Do you have any rules you try to follow when engaging with others online?
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kinda forgot there are bots, even on lemmy
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I misread the title as edging
Ive got nothing really to contribute, just know that I'm here rounding out the left-hand of the bell curve for the rest of you filthy animals!
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I think Lemmy has the capacity to have even more bots, because moderation is so inconsistent and underfunded. The big sites have the resources to fight bots, but ironically have an incentive to embrace them because it reflects well on DAU. IMO the only thing keeping bots off lemmy is a lack of ROI. Great, you spent how much to influence the views of a minuscule userbase in the corner of the internet no one goes to?
Still, it does feel sometimes like our share of braindead group think is higher than it should be...
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Downvotes are for low-quality content, bad-faith content, etc.
Most bright-line example of this is: if OP asks "what's your favourite fruit" and somebody says "bananas," don't downvote it just because you dislike bananas.
It gets harder when somebody says something you disagree with politically, but argues it well and in good faith. I would still not downvote in this circumstance.
For an example of when I would downvote: if OP asks "do bananas contain potassium?" and commenter says "No, only potatoes contain potassium." -- this is low quality content, they could have confirmed their answer with a quick google search.
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- Read the room. If it looks like a glorified echo chamber you'll get downvoted to oblivion. If you try to debate you might get banned. This is usually the case with news and political groups.
- Don't get pulled into pointless fights with trolls. You can usually spot them because they try to take the discussion on a radical detour or pointless pick a fight. Don't let yourself get baited.
- Don't tell people to "google it". They are probably looking for other's insights. If you can't answer their question or add to it then don't respond.
- If a topic is upsetting and you feel the urge to rant it is best to just walk away from it.
- Try to take the high road and be polite even if they aren't. Win by being nice, others will notice it.
- Finally, if someone is just totally unreasonable or even sounds nuts don't engage them. Block them if necessary.
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I think it flies under the commercialization radar so it isn't worth a lot of scammers and attention getter's time.
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If it is a controversial subject reread your comment before posting to see how it could be misinterpreted. People will automatically assume something negative so you have to write very clearly and defensively.
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Dedicate no more than two or three replies unless you're absolutely sure that the person is engaging in good faith. The single biggest tip-off that they are not is that they do not engage with the core of your case, and instead do any number of other things: (1) snipe at edge cases or other minutea (2) change the subject (3) move the goalposts (4) etc.
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That veers into subjective territory, though. From your example, going to a vegan community and declaring that you don't believe veganism is sustainable would be seen by most as not contributing to discussion, but just trying to troll or incite a flame war. I'd consider that detrimental and downvote.
On the other hand, asking "How can we make vegan lifestyles more sustainable?" would be something worth upvoting.
Communities are not necessarily places where people go to debate or have deep discussions, often it's just to find solidarity and meme out with good vibes. I'm not going to go to the Elden Ring community and say "Elden Ring is trash", even if that's a valid opinion for someone to have, because that's not really the right place to have that kind of discussion.
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Point taken. It was probably a bad example. I was trying to find an example of something that would be an unpopular topic rare hat would ultimately benefit the community.
