I think one of the biggest changes in how I communicate online came after moving to Fedi.

[artemis@dice.camp]

I'm happy to have some back & forth, receive new information from people, get called out if I'm fucking up, etc.

But I do not fucking need jerks who just want to cause problems wasting the energy which I could spend on good, important conversations.

[artemis@dice.camp]

In that regard, Twitter was even more hellish than I realized. I wanted to be talking with people who are also trying to make the world a better place, but instead I was getting worn down & distracted by the people trying to make it worse.

[dalias@hachyderm.io]

@artemis This is really the difference between good and bad/no moderation. We shouldn't have to deal with bad faith engagement.

[sinvega@mas.to]

@artemis it was striking to gradually move away from there, and then leave completely... and then interact over the next few years with people still there (or on the blue reskin, whatever).

Even in non-public spaces, the way they'd immediately leap on during a friendly conversation to try to be more righteous or have a better Take or pick some pedantic fuckin nano-hole in *conversation with their own people*

[thecrushedviolet@mstdn.games]

@artemis It has been an adjustment to not assume everything said to or near me is intended to start a debate. I never got into the arguments, but I definitely assumed the worst by the end of my time on Twitter.

[j3317@allovertheplace.ca]

@artemis nice, it's been mostly like that for me also, there is still some pointless fighting that I gotten into on here but not that mutch, only twice Maby 3 times since I started using mastodon

[bigmarinara@jorts.horse]

@artemis i think once i dropped off of twitter and went to bsky i started changing my mentality about that kind of platform. though on bsky it increasingly turned into the same kind of pointless verbal combat. i've had nothing like that here, which has been great. i don't post as much, but it's still a more pleasant experience.

[benaveling@mastodon.world]

It’s also the difference between conscious boosting (someone must think a thing is worth boosting) and algorithmic boosting (all engagement is considered good)
@artemis @dalias

[artemis@dice.camp]

@sinvega
Yeah, I think people develop a fighting mentality & eventually make very little distinction between friend & foe. Everything feels like it could be an attack.

[sinvega@mas.to]

@artemis and if it's not, it's an opportunity to :|

[artemis@dice.camp]

@thecrushedviolet
Exactly. Even if you really want to have productive conversations & aren't looking for debate, it's an environment that ends up feeling so hostile, so it becomes hard to approach people in good faith.

[artemis@dice.camp]

@dalias
Yeah, the moderation experience on a good Fedi instance is wildly different from being on major social media.

[artemis@dice.camp]

We should never stop trying to make Fedi better & safer. It's not perfect. As usual, marginalized people have the worst experience.

So this is not to say "yay! We did it! It's perfect & never needs to change."

But the spaces that we build for ourselves can be so much better than what private enterprise has to offer. We can have fucking *conversations* here.

[bytebro@mastodonapp.uk]

@artemis

Fedi is 'a process' rather than just 'a place'. It is always changing, and as long as it continues to change for the better, I'm in.

[afewbugs@social.coop]

@artemis I've seen more people genuinely apologise for a misunderstanding on here and then make up and move on than I have in all my time on algorithmic social media put together, where the incentive is to instead dunk on each other in an ever escalating argument for the clicks of spectators

[artemis@dice.camp]

And frankly, it's been slow, but I have seen a lot of people—including instance admins—responding to the suggestions & critiques of marginalized people.

It's not everyone & it's not enough, but it does fucking happen here. The hard conversations happen & at least *some* people try to make this better.

One thing I love about Fedi is that it *can become better.*

[benaveling@mastodon.world]

And to add to that, not just ‘someone’, but someone you have chosen to trust with your follow. @artemis @dalias

[futuristicrobert@infosec.exchange]

@bytebro @artemis wow. I never thought of it like that. That's a really good way to view Fedi. It's almost like how the internet is not a place but a series of protocols.

We can improve it.

[artemis@dice.camp]

Also, if you are having a lot of interactions with people acting in bad faith or harassing you, it is worth considering moving to an instance with stricter moderation or that blocks or restricts more problem instances.

Dicecamp has been great for me, but there are plenty of great ones out there.

[futuristicrobert@infosec.exchange]

@afewbugs @artemis

Heck, the fact that people even talk on here instead of yelling over each other... Like me here replying to you and agreeing with you how much the algo's just make things worse for everyone.