The fediverse is small, and thats both a blessing and a curse - one of its several blessings is that in a smaller space we all individually have a bigger impact on what the culture of this space is like.

On this comm (and on lemmy broadly) there’s a lot of discussion about how to grow the fediverse, what to improve, but an easy thing you can do for the fediverse is right in front of us-

  • Be kind

  • Ask people what they think, and why

  • Approach folks you disagree with with curiosity rather than hostility (EDIT: no, this is not specifically referring to Nazis. I get it, they’re the first thing that comes to mind. I’m not telling you to approve of Nazis I’m just saying be kind to your fellow lemmites)

  • Engage sincerely

  • Ask yourself if there’s something nice you can say

  • Make this small space worth being in

A platform lives or dies by what’s available on said platform and often we have this conversation in the context of “content” or posts - and we may never have as much content as reddit does. But content and posts aren’t the only thing this kind of platform offers- it also offers people. It offers community, and human interaction.

Culture and community is lemmy and the fediverse’s biggest differentiator, and we all have a role to play in shaping the culture of this space.

The biggest thing you can do to help the fediverse is make it a place worth being.

  • Alpha71@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    OP simply asks people to be kind, People proceed to tear each other apart…

    OP now knows how Jesus felt 🤣

  • Druid@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    Love your take and call to action. Appreciate it :) and I’m not surprised it’s coming from you either :)

  • Ogmios@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    26 days ago

    Good luck with that. Volunteer moderation tends to attract some of the most toxic individuals on the planet.

    • Cris@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      26 days ago

      In fairness reddit also has volunteer moderation, but you’re absolutely right. I think that’s why being intentional about what kind of culture we want is so important.

      In a small space bad actors in leadership roles can do so much damage, and people intentionally facilitating healthy spaces can do so much good.

      Corporate platforms have to deal with profit incentives and the way those warp what a space is about, but we shouldn’t forget that our “new” fediverse model has its own problems well have to contend with.

      The issue of greater variation in moderator/hosts was a big issue in the forum days to my understanding, and whether a space was healthy varried a lot from one to another. Big consolidated platforms homogenized things a lot but that came with its own issues. In a lot of ways it feels like the fediverse will have to address a lot of the unresolved issues of the old internet.

      I can only hope we can learn by looking back at that history and build something better now

      • Ogmios@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        25 days ago

        Well, I certainly do appreciate seeing people like yourself making an active effort to bring some sanity back to the web. Keep it up!

  • cyberblob@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    I totally agree with your message.

    These days everyone who is not ultra-left easily gets labelled as Nazi, similarly everyone who brings up any rather left argument will be called a woke snowflake.

    Thus, any dialog is immediately shut down. Listen, understand, exchange arguments.

    That is what unites everyone who believes in liberal values.

  • wowwoweowza@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    I arrived at LEMMY after what I think we very optimistically called the Reddit Collapse. We wish. And I had toe in LEMMY and a few others at Reddit.

    Recently with their abusively patronizing redesigning and gamification and just ugly bullshit, I can’t stomach Reddit at all. So LEMMY grows increasingly important, not just to me but to folks who haven’t yet even heard of it.

    So, I’ll just say thanks for your post here. I have, I confess, engaged with a couple bullies on LEMMY and I always try to say… I don’t like to do this on LEMMY— and I say that precisely for the reasons you mention.

    And as you encourage: I will try to be kinder, even in when feeling… hmm… less than kind.

  • FundMECFS@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    26 days ago

    I love this.

    I think it’s important to say this doesn’t mean pretending you like or agree with something you don’t like or agree with.

    But when you do see something you like or agree with, drop a compliment. Compliments make places better!

    • Cris@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      26 days ago

      Absolutely agree. Fake niceness is worthless and does nothing to make a space better.

      We need sincerity.

  • kreynen@kbin.melroy.org
    0·
    25 days ago

    @Cris_Color@lemmy.world being nice helps establish the “tone”, but I’m not sure that wouldn’t change with another “API event” on Reddit that results in another, larger mass migration.

    Another suggestion I have for college graduates is to ask your alma mater if they are going to start using something other than commercial social to engage with alumni.

    Most universities don’t want to make mistakes investing in the bleeding edge, but they are quick to follow. When a few schools do something, many more quickly copy that. They are also looking for low cost wins. Their engagement numbers are already telling them that Xwiiter no longer works to reach alumni or potential students.

    If even a handful of alumni suggest a change at the right time, that is often enough to get them to give federated social a try.

    That is when the less toxic “tone” really helps.

  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    26 days ago

    Upvote, comment, post! Compliment good OC content (especially if it is posted regularly).

    Bring more regular users if you can.

  • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    I disagree, yes being kind is very important but even more important is people engaging and upvoting comments.

    Reddit was great because of what happened in the comment section, not the headliners, and I see very little voting engagement even in active posts.

    Remember, it’s free to do and it encourages others to engage as well. But yea be kind too