That's a really good observation. We need to work on pointing out why we disagree with people in a constructive way and to point out trolling for what it is when it happens. When I get somebody calling me a tankie or a propagandist or whatever, I now just reply pointing out that the person wasn't actually engaging with the post, and is smearing me instead. Block and move on.

I do find that there are a lot more people who genuinely want to have a discussion and who aren't acting like dicks. Articulating a point clearly for them without making it an attack usually results in a civil discussion. I definitely agree that there are a handful of people who hate us and who are very aggressive about it, but they're just a small minority in practice. We should just focus on highlighting how toxic these people are for the rest of the lemmyverse.