I try to be mindful of my Lemmy image/persona since I try to be supportive and educational here. I don’t have a problem with sharing my personal beliefs, but I try to keep it constructive and not too judgemental.

I’ve spent a lot of time cultivating the community where I spend most of my time posting content to, and I like all the comments people share on a daily basis because it’s a positivity oriented community.

Between things in real life and fighting feelings of burn out here, it’s been a bit tougher to stay motivated. One thing I’ve been noticing more lately, and I’m not sure how to deal with it, and I’m curious how you all deal with it.

If you have regular commenters that you like in your community, but you see them being kinda shitty in other communities, does that affect you?

I know there are stressful things going on just about everywhere, but it’s tough when I see people I look to for positivity in return for my work having bad takes or saying things that make me feel less happy about them.

The broadest recent example is probably the Luigi/United Healthcare assassination. Without getting into a whole thing, I don’t support it the way many have expressed here, but I can empathize with the reasoning behind why Luigi has broad support. But I see people I like saying what I feel are pretty hateful things, and I’m having a hard time separating what they show me of themselves in our positive space with what I’m seeing of them in the general Lemmyverse.

I don’t know if I should just ignore it, but I don’t feel there Is really any ideal way to discuss too much as I don’t want to alienate people from my content. I don’t use any alta as that just seems like too much work, but now I kind of want to avoid people a little bit.

Just curious if any of you go through anything similar and to see how you deal with it.

  • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    4 days ago

    I’ll leave you then with this thought: let’s assume that the/a revolution has already occurred: what then?

    Like “defund the police” is a slogan that people say often, or did before they switched to ACAB, but if we ever achieved that goal… what then?

    In one sense, the internet was already an example of what comes next: like socialism, everyone is equal and can do whatever they want. Hence why virtually nobody wants to be a mod, bc it requires effort. Those who scream the loudest that their voices should matter (though curiously never their opponents, for some odd reason?:-P) are the very ones who absolutely refuse to lift a finger to do something for themselves - like spin up an instance, or create a community, or help mod an existing one. And those that do, like Midwest.social, end up making it an echo chamber where only people who agree are aloud.

    Most of us need to wake up and realize that we are no good at like… things, and stuff, and junk. Hence why it behooves us to listen to a wider range of inputs. Except that’s nearly never the real goal: that of appearing to win some argument online in order to salve our egos:-). Also truth really does take some additional effort to understand. And it lacks that sexy “punch” factor, i.e. it enrages people less hence gets shared less. For instance, if you want to know why I personally learn more towards a less extremist viewpoint, it is due primarily to videos such as this one: https://youtu.be/6spSrC9c8WE. Tbh I don’t know fully how I should think about it all, except that I realize upon watching that there is more that I don’t know than that I do.

    But to reiterate the issue at hand: mod your community however you wish. I literally stepped down as head mod of !AskUSA@discuss.online after creating it so that the community could move into a different direction - allowing for more serious discussions of contentious topic areas (like jury nullification). And that is what I wished: to both not hold anyone back from being able to discuss things if that’s what they wanted, but also not having to be ultimately responsible for getting my instance in trouble with law enforcement agencies in the USA. I feel that I may not be explaining this well, so one more try from a different angle: you definitely have responsibilities as a mod to set forth good rules that people want to be governed by, but after that the users also have responsibilities to follow those rules. A few people who refuse to do that shouldn’t be allowed to destroy all that you have built - which would be bad not only for yourself but also all the other members of your community. I hope that makes more sense!:-)

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Ok, I think I’m starting to get why I’m enjoying talking with you. 😁

      I am somewhat unique in that I am the main content provider of my community, but I am not a mod. I’m doing what I do because I wanted to see the community succeed and not die out. I didn’t know too much when I started posting. I shared a few photos I had taken on trips, and by the time I ran out, nobody was posting anything still.

      Now I’ve read hundreds of hours of subject matter, talked to experts in person, traveled hours to see the things in person, spent money to get hands on time with the animals I talk about. I’ve got over 1200 posts I believe about owls now. But I’ve stressed since the beginning that I am not a mod, I’m not an expert, and I want to be corrected if I’m wrong because I’m doing it for a love of the animals and a love of knowledge and learning, and I feel a duty to the community for them being my audience to practice teaching what I’ve learned.

      For most of my working career, I wanted to finally be in charge. I got the chance once and it was nothing like I had expected. I got less done than ever and most of the time was spent dealing with people’s bickering about pointless things. I felt less people listened to me or respected me than when I was just a regular employee.

      I like to be efficient because I hate doing things I’m made to do any longer than necessary, but making money is sort of a requirement for survival. I find the best ways to get work done, and people end up gravitating to what I do, and if they want to learn my “tricks” I’m happy to teach them. I think it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to advance if they wish and are willing to put in the effort. But I don’t want or expect anything back. I’m happy to see them learn and grow.

      I’m not concerned with being right or wrong, though of course I prefer to be correct when I talk. But if I make a mistake or misunderstand, I need to know about it so I don’t keep making the same mistakes. Tell me in a respectful way, and I will be grateful, and do the same for you. That’s how we all get better.

      The things I love about learning is that the more I learn, the more I see I have to learn. I never want to stop wanting to know more, and that is self-gratifying and keeps me from worrying from outside praise.

      If we have a revolution, I’ll want to lend my ability. To the lefties, to the MAGAs, to the anarchists, and to the unaffiliated. We’re just a bunch of know-nothings, and if we make it through a revolution, we’re going to need to live together. I don’t care much who you are or what you believe. I’m interested in your actions, in how you treat others and the world around you. Anyone can have “ideals” but what kind of life do you live?

      I’ll have to check out AskUSA and see if there’s room for me to participate there. I also liked your video, though the comment section there looked about like what it would look like here. He summed up the Middle East situation very succinctly in much less time than I could have, and it was pretty impartial and reality based. There shouldn’t be anything in what he said to argue about, though it’s all absolutely open for reasonable debate. I think he’s stated things very respectfully and nothing was out of line. I don’t agree with it as a person, but his take in why we as a country are supporting what we are is totally plausible.