I think something one might learn over time from different sites styled like reddit and lemmy is that they are not monoliths,

There is a comment above that says the same thing, but in practice, think about it like, any give post attracts both people that agree, and disagree with it, generally strongly. The vast majority don’t engage with it.

Because of this the opinions seem both stronger, and more common. But realize that any given comment thread is a microscopic percent of even the highly active users, and always a biased sample.

With regards to echo chambers, this is why I personally oppose blocklists or how on reddit you can make something ‘private’. Pretending something that is problematic doesn’t exist does nothing to deal with the problem. I see this as fundamentally how r/TheDonald came to be, and reedit was fundamental in building the modern white nationalist movement. Through blocking and going private, r/TheDonald shielded itself from outside criticism, so that users didn’t see alternative view points, and specifically, were protected from open mockery. Originally the sub started as a troll/ joke but quickly became the defacto headquarters of the largest funnel for white nationalism the internet has ever seen. It might seem a bit over the top, but I argue that Trumps 2016 success would not have happened with out specifically r/TheDonald. Its why all of the ‘truth social’ and extended media took on a reddit style interactivity. It was the birthplace of the MAGA movement online. They morphed it into a self referential echo chamber, and used purity testing to filter out potential critics. Eventually it was banned entirely, but not until long after the damage was done.

So I don’t agree that ideas should be shielded from criticism. The problem with that is without criticisms, they can take hold, and grow legs of their own. But at the same time, you shouldn’t make too much of things when you see a strong binary online, because almost any internet discussion will be inherently polar (because only those who agree disagree with a principal or idea will be drawn to discuss it; 95% of everyone else just doesnt care).

I get your frustration. I’ve seen a few of your posts around, and seen some people harp on you because of what they perceive to be your politics. I personally haven’t delved into your posting history, but (take this with a grain of salt) you may need to develop a thicker skin online.

People feel more empowered to say what they feel online - just like you’ve been doing. It’s easy and you are fairly shielded with your online identity. Mods and admins have this privilege as well, and fair or not, you do have to abide by their rules or leave.

Sometimes that’s a hard pill to swallow. Nobody likes to accept defeat; especially when they feel passionately about something.

Good luck with whichever direction turn you choose to go.

You’re going to find that true almost anywhere online nowadays. I got sick on my birthday last year, and i posted on facebook that I hated being sick on my birthday. So facebook banned me for posting “hate speech.” (I’m not even kidding).

And I got banned from Reddit for suggesting that younger generations are more progressive in their views. THAT was apparently the wrong thing to say. I’m not sure why it was so controversial - but it sure pressed someone’s button.

There is one MAJOR difference: here you can make not only your own sub/community, where you can be your own mod, but you can spin up your own whole entire instance, and become your own admin. Oh Reddit, you serve The Man (spez) or you can GTFO - so we did the latter:-P (some perhaps due to being kicked out of their former mod role bc of the protests) - but here, nobody can tell us what to do, in the end.

Ofc there are limits even there, like someone can defederate from you if you refuse to control yourself, even unintentionally like if you don’t follow basic security and constantly get hacked.

It’s like being able to own your own home. When you visit a community on someone else’s instance, you are their GUEST, and you have to follow THEIR rules. The homeowner owns the community while the mayor or governor or President or Prime Minister or whatever controls the entire city / state / country or in this case “instance”. Right or wrong, it’s THEIRS, so your options are limited - you don’t get to just walk into someone else’s HOME and tell them what to do!?

But here, unlike Reddit, on your own personal computer (desktop machine even, doesn’t need a whole “server”) you can make your own place. From there, you could invite others… or not, as you choose. Inside your own home, unless you do something that may cause the police (like FBI) to come knocking, you control yourself, and also you have the responsibility and right to kick off anyone you choose who refuses to play by the rules that YOU set forth.

So do whatever you want. Ofc others have the same freedom too.

I’ve been banned for

You’ve been banned for not running your own instance.

thank you, at least someone is saying it.

2 months ago I had my main Reddit account banned because I reported someone for inciting violence. They literally said word for word “they should just go into Gaza and kill them all, women, children, all deserve death after today.” I reported him and went on about my day only to find that I was permanently banned from Reddit, no appeals work and this on r/WorldNews not some weird niche subreddit.

I started paying attention to usernames and noticed that there are only ever 3 or 4 accounts carrying on in the comments about anything, they just go at it like it’s their job.

Yep, Lemmy is very un-diverse in its struggle to embrace diversity.

At least your comment won’t be hidden because it has many downvotes.

Bye Felicia.

I don’t think it’s worse, but that’s only because, as far as responses from trolls and bad faith actors go, I’d rather get screeds from lunatic extremists than pseudo-leftist establishment dogma boiled down to little pieces of emotive rhetoric that are just mindlessly regurgitated over and over by bots and humans-who-might-as-well-be-bots.

Every topic has an opinion where the majority of people share that opinion. If you go against that opinion on reddit, you go to a niche sub or accept being drowned out. Here, due to the smaller population, there isn’t a viable way to maintain niche subs. That means we have to see each other’s opinions, thus you see arguments from polar opposites… Echo chambers?

Just go to kbin, and you will never know when you are blocked.

I agree, it is impossible to hold a contrarian view in a lot of subs. The mods and the user base on Lemmy have a very narrow range of their views than the spectrum that you find on Reddit. It is basically an echo chamber in a lot of subs.

The active user base is also soo much smaller that a handful of posters can be seen in certain subs. I see the same people posting over and over at a much higher rate than I saw on Reddit.