cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1795192

Take this screenshot for example. This is the front page of Lemmy right now. Virtually every post will make the reader feel bad and depressed. It’s all doombait, ragebait - and if it’s a meme, it is usually a meme that leaves an annoyed taste in your mouth at someone or something.

This is what drove me and many others away from Reddit, and a decentralized platform does not have to have this problem in theory - but it Is currently experiencing it now. Reddit has no reason to change their depressing content because it drives much engagement and creates revenue. But, for a decentralized platform to just be filled with ragebait and doombait is not good and exposes inherent problems with the platform right now.

What’s more is that most of these posts are posted by accounts created in the past month, leading me to believe that people from Reddit who are used to getting karma dopamine from getting people riled up are just doing the same thing here.

I don’t really know how Lemmy can fix this problem - it is something that we really need to be aware of as a community. Don’t just upvote something because it makes you annoyed and you want more people to see it - perhaps we need to downvote ragebait and doombait when we see it so that the platform doesn’t become a depressing echo chamber.

  • ingy@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    One man’s “doombait” is another man’s “topic that should be taken seriously” I suppose ¯\(ツ)

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Can’t say I agree. Mine is all memes and technology. If you are seeing a bunch of stuff you don’t like try changing your subscriptions.

      • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        On top of that, what did he expect from a FOSS software made by a tankie? Mixed in with a migration from a corporation fucking their shit? Did he think we would praise them? Lol

        • moreeni@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Uhh, I have to disagree. Hate for corporations isn’t hard coded into Lemmy and neither of us are using an instance moderated by the dev. Lemmy could easily be used by right-wingers

        • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I’m actually fed up with that entire “let’s just ignore everything that’s bad and pretend everything’s fine”/ignorance is bliss/good vibes only approach to using the Internet.

          Content warnings for everything nowadays , instead of some trigger warnings for the seriously upsetting shit.

          Things aren’t getting better if we keep our eyes closed.

          Don’t want to doomscroll? Block or mute what you don’t want to see. We used to call that filter sovereignty when web 2.0 got started and it somehow mutated into “don’t show me anything that might stress me out”.

          I don’t like that development and I’m glad Lemmy seems to be rather chill so far.

          • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            I’d personally rather see one content warning too many than one too few. You never know who the person on the other end might be going through right now, so a warning for a potentially triggering piece of content is never unnecessary.

            Totally agree with you on the rest of your points, though.

            • Boz (he/him)@lemmy.one
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              1 year ago

              Yes, I think content warnings make it easier to have difficult conversations, not harder. People who don’t want to discuss something are not magically going to become open to those discussions because you spring the topic on them without warning. Content warnings save time, and give people a chance to brace themselves before going into what is usually a big fight.

  • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    I feel like all of these are valid concerns to raise and posts to submit. If you’re not interested in the subjects talked about, unsubscribe from the communities or don’t browse in “all”. Apart from that, just brush it off and move on.

  • Einar@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I posted news about climate change myself. Not for upvotes, but because I’m invested in the topic.

    If you don’t want such news, unsubscribe, block or just scroll past.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Or you could subscribe to other communities that aren’t feeding you that, and block accounts you consider as doomers.

  • blazera@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Yeah i dont believe thats what drove you away from reddit, considering you joined 3 weeks ago.

  • Muddybulldog@mylemmy.win
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    1 year ago

    There is no “front page of Lemmy”.

    I suppose the ALL of your particular instance could be considered the front page of YOUR Lemmy but it’s not the front page of mine.

  • Rachel@derp.foo
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    1 year ago

    Two of the posts in the screenshot are from lemmy shitpost. Didn’t you post this in the wrong community? Now it seems you are rage baiting or concern trolling, and I don’t think you had that in mind.

  • DougHolland@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    To improve your Lemmy home page, let’s fight climate change and end corporations’ ownership of Congress and America.

  • squiblet@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    My feed is mainly memes and porn. Maybe you should browse with different options.

    It also seems you’re confusing news you don’t like with ‘doombait’, ‘ragebait’ and ‘corporation bad’. Really, this post is the most distressing one i’ve seen on lemmy or kbin recently.

    • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been here a month and have to agree. This feels like the most troll post I’ve seen, but is closely followed by similar ones asking the Fediverse to be more palatable to “normies.”

  • RealM@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Have the same issue personally. I hope blocking those communities makes the frontpage better.

  • Ilflish@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I’m in agreement with most in the replies. And the easy solution to both is to just fill your front-page with the good stuff and block stuff. Basically I blocked all news subreddits (except upliftingnews) and followed smaller communities instead of generic ones. Then stopped using All.

  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    One of the wonders of the fediverse is that it doesn’t have all the awful algorithms of Reddit or other social media platforms that are designed to relentlessly attempt to draw you in with increasingly hostile content. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of negative content out there. There is. But, with Lemmy, or the fediverse more broadly, you have the ability to curate your own feed and an algorithm that will override that doesn’t exist.

    I suggest using the “Block” button liberally. I’ve found that works pretty well for me.