General Discussion

I just wish the political threads here were better. I'll read the headlines and some articles, but I feel the comment sections are largely either the same anti-corprorate or anarchist things over and over again or just bad takes in general. Not that Reddit was any better, but as I don't see the country giving up on capitalism in the next few generations, so I feel a lot of the opinions just aren't constructive.

What my solution has been was to find a dead community I liked and now I just post. I try to research and write good articles and curate cool pics. When people comment, I try to reply to everyone to build the community. By the time I'm done all the work, I'm mostly ready to wrap up being on here, so I'll quick browse All - Top 6 Hours to get the headlines, then All - New and try to find 1 or 2 posts that I can add a comment to, even if it just "Thanks for posting this, I never knew about this" to break the ice for other commenters.

Plus even if nobody else comments, the poster knows at least someone read it and their effort was worth it at least a little bit. As someone who is primarily a poster now, that's what inspires me to continue posting. If I'm doing the work and no one participates, the upvotes are ok, but I'd rather hear some feedback from a real person.

With this approach, I'm mainly focusing on what I DO want to see, because the bulk of the time is now spent on a community of my choosing, and it's building it up and it encourages me to read and learn more about that topic when I'm not on Lemmy.

The rest of my time is expanding my horizons and helping others build up other corners of Lemmy. It's a win for them and me.

So I guess basically, instead of being a consumer, try making what you want. If you make a post, you're at least going to see one thing that makes you happy. You may even make someone else happy with it. Then when you get in that kinda feedback loop, you notice you've created exactly what it is you wanted.

It doesn't have to be complicated. Find a pic or article you enjoy. Post it. Write a sentence or 2 why you liked it. I often try to end with a question to encourage comments, and hit post. People will say "I agree" or "nice" or "how does that work" and you reply. It's easy and gets easier the more you do it. I'm introverted, yet now I love sharing things on here.

It may take a while for people to find you and develop a little following, so start in an established place if that bothers you. Something like Birding is good. Everyone can find a bird they think is pretty. Google pretty bird pics, find one you like, and post it with a blurb like "Yo, I just learned about the Long Legged Purple Tit. It lives in the jungles of Grand Yolanistan and eats toads. I think that's awesome!"

This is about 5x longer than I planned to tie so I'm stopping now. Go be the change you want to see. Leave a comment on [email protected] if this was helpful while you're at it. 😁