With the recent happenings in the United States, the dangers of the privately owned Internet is more apparent than ever, and frankly, it’s scary. And so I’d like to make a simple request to anyone who is reading this; Please use the Fediverse, just a little more.

I personally hate it when I’m stuck having to visit say, YouTube or Reddit to get information, or to entertain myself in quiet moments, and if you’re reading this, the likely chance is you’re the same.

All I want to ask of you is to just comment a few more times, press send on that post that you felt wasn’t of enough substance to be worth anyone’s time. We have such a small community compared to everywhere else, but what we do have in common is that, in the grand scheme of things, we are the early adopters. And if we take that to heart and make this space a little bigger, maybe it will be just big enough we won’t have to visit walled gardens so often.

Thank you :)

  • plumbercraic@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I think 90% of my posts are deleted before sending because I just know that someone somewhere will find a way to be mad about it

    But OK - here is a post that I would usually have deleted :)

    • oleorun@real.lemmy.fanEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      OMG really? How COULD you…

      Neglect to offer your valuable opinion. Hey, you’re a human and have valuable things to say. Haters gon hate. Fuck 'em.

    • 3DMVR@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      thats reddit, ppl hate way less here, id prime myself to argue before I made a comment on reddit, made me a more argumentative person

      • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        It strongly depends where you go here - e.g. [email protected] was too extreme even for Reddit, so yeah the average here is WAY more chill, but we also have even more extremes here than they did there, if that makes sense.

    • SouthEndSunset@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I get this. I used to use Threads and someone got very angry at me cause I said Labour, supposedly the left wing party in the UK, are “upsetting the right people”, I should have clarified that I don’t think that they are doing a good job, but never mind.

    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’ve taken on the mantra of “Participate, but be respectful.” That’s led me to post a few times where I normally wouldn’t.

      Realize that there is nothing wrong with pissing someone off because they disagree with you. It’s only wrong if you pissed them off because of how you said it, or if you are closed minded about being proven wrong.

      And in the real world, a down vote doesn’t matter.

    • moodymellodrone@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Over the years I’ve learned it’s ok to ignore if it seems like someone wants to pick a fight. Not everything has to be a debate, and no it doesn’t make you look weak. You just got better shit to do than argue with strangers on the internet. :)

    • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Thank you :), and I’ll just let you know, that this comment brought a smile to my face. I’m proud of you.

    • VubDapple@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’ve also been posting less after managing to upset someone. We can have a club. The shy posters club.

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        You’re not shy, you’re just a normally adjusted human.

        It’s normal to want to avoid being abused and insulted for, say, having an opinion which is marginally different to the in-group consensus. But unfortunately that’s what happens when we post on text-based social media. Apparently the medium does something to people’s minds, turning them into nasty vindictive unpleasant versions of themselves.

        I’m a pretty self-confident person in real life and even I think twice about posting anything here that contradicts the prevailing groupthink. The inevitable insults and abuse and mockery are sometimes just not worth it.

        • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          Personally, I have hope that if a larger variety of people are posting and commenting (typical lurkers and such) then hopefully the echo chamber aggression will weaken a little, and hopefully foster a positive and friendly community. I’m trying to lead by example :)

          • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            Refreshing optimism!

            if a larger variety of people are posting and commenting (typical lurkers and such) then hopefully the echo chamber aggression will weaken a little

            Unfortunately I’m not sure the hope is warranted. Putting a lot of people with different views in front of each other, over text, does not, in general, by default, seem to go that well. At least not going by the experience of the first 30 years of the social internet. You tend to get the worst aspect of human group dynamics and speech-policing without the self-moderation that comes with in-person contact - i.e. the effect of audible voices, and visible faces and body language.

            I’m not a complete pessimist or I wouldn’t be here. But I think these issues can only be solved by activist moderation that enforces rules with a light touch while remaining tolerant and always assuming good faith. And, of course, that kind of moderation is time-consuming and very, very hard. It’s a skill that hardly any communities have access to. But it is at least a reasonable goal.

            • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
              0·
              2 months ago

              I see where you’re coming from, historically the internet and large communities tend to foster that kind of aggression. I, for one, will be striving to build a positive environment though, and just maybe, we’ll see those fruits lead into a brighter future :). I myself am applying for some moderator positions to help take up that effort!

        • Internetexplorer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          There’s a lot more aggressive unpleasant people. Or bots. That’s the scary things these days, we don’t know what’s real anymore. People we talk to online or see. If it’s fake trumped up hysteria.

          Or even takes pictures of videos.

          And I don’t see it getting any better.

          • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            If we can ensure that all bots are always identifiable as such, i.e. that none of them are successfully passing themselves off as people, then this problem is mitigated quite a lot. In theory that’s feasible. We’re hardly even trying right now.

        • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          It’s normal to want to avoid being abused and insulted for, say, having an opinion which is marginally different to the in-group consensus.

          Sadly, I see that irl as well - perhaps text social media enhances the effect, maybe by virtue of being anonymous, but it’s definitely not an effect solely restricted to here.😢

          Source: me who it just happened to an hour ago.😑

          • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            Yep. Not letting abuse get to you is really hard. I’m constantly surprised by this, being a fairly resilient person and not very sociable (to put things politely). I can only imagine what it must be like for more gregarious people. Hardly surprising that people are scared to speak up. So good for you for saying what you wanted to say, there was value in that.

      • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        I’ve only just managed to overcome my membership in the shy posters club haha! Hey, keep a seat warm for me while I’m away, okay?

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      That’s a horrible take and you should feel bad.

      But I’m a stranger on the Internet and probably a moron so it’s ok to not take me seriously or respond to me.

  • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Just wanted to pop in and say, I am so glad so many of you are taking this to heart! I am sitting here with a genuine smile on my face, which for reference NEVER happens. Thank you everyone!

    • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      It’s a wonderful picture, thank you :) Sometimes I wish that I had saved old photos of mine before they’re lost to time.

  • designated_fridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I go through a cycle for this. I leave Reddit because I hate it. And then I go here and well it’s quite obvious it’s a certain type of people who are willing to jump through hoops and use the fediverse. I find most of the opinions here to be a little bit too extreme for my taste. I just want to discuss football (soccer) and tech…

    But I agree with you. It only feels empty because we all decide to not hit “post”.

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Reddit was not much different in the beginning. It was kinda of weird and had a super Linux tech nerd culture with a circle jerky political culture. There was kind of a nice time between that and now, even though it was still niche. Hopefully we can see something like that again but without all the private interest ruining it in the end. But yeah, I’m with you.

  • oleorun@real.lemmy.fanEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Small instance owner here. All are welcome. We have one really busy community here, and a few others that are just getting going that you might find interesting. You like World of Warships? The Last of Us? St. Louis Battlehawks? Abandoned Buildings?

    You’ll notice some of these communities are a ghost town. Images are broken and there’s a rat eating pizza. So step up. Avoid the large, overwhelmed, weirld-political instances and give us little guys a chance.

    I’ll begin by introducing myself. Hi! I am oleorun, named after the recently deceased Bob Uecker’s Baseball Hall of Fame speech. My instance, https://real.lemmy.fan/, is known for the [email protected] community, but we have more to offer. [email protected] , a college radio station, [email protected] , and more communities waiting to be joined, and built, and best of all there’s no ads, no donation requests, just pure love of a federated instance that thrives on niceness.

    I’d be real happy for you to join us.

    [email protected]

    • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I cannot express how much respect I hold for instance owners, you’re doing something great! Maybe one day I’ll follow in your footsteps (when I step up from small game servers :P). Say, would those dead communities qualify for a post in c/abandonedarchitecture?

  • archonet@lemy.lolEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    press send on that post that you felt wasn’t of enough substance to be worth anyone’s time.

    I feel like you vastly underestimate the amount of subpar shitposts I’m capable of composing (and then thinking better of) in a given day.

  • Sepix@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I am SO thankful that there are so many people out there working on projects such as this! I gained lots of momentum in the past weeks protecting my privacy and taking digital matters back in my own hands, i wouldn’t have come so far if it wheren’t for all the other people who have been doing this for years! Thanks everyone :)

    • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      You said it! I remember years back looking for reddit alternatives and the only things around were stuff like raddle.me. Seeing lemmy and the fediverse develop like this? It’s a dream come true!

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    0·
    2 months ago

    All I want to ask of you is to just comment a few more times, …

    I think I’m fully maxxed out.

  • TheGhostHybrid@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Y’know what, here I am! This is such a genuine request.

    Thank you, friend! This post may very well be the tipping point for many Lemmings/Fediversers, myself included.

    • rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      And I’m so glad to see you here! I sure hope you’re right, but the fact that I’m responding to you alone shows just how right you are!

  • Cake@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I am trying to. I just found about lemmy today.

    Can someone recommend me some other stuff?

  • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    100%! Been doing it for a year.

    Also, I find a nice way to fill my feed is to liberally subscribe to communities on Lemmy. I’m currently subscribed to 133. I set my feed to Subscribed+Scaled and that works incredibly well to show me what I care about. Then when I get bored, I flip to All+TopDay to get what I missed that day.