Add to it, some of us habitual lurkers (me for example) find it not as meaningless to comment. Didn't want to do it often because most comments get buried and it would feel empty and kinda pointless.

A small handful of people are working to change that, you find them here and there. Easy to identify as they downvote based on "I don't like that.", they're not really capable of greater complexity usually. Or that's how it seems anyway.

We should expect it to get worse though, as our population grows. It's inevitable, the internet is the internet. Our initially strong culture is an excellent sign though, if our growth continues at a measured pace, we should be able to maintain it for some time.

What The fuck did you say to me?

That's the dumbest shit I've read today. Delete your account please /s

I feel like there isn't a "hive mind" on Lemmy like there was/is on Reddit. Even if just a few folks disagreed with your opinion on Reddit, everyone else felt like they HAD to downvote it too and then the next thing you know, you're being downvoted to oblivion. Here, it seems that folks actually respect your opinion whether or not they agree with it; and while you may get a few downvotes or more, people aren't afraid of upvoting your comment either.

Such a different vibe and I'm here for it!

I like lurking, with a comment here or there. I have noticed the comment sections are giant circle jerks with everyone congratulating each other on how smart and civil they are. Better than aggression and trolling but still... ew.

Let's enjoy it while it lasts

Yet. I think there's a critical mass aspect to this. The Eternal September of Lemmy is yet to happen

I already see it and it bums me out. People are already stepping in a discussion just to be aggressively mean for no reason. I hope we can reply to them with patience instead of feeding the monster (or, just, y'know, don't engage)

Grumblegrumble this is our chance to be different!

How dare you say something like this? Who do you think you are?!

j/k of course. This community has definitely been like a breath of fresh air after metaphorically living for years in a crowded bunker where everyone was constantly passing gas. I'm happy to be here.

[cracks fingers]

You...

Lemmy is new and it’s not very big yet. If it grows big enough it will be eventually

It's wild. Maybe it's a honeymoon period where we're all in this big spaceship together, or maybe that's just what it's gonna be like! There's a sort of liberating feeling of being on Lemmy that I think brings out the best in people

Wait until the dummies figure it out. This is one reason I dread interacting with threads users.

My very first ever post on Reddit,12 years ago, the first commentor called me a fa**ot and the second commentor told me 'KYS'. I posted a picture of a dog sitting in the driver seat of a car with his elbow hanging out and he was wearing a sweater. It was discouraging to say the least and burned me pretty bad. I deleted the post, tried to wipe it from my memory, continued on reddit for the next decade treading lightly knowing how toxic and mean it could be.

What a silly thing to say, you poopy dumb-dumb

I quite litterally never posted or commented anything on Reddit, just couldn't stand being absolutely shitted on if I said something wrong.

I think one thing people need to keep in mind how small this community is right now.

Right now communities are big if they have a couple thousand subscribers, and the portion of people here generally have a commonality in choosing this place over places like reddit.

I time, those opposing opinions will come but I think it is good to try and temper them with the reminder that we do not want to live in an echo chamber. Best we can do is encourage people to engage in a way that makes everyone feel welcome.

Just don't ask questions on political subs

You absolute nincompoop. I can't believe you've said this. Trash tier.

What the heck did you just flipping say about me, you big meanie? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Tiny Tots Program, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on the girl's bathroom, and I have over 300 confirmed noogies. I am trained in Nerf warfare and I have the most gold stars in the entire kindergarten class. You are nothing to me but just another butthead. I will beat you the heck up with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my dang words. You think you can get away with saying that baloney to me on the glowy type-box? Think again, doodiehead. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of teachers across the USA and your parents are being called to pick you up right now so you better prepare for the spanking, junior. The spanking that wipes out the dumb little thing you call your playtime. You're in big darn trouble, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can wedgie you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed fartfights, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States PTA and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your dorky bottom off the face of the playground, you little poopypants. If only you could have known what serious punishments your little "smartypants" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your goshdarned tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you silly doofus. I will spray boogers all over you and you will cry about it. You're frickin grounded, buttmunch.

Eh. I've already spotted some ideological zealots and full threads pandering to them on here, sadly. I think if Lemmy does take off, we'll sadly see that culture of toxicity blossom here too.

Probably because all of us are real people struggling to find an alternative to Reddit where we used to spend our time in. No bots, no algorithms, just real people trying to make our new home a better place.

Give it time. Should it become more popular the trolls will come. In fact I've seen a few already (some anti Ukraine posts makes me think those were professionals trying to shift opinion, but what do I know).

I'm not counting on it staying that way, but that's ok. Upvote systems, dedicated channels, etc, will always promote a type of groupthink but you can always opt out of a community. Like if Lemmy gets it's own r/conservative, or something, I would likely not comment there.

That said, there are definitely malicious actors at play on most mainstream platforms, stoking anger and divisiveness. Even proof that fake news is spread for that exact reason. You won't see that here for a while but if it does come, I'm not sure if this system is setup to protect against it.

Just don't say anything bad about the Fediverse (or anything good about Meta/Threads). That's when the toxicity with appear. That's what I've noticed, at least.

My main motivator to comment here is this being federated, a decentralized network that belongs to no one but the community.

I'm old enough, and I have been on the internet for quite long to know that we can't trust centralized platforms. If you add to that the misplaced incentives of profit and what you get is simply a community time-bomb.

But here? Here we have a completely different scenario. We may still post shit like beans for the lulz, but this happens organically. The end game is just this, and not some fucked corporate agenda.

tl;dr Beans here are an end in itself.

Not yet

Don't worry, give it time