I can’t think of an example but definitely yes in non-political tech discussions about subjects like 3d printing.
In terms of politics, which is mostly what I discuss on here, I once read a Cowbee post that actually made something click for me that I hadn’t understood, basically, that a socialist system should seek to nationalize industries primarily once they’ve become sufficiently developed that incentives for growth are no longer necessary or useful. Previously, my framework had been more along the lines of state-run for necessitities and private for luxuries, without consideration of the level of development, but Cowbee’s explanation clicked for me and connected the concept of enshittification to the question which transformed the way I looked at things.
Um. Other than that, for all the discussions I’ve been in, not a lot else comes to mind. I find it really difficult to have high level discussions with people I don’t already broadly agree with, because people just aren’t interested. Whenever I attempt to pose a real question, or pick people’s brains in a meaningful way, it just gets ignored. People just really like screaming at each other over the same like three topics forever, everything gets reduced to team sports, and those categorized as being on the other team get completely dismissed. Like honestly, that weird cult of “Soulism” that we have on here is at least more thought provoking and mentally stimulating that the 10,000th shouting match of “tankie!” “lib!” “tankie!” “lib!” “Genocide denier!” “Genocide enabler!” blah blah blah, it all gets so boring.
Sometimes I really miss being in school and writing essays, where I could know that someone was going to read it, think about it, and provide feedback. Trying to talk about anything high-level on here is shouting into the void. But everywhere else I know of on the internet is even worse! The only spaces where people actually engage with the sort of questions I’m interested in are spaces where everyone broadly agrees with my perspective already, which also gets boring.
Sometimes, I just need something interesting and challenging to mull over while working an understimulating job, and it’s hard to find that.
, I once read a Cowbee post
Did you bookmark the link, by any chance?
I think that just being exposed to other points of view is productive. I’ve had enjoyable back and forths about plenty of media I enjoy and others have enjoyed.
I think it has helped me have a more well rounded worldview. I consider myself more conservative that the average poster on the fediverse. I still dont think that I’ve moved that leftward but I’ve evolved from hating the term enshittification and not really seeing it as a big deal to be all in on the resistance to it.
I just enjoy being here and the conversations I have here.
Sure, on almost anything non political. Politics here is a pretty rough situation though. Seems like everyone is a teenage radical.
So far after about three years, it’s mixed for me. I had positive interactions on communities that I’m here for, like bike packing, bike touring, or one of the numerous fuck cars communities. The bird pictures community is nice.
But I’ve also been told I should commit suicide, or that my comments are not worth posting. So it’s mixed, and sometimes I refrain from posting comments on memes and or controversial stuff because I don’t want those replies. I’m typing this and I’m thinking about deleting it before posting.
More positive than negative overall, but lately I’ve been thinking about commenting less on Lemmy because of those few negative interactions.
People are nice here imo
Yes. The people here are neat.
Not really, but also kind of all the time. I’m mostly here for memes and shitposts, just as a kind of substitute for actually having friends, and its doing that pretty well.
Nothing truly productive or useful, in the sense of somethings changed my beliefs for the better, or I feel ive made a positive contribution. Its been pretty negative in that sense, as the politically minded people online will jump at you if they suspect wrongthink, so ive learned to just avoid them as much as I can help.
This place is mostly doing exactly what I want it to most of the time though so its good.
Gotten anything positive out of interacting with other users?
You bet. All the time!
I feel belonging. In addition, whenever someone tells me they find what I say helpful, it feels great!
I think Lemmy also helps me calibrate my sensors that sense the world. I know what software’s doing well, what software’s not doing so well, and what software is complex.
Groups about animals, food & drinks are pretty chill and good places to have enjoyable conversation.
Tons of them. Just today I taught one person about bird biology in regards to feather replacement and another I am helping prepare their family farm to hopefully host a barn owl nest we desperately need in our state.
It is also due to the great conversations I had here with people everyday that encouraged me to get involved with wildlife rehabilitation 2 years ago and it’s been one of the greatest adventures in my life. Everyone has been so supportive and has helped me develop my knowledge by asking great questions and sharing their enthusiasm with me about so many beautiful animals.
I’ve also participated in some political threads when the events were local and I’d been able to add nuance to the conversation. The trick is to just read the room and see if the thread is already trending hostile and just learn who is here to be combative vs to have real discussions.
I also just try to not be a jerk myself. I said something yesterday that got a more outspoken communists a bit insulated and I explained what my point of the original comment was a bit better and they calmed down when they saw I wasn’t being insulting to their beliefs.
I just use the same guidelines for conversation I would in real life here, and almost all my interactions here are positive ones.
yes quite regularly. i wouldn’t be here otherwise… this place feels much less toxic than most other places online too.
though tbh it does feel like an echo chamber sometimes. i tend to agree with far too many things i read here compared to other places.
Regularly. Given your question, I imagine that hasn’t been your experience.
What sort of responses are you getting? Do those responses seem typical for the community? Or are they more negative than usual?
I’ve had many positive interactions with other users on Lemmy and piefed—across various communities.
I really appreciate the Fediverse, but unfortunately I’m also familiar with the phenomenon where people go along with the majority and downvote comments or posts just because the opinion expressed doesn’t match their own.
I think the developers of reddit clones like Lemmy should change the system so that downvotes are only available to users who have already contributed helpful posts or comments.
The requirements for this should be left to the community.
In my opinion, this would significantly reduce the burdensome negativity of apps of this kind, and the discussions would be better. This is all the more true in the Fediverse, since it is much easier here to create multiple accounts to influence the discourse.
It would likely also prevent the inevitable misunderstanding that downvotes on reddit clones like Lemmy are not intended to express disapproval, but rather to flag a post or comment that are unhelpful, nonsensical, offensive, deceptive, or malicious—in short, not conducive to the discussion.
There are instances that don’t allow downvotes at all.
The shitposting is 🧑🍳🤌💋
Lots of funny, good natured people just doing the meme thing.
The womensstuff community has been quite a positive corner of the fediverse for me.
I’ve also had great chats about music, punk specifically, and food with other lemmings.
I see you in that community a lot. I can’t participate in it myself, but it is always interesting reading it and seeing perspectives so different from my own. I’m glad you find it enjoyable enough to contribute to the space and keep it alive.
