This is a sequel to this rant. I came to the realization that Lemmy and the broader fediverse aren’t really fun for me. The constant ragebait and politics shoehorned into everything was dragging me down, and the only communities without ragebait are also without content in general.
So I caved and made a Reddit account after 3 years and it’s gotten so, so much worse. First is probably the “gamification” of everything. Reddit already had karma, which had its own problems, but it was simple. Monkey brain like number go up. Now they show you analytics on your posts and comments, and encourage you to improve them, as though you’re meeting a metric rather than trying to connect with other people. It’s gross and cynical.
Then there’s the notifications. I get a notification every time a post is upvoted, not just for replies. It feels engineered to squeeze every drop of dopamine out of you and keep you feeding the content machine.
This one’s more subtle. The simple Reddit gold awards that existed when I first joined in 2012 had already ballooned into a myriad of different little trophies when I left in 2023, but they’ve redesigned them and now they look like assets from a free to play mobile game, with the way the awards shine when you mouse over them to that particular bright plasticky round art style. It’s not damning on its own, but combined with the above points it’s another nail in the coffin.
Sponsored posts I think were already a thing when I left, but now there are ads in the comments as well. There used to be one ad on a specific dedicated spot off to the side. It was unobtrusive without being hard to find. I felt that was fair. But it’s not about keeping the lights on anymore, now the whole things screams “You’re the product!”
But worst of all are the bots, AI masquerading as real users that make superficially genuine posts and comments. Discriminating between AI and human content is probably a skill that I could hone with time, but I shouldn’t have to go on a witch hunt every time someone compliments me. I’ve even been tricked into wasting my empathy on them, all so they can farm me for content.
So yeah, maybe I should just throw away my router and go outside.
That last thing you said.
Many such cases of those who do not take advantage!
throw away your router and go outside
I just hope niche communities comes here
I don’t think things are bad enough for niche communities to make the switch. For instance, I check out the Critical Role Reddit subreddit semi-frequently, and it seems quite healthy, rather like how Reddit used to feel. By comparison, Lemmy does have a CR community and it gets posts from some dedicated users, but the comment section is always quiet (which is unfortunate, because interacting with other fans in the comments is kinda the whole point).
It really takes an organized move, where the subreddit community as a whole decides to switch over. The numbers just aren’t here for most niche interests to survive organically.
Go outside
I browse feeds for about an hour a day, to get a feel for the information and mark anything I want to deep dive at my leisure. Outside is great. Creating things is great. I would highly recommend it. Even if you don’t ever make anything “worthwhile”, doing is worthwhile.
Is rather die with a pile of poor paper-mache ant heads wilting in the humidity, than 1000 karma or 1,000 people who know me as “wireheadcrawfishscissors” on socials. I’d rather waste an hour under a tree, listening to the wind, than an hour listening to others rage and whine into the void.
The world outside is beautiful. The one capitalism has created is a Frankenstenian horror of rotting thoughts posing as alive through the power of electricity. It wants to eat you. That’s its only goal. Don’t put your head in its mouth.
My brother I live deep inside a city and the heat is unbearable. The wet bulb temprature here is higher than 30c. Being outside isn’t much of an option for me
As someone from the swamps of Louisiana, who has spent considerable time in South and Central Texas, I can say that I was speaking with full understanding of what hot really means. I’ll be outside in the middle of July, in the shade for noon to 3.
Concrete and asphalt offers no joy and life with which I might forgive the sun though. I would suggest the morning or late night hours for the crushing city. Regardless, as the other poster said, inside offers a plethora of activities and space for creation. Learn, sculpt, knit, whatever.
Build more you. On the off-chance that you can take something with you when you die, it’s about the only option.
If you cannot go outside due to heat, get off of Lemmy/social media and engage in a productive hobby. Learn to craft, build, paint, SOMETHING else than sitting in a rage enducing bubble. Even Lemmy has its problems and you shouldn’t be on here all day. I have friends to hang out with, play games, miniatures assemble, exercise, cooking… Do something else.
Lemmy has a community identity problem. People copied all the subreddit names over but basically none of the posting rules that makes them unique.
How is nostupidquestions different than asklemmy?
Why is nottheonion full of headlines not in the style of The Onion?
Why is there a whitepeopletwitter at all when microblogmemes exists?
I think the lack of guidelines leads people to post whatever wherever. I see why you feel like you can’t escape politics in every community
the only communities without ragebait are also without content in general
This is bizarre and hasn’t been my experience at all. I block “meme subs” and find the rest of lemmy quite normal.
Looking at your previous rant, I see that you describe “rage bait” as:
Every. Single. Thread. has the word “capitalism” or “Trump” in it somewhere.
I don’t see that much. Block political subs if you don’t want to see Trump.
methinks op leans a certain way politically, that is not being appreciated 'round here
Yeah…
Alternatively, people seem to think that politics are some nebulous separate thing to their life, sort of like a hobby, when the reality is everything is political. Like, you cannot escape politics as a general rule (and arguably, nor should you try to), because it infects every aspect of a person’s life.
I’m educated enough on politics though. I want my free time to be spent learning about random animals, Legos, rocks, Ancient Rome, not the latest dumb shit trump did. That’s wild take to think you can’t play video games, read a book, run with your dog without having to think about politics 24/7. If you truly believe that, see a therapist, that’s seriously not healthy.
Having hobbies is all well and good, I have them as well, but to not think politics has an impact on quite literally everything in your life requiring therapy is…a take.
Stating that politics have an impact on everything is just a statement of fact.
In just the examples you gave, some sort of political situation has impacted them - the price of Legos, modern interpretations of ancient history (through the lens of modern political discourse and what lead to the fall of Rome as an easy example), media regulation/censorship, the list goes on. It is possible to recognize that these things are impacted and not “think about them all the time.”
Ultimately, places like Lemmy are largely news aggregators, so you are going to get a lot of stuff related to the news (i.e. politics). It’s a bit tough to discuss the “latest in dog walking” for any period if time to largely anonymous people online when compared to “US geopolitics” or “global conflicts,” because those things are ever evolving.
Nobody said politics doesn’t have an impact on everything. But it’s possible to have a community dedicated to Legos or dog walking that doesn’t constantly talk about how the Trump administration or the economy effects it
This is what I’m talking about. I want to come on here and relax, but it’s hard to do that when I’m constantly being reminded of the depressing hellscape that is real life right now.
“Be the change you want to see in the world” is the only real solution to that problem. News aggregation is an easy thong because its relatively universal - niche hobbies are not by definition, so its kind of up to people to make them happen.
Nah, even as a liberal, I do hate that all the top stuff on Lemmy seems to be political. It’s not surprising, it’s just much harder to make your entire feed just super niche interests. Like I’m able to make my Reddit fun by just following animal, Lego, plant, history, science subreddits and having zero news stuff pop up. If you do that here, you will be bored fast.
I’m just returning to try again after the latest generation of destroying Reddit, hopefully it is better than before and I am surprised.
Believe me, I’m praying for lemmy to catch up and be able to self sustain content. I’m fully on anything’s team that brings back what Reddit was 15 years ago.
Block political subs and filter out trump and murica related keywords and your feed is a ghost town. or porn.
My feed is nowhere near a ghost town. I have porn disabled as well.
Lemmy has bots too. Mostly those ones used to repost image macros and screenshots from other social media sites.
There’s a stark difference before and after the existence of those types of accounts.
!cat@lemmy.world has been politics free afaik and full of cats.
