Everyone keeps talking about quote toots as if they're the solution to Mastodon's problems while ignoring the fact that the real problem here is all the mansplaining and whitesplaining. Together with the consistent animosity towards newcomers. The biggest problem with this place isn't code. It's culture.
@XanIndigo this is very very interesting – I’ve read through most of the replies to this post
I don’t see any of this bad stuff on the fediverse – this isn’t the fediverse I experience
Quite a while ago I realised that the timeline with the ‘world’ or ‘global’ or ‘planet’ icon or whatever it’s called is not what I thought – I naturally assumed for the first six years on the fediverse that it was the entire fediverse all happening at once
It’s not, it’s simply the view from where I am, I don’t know what the restriction is that stops it being the entire fediverse all at once, and if it’s some technical mumbo-jumbo answer I’m not interested, but it definitely gives each instance I’ve ever been on (which is quite a many) a completely different flavour of what’s out there
This is actually a good thing, from where I am – but it wasn’t from where I used to be, many instances I’ve been on have been dreadful, terrible, horrid, demoralising, disgusting, depressing and unpleasant – so I deleted the instance from me
The ones I’m on now are nice, happy, pleasant, optimistic, flowery, maybe an increment too gay for me (a not gay person who nevertheless is happy to see gay people brighten the place up a lot), trivial, harmless, positive, uplifting, supportive, real, earthy, equal, balanced and human
The only downside is the usual one – everything’s far too technical and it’d be more appealing for more people if it wasn’t, but that’s certainly something I can live with if it means I’m constantly living in a happy wonderful uplifting realm
Until this is no longer the kind of place where a self-proclaimed "weeb" will condescendingly explain sinophobia to a Chinese person, no amount of coding will make things better.
Hey, you know what Bluesky has? Science communicators. You know what Bluesky doesn't have? Random dudes showing up in their mentions to explain why they're wrong whenever they do their jobs. You know what Mastodon doesn't have? Some of those same science communicators, who were posting here actively back in December.
You want to make this place better? Make it less hostile.
@XanIndigo I would argue that the comparison with Bluesky fails on this point, since it's currently invite only, and that skews the overall impression? Like, as soon as the reply guys can be on there, they will be.
As in, it's not something unique to Bluesky's design, or its policies, but simply a matter of the kind of exclusivity that cannot last.
@sindarina Perhaps. But my point is that with their absence, people feel a lot more free to post whatever they like. And this place is particularly unpleasant in this regard. For reply guy comments, nowhere is as bad as Mastodon, as many scicomm people have discovered.
Didn't realise it was such a problem for sci-comm.
The "reply guy" situation is well known, obviously, but sometimes attributed to the incomplete reply retrieval in mastodon ... do you think this is at all part of what you're observing?
@maegul@sindarina No, I don't think so. It's about the attitude. You can politely disagree, ask for clarification, or point out inconsistencies. Those are fine if they're respectful. Around here though, it's not uncommon to get a "you are wrong and here's why" reply. Those seldom seem to be made in good faith.
@vicgrinberg@maegul@sindarina Yeah. That last one is infuriating. They read "this is a problem" but they seem to hear "I don't understand this basic concept"
@vicgrinberg I don't think people seem to realise how unhelpful that is. Like, yes, I literally just picked out some highlights from that but thanks, I guess.
Yea ... now that you're pointing it out ... I'm thinking it's just part of the culture here too ... in that I'm always seeing it and just gotten used to it.
I do wonder though if it's different from twitter (I wouldn't know TBH).
My initial suspicion, if it's worse here, is that it's part of the "no having fun or shitposts" culture. On twitter or reddit, more people would just be having sometimes snarky fun, which can provide space for seriousness.
@vicgrinberg@maegul@XanIndigo Mansplaining is everywhere, sadly. Including folks who argue that having fun or shitposting is not possible or allowed, here 😜
@maegul@XanIndigo@sindarina Self-proclaimed I Get Paid To Think/From My Parents Basement I Stab At Thee Guys "correcting" people has been a problem a lot longer than mastodon has existed.
It's definitely a culture problem. And I've rarely seen a case where one of those guys becomes self-aware enough to stop it.
In the old days blocking might have been sufficient but it definitely isn't now. The internet has evolved since then.
@doctormo One way or another, there needs to be a cultural shift towards a space where bad faith replies are seen as unacceptable. Public or private is not relevant to this conversation.
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