It's fine if they never come here... but in that case can we be surprised when they lack an understanding of how it works and, seeing e.g. Chapotraphouse@hexbear.net, Lemmygrad.ml, perhaps even places that pretty much every respectable instance owner defederates from, then calls this place a horrid cesspool of toxicity?

That's also what people call us on r/Redditalternatives btw. Look up the tankie associations with the very name of Lemmy itself - not the software, but the actual name.

Or if we don't care about people coming here, or anyone else's opinion (especially uninformed), then why does this post exist in the first place? So perhaps we do care then, even if only a little?

I just wanted us to push ourselves to be more self reflective and honest about who we are. Whatever that ends up meaning, I don't even fully know.