Have you ever stopped listening to or trusting a person who posts information in media, or online because of a "red flag" ?
That is are there certain topics, habits, actions etc. that instantly decrease your trust in a person you might have otherwise listened to on a podcast, article, or video?
@futurebird Obvious hyperbole or exaggeration for dramatic/comedic purposes aside, being apparently religiously convinced about knowing the truth is a red flag for me.
Same goes for casual cruelty.
Being able to admit mistakes and general humility is a „green flag“ for me as well.
@futurebird that's a good question! Admittedly I find that I trust anarchists more than uhh, not anarchists. Also if they're willing to talk about issues that affect me personally I'm more trusting of them on other issues.
I think most of us have some sort of short list. For example, if someone has posted anti-vaxx nonsense, or pro-trump anything, those are surely red flags.
But sometimes it's more subtle. If I saw in someone's social media that they, say, owned one of those big 10 mile a gallon Hummers, and loved driving it around, I'd pause. What kind of person would do that knowing about climate collapse? About pollution? About safety for kids and people on bikes? There's just almost no legitimate reason to have one of those things, and someone who does have one may have other screws loose.
@futurebird
The full scale invasion of Ukraine was a great sieve here. Anyone that tried to understand or relativize or waffle about what happened was clearly having serious judgement issues.
@futurebird I the sense that you hear it and it's an immediate winning of trust? No. I think trust is much easier to lose than to gain.
For me, trust is gained by demonstrating the ability to actually hear what others are saying and respond rationally even if you don't agree.
That said I have no proem with people having red flags if that's what they need to keep themselves safe.
@futurebird Anyone supporting rights of almost any kind in the bio are green flags for me. Instant follow back. Not "men's rights" nor "parent's rights".
@futurebird * knowledge and passion about a topic ( being a geek for something )[0] is a green flag, gets my respect even if it's something I don't care about
a positive relationship with multiple communities
perspective that I can learn from
communicates in a way I can learn from, e.g. a level I can understand, translation ...
[0] some topics might not be a green flag even if I respect the geekery and some topics, e.g. purveyor of conspiracy theories, are red flags unto themselves
@futurebird saying things like "I'm not certain about this" or "it turns out that thing that I said was wrong, so I need to correct the record" are big green flags.
Nobody's an expert on everything. If someone's asserting things as facts regularly and never correcting themselves or admitting uncertainty, that's a red flag. It's a sign that they probably care more about having an audience than delivering accurate information.
@futurebird Both-sides-ism (performative neutrality) or being on the wrong side of a major issue (transphobic, homophobic, climate denier, science denier, etc).
@futurebird A green flag is listening to those who participate alongside you. A like, a boost, a reply when the mood strikes. And their behavior when doing so. If the account is just them screaming into the void, I’ll pass.
@futurebird To be a huge green flag is being willing to say something like "I don't have the knowledge/experience to speak helpfully on this topic so I'll leave that to people who do"
@futurebird Absolutely. Plus a similar set of red flags feeds my block list here. Hell, there was one respondent to this thread that hit that threshold (after decades of toxic social media my bar is low).
One big green flag is the ability to admit mistakes and make corrections.
@futurebird when they're not boosting themselves or even people so much as ideas and other sources. I'm not particularly here to fight for Bisan Owda even though I'm sure she's worthy, I'm here fighting for the idea that a random person should be secure in their home, job, food, street, against being harmed. I'm certainly not fighting for the government of Ukraine, but I think a random person should be secure in their apartment from being bombed. Just so happens there's a lot of detail to that.
@futurebird I cannot think of a post of yours that’s not full of green flags. Seems the more facts you include, the more “green flags opportunities, and you just seem to deliver. They stand on their own, they’re interesting. Your conclusions stand apart from them. If there’s a possibility to challenge them, it’s there, but there’d better be facts and reason. All green flags to me.
Aw thanks! Though I was thinking of this more to examine my own media diet. I just know there is someone who, in a few years, I may shake my head and think "why did I listen to that person" ? So, I'm trying to be critical in this moment where many things seem so divided and dangerously obvious.
@futurebird oh, I know. But your posts are part of my science and critical thinking and good-human-interaction media diet, so I thought maybe seeing your own output from a 3rd person point of view might help you out in your own pursuit.
I’m too much the scientist not to apply scientific method to green flags. :)
@futurebird Yea. When ppl get corrected on a fact, block the person who tells them and never post the correction, I have to assume that's how they handle every situation in which they had their facts wrong.
@futurebird There was a game designer/historian who I had respectedwhen I was growing up. I subscribed to a military history newsletter he edited but let it lapse after an article stated that Biden was the worst US president ever. I had to question everything they published. Then he came out as a Covid denier.
Odd thing is I greatly respect his other partner because he doesn't display any of these issues.
@futurebird This was less than 6 months into the Biden presidency and it was a superfluous comment. I think the author wasn’t this person why there was enough MAGA stuff that it was the last straw.
While the wargaming community has a good number of pacifists and leftists, I have gamed with people who scared the s*** out of me.
The COVID stuff wasn't saying it wasn't real but downplayed it. But he is very hard against climate change. It felt like “smartest person in the room" syndrome.
A guy who posts interesting but confusing (to me at last) posts once made a very bad logic error in an argument with me, so even if he's good-willing I know that he usually doesn't really understand what he's talking about.
A woman who made political points that are infuriating to me earned my respect by being quite to-the-facts and humbly wise in her other posts, so I agreed to disagree.