people say they are feeling political tensions, and...

The year 2024 is notable for the large number of elections, with 7 of world's 10 most populous nations (Bangladesh, India, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Mexico) voting; countries that are home to nearly half of the world's people will hold elections in 2024.

From the Wikipedia complete list.

I guess everyone is just a little worried about national and international elections.

lolgcat ,

This is the first I've heard this perspective. It's worth keeping in mind the remainder of the year. Thanks for that

sukhmel ,

I'd say things look progressively grim in the world even outside the elections being another possible source of problems. I used to not know what anxiety was, now I can only wish I still didn't

ivanafterall ,

YES, IT'S JUST FUCKING YOU, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WITH THIS GUY...

kWazt ,

Careful with the punctuation it makes you seem rather aggressive

Mango ,

I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION!

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

I bite my thumb at you, sir! And at you, as well, sir!

ettyblatant ,
@ettyblatant@lemmy.world avatar

I don't wanna talk to you no more!

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

GoodEye8 ,

YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER AND YOUR FATHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES!

wtry ,

Sorry guys, I got mad

forgotmylastusername ,

Lost among the "internet sucks now, it used to be better" discourse is that the old internet was heavily moderated. The laissez faire parts of the old internet were known as the seedy corners of the web. Social media and its modern derivatives like lemmy take on that latter philosophy.

It's no wonder it's chaos every where. The libertarian tech bros have really impressed their world view on everyone. So the prevailing philosophy is these "digital town squares" should be absolute free speech zones. Except town squares in real life do not work like this anywhere. At least not in most liberal democracies. In real life there is bureaucracy. There are police, fire, ambulances. There is the simple matter of neighborly social contract. You cannot go into a real life town square and do whatever you want. You cannot just up and fight strangers, engage in lewd acts, set up encampments or what have you without permits. In the same way internet requires structure. Counter intuitively it used to have a lot more of it on account of sites being run by a real human being. Not the mega conglomerate investor groups feeding off ad/engagement profits.

Those users unfamiliar with the old internet yet pine for the good old days would have hated it. Power hungry mods is a meme as old as the internet itself. It's a necessity of the internet. Hardly anybody gets banned for being an asshole anymore. Sometimes (often more like) people need to be forced offline so they can go outside.

auzas_1337 ,
@auzas_1337@lemmy.zip avatar

TL;DR - A millennial goes on a tangent about the good ol' days.

I remember being permanently or temporarily banned as a kid/teenager with simple messages like "go outside". Mostly for being too rude or annoying, or edgy. As teens and kids often are.

Idk if it's a thing on Lemmy, but I'm all for extended temporary bans for simply repeatedly being a dick to others.

The "old internet" for me was something like 2006-2012. And I agree, people who pine for it probably couldn't hack it in 2024, it was racist, it was homophobic, and threads went off the rails with people giving unsolicited advice on how to please your gf, but it was fun, it was dynamic, often complete strangers behind phpBB nicknames felt more real than your closest friends on Instagram do now.

I yearn for those days. Not because I particularly want to deal with racist, homophobic idiots, but because I miss the dynamic internet before mega social network sites. I miss the nuance, people knowing each other on forums and whenever someone who's known in the community would post something that on surface level is banhammer-worthy per the rules, the community would talk it out and the hammer would fall when people call for it, not always strictly adhering to the rules. And yes, that did produce the power-hungry mods. But it's not like much has changed.

I feel like I'm going off on a tangent. I just miss the randomness.

I recently had a chat with a new colleague about how you can't joke with a lot of Zoomers about race/nationality/sex because they don't perceive nuance. I think it's a cultural thing imprinted by the internet content coming from America. We're both from Eastern/South Eastern Europe and people don't immediately get their panties in a knot over offensive jokes because they realize that a racist-sounding joke does not make the person racist. And I feel that's the state of the internet now too, and it's ok, but I miss the sharp edge that it used to have.

I also miss the weird smileys.

b_n ,

Say something dumb in an IRC channel? Get banned.

The good ol' days when I was young and irresponsible and got banned for it. I learnt how to converse with people online through this. Talk shit, get banned. I also feel like I forgot some of this on later platforms.

I hated it at the time, but like most learning experiences, grown to appreciate it later. I can't believe I had free and unmoderated access to the internet's back in the early 2000s. Shout out to those mods for putting a teenager in their place!

Facebones ,

I don't mind disagreeing and even bickering a bit, but when somebody gets extra or pointedly disengenuous I just block em. IDGAF. 🤷

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/df0845cd-7638-4294-988b-5aa7c872eaa9.webp

I'll downvote all of you

CannotSleep420 ,
@CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml avatar

I haven't noticed a change, but I also haven't ventured outside of the echo chamber/hug box of my subscribed communities feed.

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