Obviously there has to be a space for politics here as we’re trying to build a global, decentralised alternative to corporate social media, and that has to include every form of discussion and a plurality of voices. However, on traditional web forums based around a shared interest it was always a bad idea to let the politics run free, as you’d get flame wars, and eventually a ruling clique with moderator influence banning posters along political lines and a resultingly toxic McCarthyite culture. I think the answer has to be more tools that allow us control over our feeds, more easily - there is space for all of politics free, ml instances, neutral grounds, etc if we are adults about it.
Agreed. In a way though I should expect this. Most people on the fediverse are here for ideological reasons, including myself. We dislike the corporate platforms that the fediverse seeks to replace. Simply having an account here makes a statement. But what exhausts me is when I go onto a community like mildlyinteresting expecting to see pics of three-chambered peanuts and yellow stop signs but most of it is stuff like “French President explains the political consequences of AI” or “There’s a selection bias baked into US democracy that most people never stop to consider. Owning a car significantly increases the likelihood of voting.” Like I can even attest personally to that last one as I don’t own a car and that makes it hard to get out and vote, but that’s not why I came here.
Obviously there has to be a space for politics here as we’re trying to build a global, decentralised alternative to corporate social media, and that has to include every form of discussion and a plurality of voices. However, on traditional web forums based around a shared interest it was always a bad idea to let the politics run free, as you’d get flame wars, and eventually a ruling clique with moderator influence banning posters along political lines and a resultingly toxic McCarthyite culture. I think the answer has to be more tools that allow us control over our feeds, more easily - there is space for all of politics free, ml instances, neutral grounds, etc if we are adults about it.
Agreed. In a way though I should expect this. Most people on the fediverse are here for ideological reasons, including myself. We dislike the corporate platforms that the fediverse seeks to replace. Simply having an account here makes a statement. But what exhausts me is when I go onto a community like mildlyinteresting expecting to see pics of three-chambered peanuts and yellow stop signs but most of it is stuff like “French President explains the political consequences of AI” or “There’s a selection bias baked into US democracy that most people never stop to consider. Owning a car significantly increases the likelihood of voting.” Like I can even attest personally to that last one as I don’t own a car and that makes it hard to get out and vote, but that’s not why I came here.