Anyone else notice the fediverse is quite close knit?

Flax@feddit.uk to Fediverse@lemmy.world – 168 points –

I keep seeing the same names popping up. I think it's rather cute!

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Somebody has to fill this place with content...

Sorry

the cutest character on ST:D is also the cutest character on the fediverse. who'd have thought!

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According to one of the latest kurzgesagt videos we all should be in smaller communities like this and large ones like Facebook and Reddit are generally bad for our mental health.

https://youtu.be/fuFlMtZmvY0?si=5Wd0-\_6Z1pNUuQZR

Well a few months after leaving reddit I do feel a lot better in general so I'm not surprised.

I go back occasionally to check for something or just to see what things are like. I dunno if it's just gotten insanely more toxic since July or if it's just been that way for a long time but oh my god. Every comment section is just angry and bitter and hateful. I was looking at a post yesterday and thought it was cute and interesting so I open the comments. Every single one of them were either saying it was fake, that it was stupid, that it was cringey, that it didn't make sense, etc. It's like no one has an ounce of positivity on that site.

It's really a mix of both. More heavily the way the site has been for years because people love drama more than anything else. If you want the sweet serotonin of karma, you've gotta be simultaneously the funniest, meanest, and most jaded person in the room, and everyone is jockeying for that position.

It just breeds assholes by design. I've noticed my own behavior has changed, too, since leaving that place, although partially that's because I just didn't want to be like that anymore.

But it really has been noticeably affected since the protests. I was originally trying to stay for one single sub I was in, because they were the kindest, calmest community I'd met since back when forums were a thing.

Just the best group, for reasons none of us really understood and some of us kept trying to find psychological commonalities to explain. Truly 98% of them were people I'd chill with irl and I still know a few on discord. And also here. If you're reading this, hello!

But the migration away was enough to completely alter the atmosphere imo. A lot of the more conscientious users left for other pastures, leaving behind those that were more neutral or even openly hostile about the protests.

There began to be fights and insults thrown where before this, any aggression had been unusual. The posts took a turn that reflected that feeling and I really stopped bothering with the place after a few months. I'm still a bit sad about it and there are things that I miss, but there just wasn't enough to hold me anymore. It seemed to increasingly echo every other part of the site.

For the moment, this place is quieter but better. We still get dumb shit every now and then, but it's not to the same degree and hopefully never will be. As above, I blame the demographic. We've grouped all the people with stubborn morals into a little room and it turns out they have things in common. I do miss a couple people I used to see everywhere all the time when kbin first ramped up, but we run in different circles and they've gotten lost in the crowd.

And yes, btw, I am also going to name you one of my favorite users to see around. You seem as kind as you are prolific.

That makes sense. I know that when I was active on reddit I was way snarkier. Still comes out occasionally but it was just a lot more common. I do remember having to specifically limit myself when I first started posting to not get bitchy towards people for no reason. Kind of disappointed in myself there. I'm glad that's at least paid off in people think I'm kind. I'm really not but I appreciate the compliment <3

Those protests really did demonstrate just how bad things had gotten. I don't think I remember anyone ever casually discussing what was going on. I remember commenting once saying how the Spez was a mod of Jailbait thing is overblown because anyone could be added as a mod at that time without them having to accept it, much like how Lemmy currently works. I was added as mod to /c/Gay in the same fashion. Someone just added him and he didnt realize. Downvoted to high heaven because it wasn't pure bashing of him. There are so many things to hate about Spez and that situation but I'm gonna stick to ones that have some weight.

They banned those of us who were challenging the bitterness and hate. Whenever I’d argue against bitterness, they’d call me a bootlicker, and within a couple of comments, a nazi.

Eventually, I got banned from reddit for being a nazi.

So now that their “hey maybe stop being so bitter and take responsibility” nazis are all gone, they’ve concentrated themselves into an echo chamber based on resentment.

I dunno if it’s just gotten insanely more toxic since July or if it’s just been that way for a long time but oh my god.

I feel like it's a mix of both: the community there became bitter, more aggressive and more assumptive, while we (people who migrated out) got less used to how things work there.

I wish kurzgesagt joined the fediverse. They are quite big (21M followers). Being able to watch them here without going to youtube would be a nice step in the right direction.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

There's two reasons for that:

  1. Lemmy is still small (compared to centralized social media).

  2. We all chose to be here instead of mainstream social media for a reason, so we've all got something in common.

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Most of you are alright.

I have a really bad habit of never looking at anyone's names..

Same, but it is a trained habit. I purposefully do not want to look at usernames.

You'll be having a perfectly nice conversation only to look up and see you're talking to "uwu_yes_daddy" or "aryan_enjoyer88."

There are specific users with emoji names that stand out a lot all of the time.

Interesting! I wonder if the Eternity client doesn't show that? I have never noticed it at least. I am also in the habit of never looking at names though. Maybe it is good to be in the habit of remembering names because it humanizes the people on the other end or so?

For me profile pictures helps a lot. You could go to Settings->interface->comments->show avatar

I am on eternity, too, it shows that

I wonder if others have some favourite posters that you they quite often?

For me, it's @Stamets and ThePicardManuever but I've noticed a couple other prominent posters lately although their names haven't stuck for me just yet.

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I don't know how to knit, but it does seem to be gaining in popularity.

I view knitting as a state of mind. I think people are thrown off by the fideverse when others try to explain it to them, but once they use it they realize, much like the social media of old, they don't need to fully understand how it works to enjoy it.

Same ol' faces... Almost has the feel of forums of yesteryear...

as a former resident of the infopop forums, i liken the fediverse to bulletin boards in the 90s and early 2000s and it's nice - the kind that were super hyper localized by topic but everyone was friendly. :)

I had not, but I don't read the names. I will endeavor to notice. Thank you for the heads up.

Yup, it's fun. And im happily blocking all the tankies in between the great people. Account name like StalinSomethingSomething.. nope.

The prefix and suffix stars, man...

Yes but the glorification of the authoritarian all stars is so sad.

The premise is "the west" is evil and anyone opposed to that is a hero and can do no wrong. No matter that these heroes and their actions usually conflict with all other ideals they claim to have.

Or you know... It could be that your impression is colored by ignorance on some of these issues, leading to false assumptions about what other people think.

I had a dream that I had a classmate who cosplayed as Mao Zedong constantly and even had the hair

Hmm, I will be glad if someone remember my name. I just post to fill the gap in communities.

Also I remembered @crul@lemm.ee for comics and other arts post, @statmets@lemmy.world and @The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website for memes, Heisenberg and Otter for comic and meme too, @kolanki@yiffit.net and annoyed_(Dancing Crab), @sour@kbin.social for comment this "[._.]" with GD Icon and many more. Thanks to all of you making such a Good community.

I remember kolanki. Likely because the display name is all emojis 🤣

Mostly only the very active users moved over from Reddit, so we have a lot of content for not as many people. But it's nice how active and invested most people here seem to be.

Long time reddit lurker here. I'm active now i'm here. I wonder how many peeps there are here like me?

hey everybody! i'm masterblaster! i make modules for D&D and play in a blues band! remember, kill all conservatives for the future of humanity!

If you're trying to turn that into a catchphrase I suggest replacing "kill" with "blast" for better branding.

Disintegrate would be even better as it prevents resurrection, it's quite a high level spell slot though.

I bet it might be fun to, just once, get all the most infamous lemmings goofing around in one thread together. Because communities are themed, maybe they don't usually cross paths that often

TL:DR; I agree and I love it here!

Yeah it certainly feels that way to me too. I can't speak for the rest of the Fediverse platforms (Friendica, Misskey, Mastodon, etc.) but Lemmy is certainly a tight-knit, active and generally friendly group...

You should have seen how it was like here before May this year, when there were only a few dozen users that posted or commented anything at all across all servers, call that tight knit.

Still, I'm so proud of everyone for help in keeping a friendly vibe for the most part, and for user reporting and mod actions keeping trolls at bay. There was quite a bit of concern that when people migrated from Reddit en masse that it Lemmy would be taken over by the same uninspired drivel or become a Reddit repost site. What we got are very healthy meme and shitpost communities with shitposters who engage with commentors, tech news, politics, environment news with active discussions where people have disagreed with each other without getting in a complete rage about it, and cute animal pics like !aww@lemmy.world and !superbowl@lemmy.world.

There's still progress to be made on parts of the technical, moderation and community sides. For my part, I'm trying to post more and my goal this year is to share a lot pictures of the cityscape to Lemmy.

I definitely recognize some of the mods, and some of the key players in the communities that I follow. There's good people here, and I believe it's going to keep getting better.

I wasn't paying attention to usernames as much when I first started. For whatever reason, I've started to pay attention to the names, as well as the instances. I like seeing where people are commenting from, and it even gives some insight into places or things I might be interested in as well.

Sometimes I'll check out a person's profile to see what things they're commenting on. This feels kind of creepy a little bit. I don't think anyone really cares though, so long as you're not being abusive or something.

Sometimes I’ll check out a person’s profile to see what things they’re commenting on. This feels kind of creepy a little bit.

It's okay for me, people should use throwaway accounts for very personal stuff anyway

I never your your names and I don't care.

This. I don't know why people want to treat this like social media.

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I very much enjoy running into folks from the various crafting communities in other contexts, bumping into Mastodon friends on Lemmy and vice versa and then dropping into each others PeerTube comments.

Irl I live in a small town and absolutely despise not being able to leave the house without running into someone who knows us. But for whatever reason I find it adorable on Fedi 🤷‍♀️

It’s like back in the day of Internet forums. I don’t mind it at all.

I saw many names frequently pop up on reddit, it was the reposter’s and karma whores.

I see many names frequently pop up on Lemmy and it’s people trying to fill the same spot.

Frankly this is exactly what I don’t want to happen. This small time celebrity like worshipping that comes with certain posters was extremely popular on BBboards and made it incredibly hard and uninviting for new people to join in these already established communities.

Yeah, it’s funny to see this be heralded as a good/wholesome thing when I know back on Reddit it was maligned as “power users”.

The difference is probably that here if you disagree with admins, mods or power users you can just migrate your community to another instance.

Also on Reddit being a poweruser meant that you could probably sell/loan your account to shady advertisers, which isn't as much of a problem here since the Fediverse isn't monetized by ads.

Additionally, I think power users are a problem if they're just blindly spamming posts without engaging with the community, not so much if they're just organically filling the void with posts.

I <3 lemmy's prolific posters. o7

That's generally not a good thing...

That means it's more likely to be an echo chamber or just bots auto posting...

You want a lot of diversity - within specific groups sure, the same names are fine but across groups that's a bad sign.

why are "echo chambers" considered bad? i come to communities to chill and chat with like-minded people; not to argue and get into fights.

Well the simple reason is you can get stuck in certain world views or ideas which are wrong and hurt others.

In most cases you're fine, like talking about your favourite TV shows or whatever. But it's also easy to get stuck in a view like visiting your country's instance and it turns out it's a bit radicalised against immigrants, or certain places where you end up blaming everything on women and the "woke movement".

In a lesser way it can get you stuck in toxic ideas (e.g., PC/Playstation/Windows/Xbox/Linux is better than the other one and you are dumb if you disagree!).

Just depends on the community at end of day, but the more echoey chamber it is, the more likely you'll end up with those sorts of us VS them world views that are a bit blind and horribly biased.

It would be nice if lemmy.world mods followed that. I got my posted deleted for "supporting Imperialism" for arguing that focused attacks on Houthi terrorists is ok.

It could also intimidate other groups out.

I do admit, it is a bit of an echo chamber on here for some groups :(