It feels like people are a lot nicer here than on Twitter and Reddit, and even when people disagree, it’s generally civil and not an all-out flame war. Also, there’s no algorithm promoting outrage all the time.
For me, the anticipation of toxicity was a huge deterrent for me ever participating in real discussions, but here I feel like I can be myself.
I think it’s healthier this way.
My early Reddit experience was scary that way. I’d quickly learn the hard way (e.g. with antics and misunderstanding) that the name of a subreddit was either an early intention or an inside joke (that I didn’t fully get).
Far right subs banhammered me for failing to speak the newspeak and signaling appropriate allegiances. Far left subs banhammered me for… saying something tankie-adjacient, I guess? I’m still not sure what atlantism is.
Spend too long in either echo chamber and I start to realize I’m not part of either. The world is complex, boiling it down to two corporate sponsored and totally insane ideologies doesn’t fit.
it means you’re racist against people from Atlantis. You make me sick.
It also means “Advocation of or support for cooperation among western European and North American nations regarding political, economic, and defense issues.”
I feel you on the subreddit names though, and I feel like that is happening here as well as many communities are just old subreddits that migrated over. I especially dislike the naming convention of using “porn” as a suffix like FoodPorn or ArchitecturePorn, as that can very easily drive away people not familiar with the naming convention. I hope (maybe naively?) that that will eventually turn around, but only time will tell.
Advocation of or support for cooperation among western European and North American nations regarding political, economic, and defense issues
Truly a banworthy offense. I am ashamed.
I thought an Atlantism is when you quote Stargate: Atlantis