This place, generally, was safe and friendly, and the Other place was an open sewer that I sampled quite strategically-- the latest Covid variant, incipient refugee crises, scientific reports and conferences -- and I balanced them by making sure I added high-quality content here.
But the Fediverse now has people who think capitalism and cars and USA politics are good, and people who are trying to carve out a name by picking fights, and all that. Some of it is good; there were real problems with Whiteness here, yet the attack on Whiteness in the past weeks has been very USA-centric, and ignored the long work of other POC (Dalits, Indigenous peoples) that had been underway. The defensive response from many long-timers has been to increase obscure shiposting, but I never understand that anyway. Certainly it seems the Fedi is a less supportive, restorative place than it was; I would not ask vulnerable allies to come here now.
Part of the answer will be in supporting the underlying architecture to evolve (Bonfire, Goblin, consent-based permissions), but part of the answer to this has to be stepping up my own curation game. Do others have a similar sense of looking for tools to rebuild and renourish that sense of a homely social-online network? If so, how are you responding? What is needed?
@yetiinabox I find myself focusing much harder on the people I knew here before the recent expansion. I mean, I always focused on people before, but it was easy as the space was smaller and quieter.
However, I have also found myself spending more time away from here, and this is my only social media. I'm not entirely sure this place works for me anymore. And I'm beginning to get a picture as to what I need, and I don't think it involves 24/7 social media. :/
The main difference between here and mainstream social media, is that there are no algoritms to make you feel guilty for not being on here by telling you what you have missed.
You are free to login daily, weekly or take a break for a month or two, without having to feel guilty. Your health and esp mental health are important and come first.
