I've been on Lemmy for the better part of a couple years, running an instance in one form or another for most of that time as well. For sure Lemmy and PieFed are still growing.

The catch is that a lot of the people joining us are coming here after reaching their breaking point on reddit or have been caught up in ban waves on reddit and this was the next logical landing place. They come here with a chip on their shoulder.

The only way to reshape the landscape is to avoid falling into the toxicity trap yourself. Instead of bemoaning the lack of content they like people could focus on building the communities and topical discussions they desire, but that's much harder than hating on somebody's meme because it mentions politics, etc. Thankfully since Lemmy is decentralized we have lots of options, including finding or hosting instances and communities that fit the vibe we want, not the vibe we've got.

There are unquestionably some bad takes and bad actors on the Fediverse, same as anywhere. If you are part of that group then the negativity comes with the territory. If you're just a regular person trying to have fun and chill online without the gatekeeping and elitist attitudes, don't let a bunch of faceless strangers ruin your fun. If people want to get riled up and hateful about someone trying to share something fun that's their problem, not yours.