Posted this in a small community, curious to know what everyone here thinks.
Let me preface by saying, I would love to hear counter points and am fully open to the fact that I could be wrong and totally out of touch. I just want to have some dialogue around something that’s been bothering me in the fediverse.
More and more often I keep hearing people refer to “normies”. I think by referring to other people as “normies”, whether you intend to or not, you inadvertently gatekeep and create an exclusive environment rather than an inclusive one in the fediverse.
If I was not that familiar with the fediverse and decided to check it out and the first thing I read was a comment about “normies”, I would quite honestly be very put off. It totally has a negative connotation and doesn’t even encapsulate any one group. I just read a comment about someone grouping a racist uncle and funny friend into the same category of normie because they aren’t up to date on the fediverse or super tech savvy or whatever.
I don’t want to see any Meta bs in the fediverse. I barely want to see half of the stuff from Reddit in the fediverse. I don’t want to see the same echo chamber I do everywhere else.
I do want to see more users and more perspectives and a larger user base though. I want to see kindness and compassion. I want to talk to people about topics they are interested in. I want to have relevant discussions without it dissolving into some commentary on some unrelated hot topic thing.
I think calling people normies creates a more toxic, exclusive place which I personally came here to avoid.
Just my two cents! I know for most people using the term it isn’t meant to be malicious, but I think it comes off that way.
Love to hear all of your thoughts.
Tangentially related, but I’m really put off by a lot of the negativity I’m starting to see on kbin. I kind of feel like, can we leave that over on Reddit? Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Mastodon, which doesn’t have the same almost aggressive toxicity I’m starting to see over here. I’ve stopped posting some things to magazines (specifically the gaming magazine) just because I know folks will take it as an excuse to be toxic.
Unless we want the worst of Reddit to come here, it needs to be discouraged now.
I noticed the same, but only in the last couple of days. Seems there is tons more toxicity and I wonder if it's reddit's astroturfing to blame.
It is a really recent thing, isn’t it? I’ve been on kbin since the Blackout, and this feels like it’s only been in the last week or so.
And the people being toxic really aren’t talking kindly to people asking them to not be. I actually started wondering if maybe kbin isn’t the place for me in the last week, and I’d never thought that before.
Any recommendations?