Actual Discussion

219 readers

1 users here now

Are you tired of going into controversial threads and having people not discuss things, circlejerking, or using emotional responses in place of logic? Us too.

Welcome to Actual Discussion!

DO:

Be civil. This doesn't mean you shouldn't challenge people, just don't be a dick.
Upvote interesting or well-articulated points, even if you may not agree.
Be prepared to back up any claims you make with an unbiased source.
Be willing to be wrong and append your initial post to show a changed view.
Admit when you are incorrect or spoke poorly. Upvote when you see others correct themselves or change their mind.
Feel free to be a "Devil's Advocate". You do not have to believe either side of an issue in order to generate solid points.
Discuss hot-button issues.
Add humour, and be creative! Dry writing isn't super fun to read or discuss.

DO NOT:

Call people names or label people. We fight ideas, not people here.
Ask for sources, and then not respond to the person providing them.
Mindlessly downvote people you disagree with. We only downvote people that do not add to the discussion.
Be a bot, spam, or engage in self-promotion.
Duplicate posts from within the last month unless new information is surfaced on the topic.
Strawman.
Expect that personal experience or morals are a substitute for proof.
Exaggerate. Not everything is a genocide, and not everyone slightly to the right of you is a Nazi.
Copy an entire article in your post body. It's just messy. Link to it and maybe summarize if needed.

For more casual conversation instead of competitive ranked conversation, try: [email protected]

founded 9 months ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

(WEEKLY / CMV) I should close this community (lemmy.ca)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Reminder: This post is from the Community Actual Discussion. You’re encouraged to use voting for elevating constructive, or lowering unproductive, posts and comments here. When disagreeing, replies detailing your views are appreciated. For other rules, please see this pinned thread. Thanks!

No, it's not a joke. I'm frustrated and I'm probably not choosing my words carefully.

This community has had steadily falling engagement - our last 3 weekly threads have had a grand total of 1 (excellent and well-articulated) response, and the number of topics not generated by myself (or the other mod) since the inception of the community has also been 1.

Very few people want to actually talk. From what I've seen, the masses want the same things that they wanted on Reddit:

Memes
Articles they don't read (but will bitch about endlessly) that reinforce their opinion
Angry responses to someone (who may be trolling) that reinforce the current politics of the reader (that they couldn't have given a fuck about a few years ago until it became heavily politicized)
Shitty easy jokes
Personal politics circlejerking

I hate that I can see a hundredth point-free meme post and view 200 replies on it. I hate that it's just the same talking points being strawmanned over and over again in every thread. I hate that any point outside common groupthink is downvoted to oblivion and buried instead of discussed.

The reason I'd like to back away from Lemmy seems to be the same reason I started this community: we need more people who can articulate points, and less downvoting, but it doesn't seem to be getting better.

Maybe one day, but today is not that day. Lemmy needs to mature in more ways than one.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I have to admit that as, I think, the author of that 1 response, I found the utter lack of engagement to the points I made rather dispiriting. It definitely coloured my decision not to reply to the next one (well, that and me not being boots on the ground in USAville, so not having a meaningful opinion to warrant a full-on response vis a vis division).

I tend to agree with you on what Lemmy contains. Especially #5. As a result I'm probably going to drop Lemmy entirely from my list of sites to visit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I should have replied, but last week was one of the busiest weeks I've had. My apologies. The response was great and definitely deserved more people engaging with it.

I'm not American either, but the division seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. It's definitely in Canada where I am and seems to be feeding off the American version.