Comment on Hexbear federation megathread
pikasaurX4@lemm.ee 10 months ago
This post already has a lot of comments, but as a relatively new Lemmy user, I also want to add that I agree against defederation except as a last resort. However, that said, I do find most of these hexbear posts and users very annoying.
I consider myself extremely left-leaning, but I’m also not someone who enjoys engaging in political discussion online. One day recently, my Lemmy feed was suddenly inundated with these “chapo” posts (I don’t even know what a chapo is) and the attitude of the posts and comments is very disheartening. They are obviously aggressive and angry, and while I don’t like homophobes, transphobes, xenophobes, and so on, I also don’t want every other post on my feed to be a hate post. Even hating the bad guys gets old really fast. I get it. I was a hater when I was younger too, but I can’t take two steps online today without stumbling into rage or hatred.
A couple weeks ago when I joined Lemmy, it was still feeling cozy enough and positive enough for the most part that it felt like a little safe haven. I started telling all my friends how great it was (as long as you don’t mind porn or are willing to filter out NSFW) and I was excited to post and comment to contribute to the content. But all of a sudden one day these hexbear posts and users started popping up and now I’m embarrassed that I even recommended this place.
I generally agree with their messages when they are standing up for the rights of others and talking about tearing down corrupted establishments, but the sarcasm is so dense and the dripping with hatred that I absolutely do not want to get involved with them.
Anyway, all I’m saying is even though the content is not what I want to see and not what I think is healthy for this sort of site, defederating is serious and breaks one of the best parts of what Lemmy has to offer. Letting users filter entire instances will be a fantastic feature when/if it arrives, but for now I’m fine just ignoring the posts or blocking the communities if they are really bothering me
CoderKat@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I’ve felt this too. It’s a really big, active instance. They can easily fill comments with their content and even if only a relatively small number of people act trollish, that’s still a lot of people.
I could block the instance myself, but that’s not something you can easily do for others (“hey, check this out, but first please download an app so you can block all these things”). And while blocking could hide posts and contents, there’ll still be the affect of votes. I’ve had plenty of times where I do a double take like, "wait, that comment is popular? Who the fuck am I sharing this site with?
They have plenty of content I can find agreeable, so I can just grit my teeth and bear their trollish and less agreeable content, but that’s not something I feel comfortable subjecting to others. When I link something to someone, I’m very aware that they’re going to be judging just what kind of content I consume, and for good reason, as that often tells you what kind of person someone is (and I’m pretty on the fence with just blocking their instance myself).