I want to be able to say what In think and read what others have to say even if it hurts my feelings / views.
I promise you, after two days moderating an actual large discussion forum, you will implement sweeping rules about who can say what about who. The only places people enjoy chatting anymore are places that are moderated.
We can complain about youtube and facebook taking down messages critical of power or corporations, but places like Lemmy are managed by people. It’s not censorship, it’s going into someone’s house and abiding by their rules. It’s a whole other topic if what you want to read/say is popular enough that you can find someone’s “house” that centers around that topic and is also large enough to have meaningful interactions.
And if you’re looking for debate, that shit is dead.
The fact that every community is now insular and bubbled echo-chambers is a result of human tendencies, we gave people total freedom on the internet and instead of using it to learn more and include more people in more conversations, our instincts turned the place into a curdled honeycomb of walled-off communities which were ripe for the plucking by corporate interests.
That’s very unfortunate. I deleted my Facebook account a decade ago because it was flooding me with superficial stuff from people that i didn’t care about. I stopped using Twitter as soon as Musk bought it, it was shit before that too. Deleted Reddit a couple of days ago because it is impossible to say anything that the moderators disapprove of. Maybe lemmy will be the next thing to delete
I think a big problem is we aren’t really sure what we’re looking for in social media. We see things that give us satisfying dopamine boosts and want more of it, but also feel the hollowness of it. It’s exactly like eating processed carbs when you’re starving. You end up addicted with cravings for more even as the stuff you’re consuming makes you sick.
I was there for the start of it all, I’ve seen the space evolve over the decades. I was out in the pioneering days championing free discussion and moderating huge communities. I love reading someone debating an idiot more than anyone arguably, I get the same sense of satisfaction seeing groups connect and share great ideas and jokes.
But I also know the pleasure gained from that kind of community is as contextual as it is fleeting. We are not the same people we were when we first read some chain-post replying in stupid memes until it got so absurd we’re laughing so hard we can’t breath and we’re waking up our housemates. We’re just not “that people” anymore. Even the younger people now are living in a different time, we are so desensitized to imagery and text on a screen that it won’t ever have the same impact on us, but it doesn’t stop us from looking everywhere for a hit of the ol’ drug.
I promise you, after two days moderating an actual large discussion forum, you will implement sweeping rules about who can say what about who. The only places people enjoy chatting anymore are places that are moderated.
We can complain about youtube and facebook taking down messages critical of power or corporations, but places like Lemmy are managed by people. It’s not censorship, it’s going into someone’s house and abiding by their rules. It’s a whole other topic if what you want to read/say is popular enough that you can find someone’s “house” that centers around that topic and is also large enough to have meaningful interactions.
And if you’re looking for debate, that shit is dead.
The fact that every community is now insular and bubbled echo-chambers is a result of human tendencies, we gave people total freedom on the internet and instead of using it to learn more and include more people in more conversations, our instincts turned the place into a curdled honeycomb of walled-off communities which were ripe for the plucking by corporate interests.
That’s very unfortunate. I deleted my Facebook account a decade ago because it was flooding me with superficial stuff from people that i didn’t care about. I stopped using Twitter as soon as Musk bought it, it was shit before that too. Deleted Reddit a couple of days ago because it is impossible to say anything that the moderators disapprove of. Maybe lemmy will be the next thing to delete
I think a big problem is we aren’t really sure what we’re looking for in social media. We see things that give us satisfying dopamine boosts and want more of it, but also feel the hollowness of it. It’s exactly like eating processed carbs when you’re starving. You end up addicted with cravings for more even as the stuff you’re consuming makes you sick.
I was there for the start of it all, I’ve seen the space evolve over the decades. I was out in the pioneering days championing free discussion and moderating huge communities. I love reading someone debating an idiot more than anyone arguably, I get the same sense of satisfaction seeing groups connect and share great ideas and jokes.
But I also know the pleasure gained from that kind of community is as contextual as it is fleeting. We are not the same people we were when we first read some chain-post replying in stupid memes until it got so absurd we’re laughing so hard we can’t breath and we’re waking up our housemates. We’re just not “that people” anymore. Even the younger people now are living in a different time, we are so desensitized to imagery and text on a screen that it won’t ever have the same impact on us, but it doesn’t stop us from looking everywhere for a hit of the ol’ drug.