For context: I was a much more ignorant person back in 2014 than I am today. My views then do not reflect my views now (tw: Fatphobia, Sexism, Sinophobia, transphobia, Z-propaganda)

This isn’t my first rodeo dealing with a reddit migration. My first attempt to leave the site happened back in 2014 when several subs got banned, including several shaming subs when Ellen Pao was CEO of reddit.

Back then, there were a lot of unfounded rumors of the site being taken over by the Chinese government (cause Ellen was Chinese American), and being an ignorant person, I fell for it hook line and sinker.

So around that time, a few reddit alternatives started getting passed around, including a site called Voat. It was basically just like reddit, but the bandwidth and UI wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as reddits, thus the site constantly crashed. I spent a bit of time on there before heading back to reddit and never looking back. And the main reason I left was because the overall culture there was mean spirited, unhinged, and basically a reactionary version of reddit (which looking back makes sense considering this reddit migration was basically a reaction from trying to protect people)

Fast forward to now, and I’m starting to get de ja vu from the fediverse. At first I was on kbin, which seemed promising at first until I noticed that any article involving trans issues had a slew of transphobic comments that had a lot of traction. Realizing there was very little moderation being done there, I gave lemmyworld a try, but same issue, plus it seemed any article having to do with Ukraine had a lot of pro-Russian posts. And whenever I bring up this fact, I get a lot of pushback from users and mods. Part of the reason I ended up here is because one user told me “If you need a safe space, you should go over to beehaw with all the other snowflakes.”

At this point, I already have a fairly negative view of the fediverse. I hate what is happening to reddit right now, and yet it feels like the alternatives aren’t much better in providing a safe environment for its users.

Maybe my problem is with redditors, but at the very least reddit was equipped to keep the dumbest of dumbasses out of visibility. Here, even in supposedly more open minded communities and instances, such dumbassery has just as much weight as thoughtful, upvoted posts.

I don’t know. I can’t see myself staying involved with this project for long, if it’s just going to remain as unpleasant as it is now.

Also, sorry if this isn’t the right community to be posting this in. I’ll gladly move this where this needs to go if its the case.

Edit: riveting discussion example: @Cat_of_the_Round fuck philosophy. unless you reeeeelly care that much. your behind a kb for christ sake. Oh no. Someone had an opinion. I’m assuming you can in the very least ignore them. Othewise who the fuck cares?

yeah, I think I’m done here.

  • Tischkante@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    One of the first posts I clicked on lemmy was about AI or something like it in the technology magazine on beehaw. It’s was a normal text but underneath the text illegal images popped in. That was a harrowing first experience. I just reported it and it was purged and the user banned. I wont the trolls win, I’ll rather help keep communities clean.

  • GameGod@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    The defining characteristic of these failed Reddit alternatives like Voat is that the communities that drove their growth were very polarized and often hateful. If your hate sub gets banned and your community moves somewhere else as a consequence, your platform is going to end up with a toxic core audience that are not inclusive and make it impossible to grow.

    The growth of Lemmy (and Beehaw) being a reaction to Reddit’s shutdown of third party apps is exactly why it has a chance of taking off. It’s not a couple of fringe Reddit subs that moved to Lemmy, but rather users from all sorts of subs. The polarization isn’t there because 3rd party app users are a diverse audience that are probably representative of all Reddit users. This could actually be a huge problem for Reddit in the long run. If Lemmy and Beehaw end up having better vibes and communities with less astroturing, they’ll continue to draw more people in.

  • Gh05t@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Cool story bro. You gotta be a part of something to make a change. Decisions get made by people in the room. If you don’t want to be here cool and sorry this wasn’t for you. It’s the equivalent of giving everyone in a crowded bar the finger and going home. Cool mate, a bit dramatic but yeah. Peace.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    it seemed any article having to do with Ukraine had a lot of pro-Russian posts.

    Yes, Lemmy is rather notorious for its tankie problem. Best to avoid instances that allow that behavior.

    Part of the reason I ended up here is because one user told me “If you need a safe space, you should go over to beehaw with all the other snowflakes.”

    I’ve noticed that people who call others “snowflakes” are usually projecting.

    at the very least reddit was equipped to keep the dumbest of dumbasses out of visibility.

    I strongly disagree with this point. On Reddit, running into awful people was a common occurrence, and I was unable to block them for some reason. On Beehaw, I rarely encounter them and am not forced to tolerate their awfulness. It’s a major improvement.

  • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    You’ve got a thread full of helpful messages and you’re leaving because one of them was mean? And you’re going back to Reddit of all places? Good luck I guess.

  • mizmoose@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Voat became such a garbage site. It was (barely) tolerable in its early days but with the influx of the reddit refugees from the FPH and “Chimpire” subs, it started down the path to trash fire. My favorite (sarcasm) part was how the racists even attacked the Voat creator & original boss because he was Muslim. Yet the owner was such a tool that he shrugged it off with “Free Speech.”

    By the time it failed – and yes, I know that there’s a version of Voat still around but it’s like 300 white supremacists all doing a giant circle jerk – there wasn’t a place on Voat that wasn’t a toxic cesspool.

    I recently told this tale but I’ll tell it again: There was a short lived Reddit alternative that closed down for, as best as I can tell, mostly trying to run at just the wrong time. They sounded a lot like Beehaw: Open communication but no hate speech allowed.

    They started growing around the time that Reddit was cracking down on the alt-reich subs that were doxxing people and making actual threats of violence, like the_dondon (You know what I mean) and its ilk, plus stomping out the incels. Both groups went crying to Voat. Voat, amusingly, called them all poseurs and downvoted them off the site. So they - especially the alt-reich kids - went to the new site.

    The new site handled them with such grace it still boggles my mind. They told them all, basically, “Thanks for coming! It’s so nice you want to be here, but, sorry, you’re breaking our rules. Here’s your hat. So sorry you can’t stay with us! We wish you all the best. Bye bye, now!” and deleted all their accounts and the communities they created, and that was that.

    It was a cute site and it could have been something nice, but it just didn’t fully get off the ground. I feel bad that I cannot remember the name of it.

  • Hyperi0n@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, I’m really lost as to what OP is talking about? I’ve been here since the blackouts and have seen nothing like what they’re talking about. The difference between here and Reddit is day and night. I literally saw a post about the former president and people weren’t arguing in some knockdown drag out like they would on literally any other social media platform. If there is any toxicity, which of course it’s ridiculous to say that there’s none, then it be must be rare because I have seen downright amazing interactions and honest and constructive discussions on Lemmy and Kbin. I’m sure there might be cracks in the fediverse and I might see them after the honeymoon phase is over but honestly I think the fediverse is the step in the right direction for the internet as a whole.

    I’m **really ** wanting to be nice and approach this site differently so please pardon me if I sound rude but OP sounds like a drama queen. We don’t need any of that on this site. I’m glad their gone. People like that are never happy anywhere and just suck the life out of the room like a power vacuum and spit out negative attention right in our faces. They bring it on themselves. Please let me know if I’m off my rocker on this one guys, and gals. I’d love to hear your side of this whole thing but that’s just my general gut feeling.

    yeah, I think I’m done here.

    Okay, bye! ;)

  • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Voat was always designed to be a refugee for the lowest type of scum of Reddit. It never turned into anything that it wasn’t meant to be from day 1.

    If you see transphobic comments in trans positive communities then I’d just report them. All instances of the fediverse, especially the major ones like kbin and Lemmy, have seen a very large influx of new people, postings and comments, as well as the odd performance issues. Those things will settle down with time. So far I cannot really say that I see kbin to be particularly hateful. There’s a lot of lgbt friendly magazines popping up on the main page and generally the tone has been overall friendly.

  • Denaton@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    I just block communities that is to spammy or annoying, the thing with a open source decentralize platform is that you need to drag the sliders yourself to your liking.

  • RadioRat (he/they)@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    If having a grand old time on vacation from negativity and bigotry makes me a snowflake, I’ll be a snowflake. Beehaw is the bee’s knees thus far.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      Heheh, I recently just realized that whenever someone says “gone woke” in a sentence, you can substitute that phrase with “doing the right thing” and it genenerally forms the antithesis of their mean views. Similar example here.

  • slaytswiftfan@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I agree with most of your post and can relate to the sentiment but I’m very lost on why you actively looked for a negative comment in a sea of positivity just to say you’re leaving? no one is forcing you into these spaces, if you wanted to use reddit that is ok 🫤 but beehaw so far has been overwhelmingly positive in comparison and I feel that edit is doing it an injustice (again just my opinion)

  • reverendsteveii@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    yo what am I missing with that edit? you tagged yourself and then engaged the Universal Reactionary Pushback Defense. What were you trying to do with that?

  • 🦊 OneRedFox 🦊@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Maybe my problem is with redditors

    Yeah, probably. That site has a problem with racism/sexism/queerphobia because the admins have consistently refused to properly deal with the site’s problems for basically its entire existence. I still recall CNN having to goad Reddit into banning the jailbait subreddit.

    but at the very least reddit was equipped to keep the dumbest of dumbasses out of visibility.

    lmao, I wish mate. It’s less of an issue in smaller niche subs, but the defaults/large subs have been garbage for a long time.

    At this point, I already have a fairly negative view of the fediverse.

    The Reddit-like portion is dealing with a bunch of bullshit right now due to the protest and exodus bringing in tens of thousands of users from a website that has a fairly reactionary baseline in the first place. The rest of the Fediverse has largely not been impacted, though. You should try Calckey; it’s a Twitter-like platform, but it also has threaded comment replies (it displays differently than Reddit’s, though). It’ll give you something to do while the dust settles and content moderation on Lemmy/kbin can get sorted.

  • Plume (She/Her)@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It was my fear as well when I came over to Lemmy. Which is why I was seduced and ended up applying for Beehaw. It’s just the way it is on internet right now, when there is an alternative platform to something that is mainstream, it is most likely to be filled with the worst people on earth.

    Remember Bitchute? Remember Odysee? Those YouTube alternatives? Well, who’s on there? Nazis. It’s just Nazis. Especially the first one. On the second one, Odysee, it’s Nazis and Linux people (not saying there is an overlap between the two).

    Back when I was still down the alt-right pipeline on YouTube years ago, I remember going over on Bitchute because lots of people were talking about it. And, once I did, all I was met with, were people who were banned off of YouTube. You know, because YouTube had a anti-conservatism bias… so they said… Well, in a truly shocking twist: there were good reasons why these people were banned.

    I went there and I remember thinking that these people were fucking nuts… And that was quite something, because I would later realize, that the people I was watching on YouTube, were Nazis too. The difference is, they were still pretending not to be, they were trying to catch on a larger audience and also trying not to get banned. Moderation kept them in line. Kind of. But on Bitchute? With basically no moderation, all pretenses were dropped and you could see people being openly Nazis and as antisemitic as you can imagine.

    But I believe this time is different.

    Until now, a ton of those alternatives to websites, were designed with free speech absolutism in mind. You can come on here, and say anything, and we won’t do shit about it. Which basically means, there is no fucking moderation. Which of course is going to result in a bunch of troglodytes saying horrendous shit. Kind of like when Elon, the Muskrat took over Twitter to restore free speech, and the whole site was just spammed with the n-word.

    And those types of alternatives still exist, look at Kick, the Twitch ripoff alternative. Who’s on there? Nazis. Crypto scammers. And xQc, now, apparently. Is it going to turn into a shit show? No. It already is!

    Now, what makes places like Mastodon and Lemmy different? These aren’t just alternatives. They’re frameworks. Bases on which communities can be built. With their own rules and moderation. Which is why I came here, to this specific instance. It is not just a place to read stuff and that’s it. No, the idea is to build an actual community, it isn’t just another “Free speech, come say all of your favorite racial slurs” zone.

    Beehaw has a clear vision of what it wants to be, and enforces it. The defederation from Lemmy.world is a perfect example of this. “It is turning into a shit show, we don’t want that here, therefore, we are branching off and separating ourselves from it to ensure a safe place for our community.”

    I understand where you’re coming from. And I too have worries. However, I do believe in this one. Is it going to be the new Reddit? Absolutely not, it is always going to be somewhat of a niche platform. And you know what? I don’t mind it. I don’t want this to be Reddit, I want it to grow beyond this and be its own thing. Let it grow into what it wants to be.

    I think we are making a huge mistake by coming over from Reddit, and trying to build a new Reddit. It is very much Reddit-like. For sure. But it doesn’t have to be just another Reddit. I chose Beehaw specifically for the vision it has for what it wants to be. I didn’t pick it because it sounded nice and the other instances were full, I chose it because of it’s rules and ideals, and what these meant to me.

    To me, this is something new. Not just an alternative platform. And I think you should look at it this way.