They also aren’t being promoted by an Algorithm optimised to increase page views by encouraging outrage.
Because Lemmy relies on active users seeking out things they are interested in, there isn’t as much traffic as curated (and algorithmically curated) media with passive users.
This is a good thing for users who are active, and results in a more positive experience, but it also requires maintenance; no one is going to find things that might interest you for you so you must seek them out yourselves.
There is also the risk that a community could become an echo chamber. This is not a problem if the community has a positive outlook and creates a positive feedback loop, but if a community has a negative outlook, it could create a negative feedback loop too. The opposite of an enthusiast is an extremist.
Nath@aussie.zone 1 year ago
We are insignificant and irrelevant. This community, with subscribers outside the aussie.zone instance still numbers 3k users, 10% of which visit per week.
Even if we were politically aligned (we aren’t - at all), we wouldn’t matter to anyone.
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 1 year ago
Of course. That we’re big or influential in any way wasn’t my point. My point was i’m glad theres a space that isn’t captured by those interests.
“Politically aligned (We aren’t at all)”, you remind me of a funny story i heard about a US national anarchist movement meet up. I think it was from Steven Keen on the debunking economics podcast.
They decided to all meet together for a two or three day conference and begin a more organised push for their political aims. By the end of the time not even a Chairperson had been decided on due to disagreements. And this is just a section of the so called ‘left’.
Its a bit pithy i know but i thought, the original telling at least, was funny.
I’m assuming we can agree there is a progressive bias in the commentary, and types of content shared here, otherwise the story makes no sense.
dgriffith@aussie.zone 1 year ago
“Anarchists, let’s unite, and seize power from the corrupt government! Ok, so first we need a leader…”
Nath@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I agree that the majority of users tend to swing in that direction. But - that’s it. There is no site-wide agenda to align with any specific political party. That “progressive” tug may lead those users to vote for Green, Teal, Labor or independant. That does nothing to suggest that people should not vote LNP, nor do we tell people how that should vote. This is what I mean by not being politically aligned. I suspect that if we were somehow able to get an accurate poll of users, sorted by party that LNP would middle of the pack. Behind Greens/Labor but ahead of the others.
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 1 year ago
Maybe i should have made the assumption comment more clear by specifying ‘Note:’. But this was an addendum to the above story. Because i realised if we don’t agree on the bias, then the story makes little sense. And i’d need to explain it more.
In terms of a site wide political agenda, i never said there was. Telling people how to vote. I haven’t. Please don’t insinuate that i have.
We all have our biases and interests, mine probably come across fairly strongly due to my fairly high activity. But a lot of what I post is just to keep c/Perth relatively interesting and active.
For your last comment. Its an interesting hypothetical. I’d be surprised with a poll result where the LNP landed in the middle of the pack for aussie-zone, especially the Nationals in that. It would actually gratify me, as Nationals are generally more popular in rural areas, and i’ve tried to incorporate more than just Perth articles in my run of base posts for c/Perth.