I’ve mostly left reddit and switched to beehaw, but I posted on somewhat of a niche tech-related subreddit today since there really isn’t a community for that here yet. And wow, I got instantly downvoted twice and the first comment response was rude and hostile. All I posted was a feature suggestion for software that I thought would be useful and that a good amount of people would like based on other feedback I’ve heard. This is not the sort of topic that should be controversial or aggravating, and it wasn’t like I made an ignorant post suggesting a feature that already existed or otherwise wasn’t well researched.
This type of instantly hostile response has happened numerous times on reddit for various different topics, but I just haven’t posted for a while, so I forgot just how shitty it can feel. It makes me really appreciate how friendly and respectful the community is here on Beehaw and on Mastodon. People seem to have good faith in one another similar to how the internet used to be in the old days.
Have you had similar experiences with Reddit and similarly opposite experiences here on Beehaw/Lemmy?
Thank you for sharing your experience. Reading the replies it seems like most of us have experienced similar from Reddit, and I agree with ArtZuron’s comment “the more public an online space becomes […] [t]he loudest most obnoxious people ruin it”. I’m reminded of Alyaza’s post of how unchecked toxicity can rapidly poison a userbase and drive away positive interaction. MayonnaiseArch sums it up better than I can: “being abused and gaslit and molested in any single interaction really makes you act in a different way, you can’t be honest or open in that kind of environment”