I went back to Reddit this morning. Yeah I know, but I just wanted to check the place out after all the blackouts. As I was scrolling through my typical stuff I was down voting dumb things as is pure habit and it struck me… after being here only 2 days and not having any down vote button, what was just a pure habit suddenly felt a little dirty.

Those people I just down voted didn’t do anything wrong I just didn’t agree with them. But by down voting them I’m basically doing one little part in actually silencing them. It felt bad. In fact all of Reddit felt bad… like, it was just such a habit and I was ready to go back, but once I did it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.

All it took was 2 days away using a different platform that gives me essentially the same stuff I want to read and this no down vote thing somehow has resonated with me more than I would have thought. I actually went back and removed the down votes. Those people have the right to feel how they do whether I agree or not. I don’t need to silence and invalidate people over things that are so incredibly minor.

I’ve decided I will use Reddit only via Google search if it has the content I’m looking for, just like any other webpage, but I think Lemmy, and Beehaw specifically, are my new home. It no longer feels like “the alternative.” It feels like a place I actually chose to be. I wrote in my application that I wanted less toxicity in my life and I think that’s already happening. I’m really grateful to have discovered this place.

  • bdiddy@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Same as the title for me but different than your thing. Just feels stale over there and I go into comments and it’s the same ol drivel over and over again lol. This community feels fresh and I’m really enjoying exploring the various communities and chatting casually about whatever…

    Feels just very corporate place over there and I dunno. Just not feeling right anymore. I’m thinking maybe it’s been wrong all along I just didn’t realize. Hopefully lemmy’s growth continues but at a reasonable pace so that we don’t devolve in the same sorta rhetoric over and over again.

    I definitely feel better over here now and while there are way less comments it really seems like the engagements are far better.

    Maybe that’s what it is. By the time I look at a post over on reddit there are 1000s of comments and half of them just saying the same thing lol.

    At least here you can contribute

      • LoamImprovement@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Based on usage statistics during the blackout where 99% of the site was unusable (and bots are known to post in that 1% of low traffic subs to farm karma,) I’m honestly wondering if it’s not just mostly bots at this point.

        https://blackout.photon-reddit.com/

        At any rate, I’m not going back. I like this community more, and the topics I care about will find a home here eventually.