I think it was a couple of years ago, I made a reply on a thread where people were accusing the acreage Reddit user of being a bot or a shill (rightly so) - anyway, my position was that Lemmy is already being infected by similar.
Oh man did people get salty; but I swear it’s only been getting worse.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I’m not accusing anyone of being a bot or shill.
But I think information hygiene is super, super important, lest the Fediverse meet the same fate as the rest of the internet.
forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org 2 days ago
Oh for sure!
It doesn’t take very many who participate in bad faith, though, before information hygiene, as you put it, starts going by the wayside.
But, my apologies if it sounded like I was trying to hijack your message; was not my intent! Whether it’s bad actors or just people giving in to emotional reactions instead of reasoning out the argument, it is for sure important to be careful of misinformation. I’m sure a distressing amount is spread quite unintentionally.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 days ago
No worries, I got the idea (and was a tad blunt clarifying). And yeah, for sure.
To expand on my perspective, I’ve encountered genuinely curious comments about link sourcing, questionable but popular sites and such. It reminds me there are young folks or newcomers still learning those concepts and “characters” of the internet, and I mean that with no intended condescension.
forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org 2 days ago
I have a bad habit of being condescending myself, I appreciate the reminder.
Some time back I saw a blog post where the author was making the claim that the only possible way to deprogram someone who had been radicalized starts with compassion. Real, honest compassion for the person; which can be hard with the hateful ideals that are spread so freely these days! But he is right. Without compassion, whoever you are trying to communicate with has no honest reason to listen.
Anyway, thank you again for sharing your perspective!