Since a lot of new people have come on I've noticed a rise in people trying to start arguments. It's as if they carried the toxicity from wherever they came from along with them.
So this is your reminder that you DO NOT HAVE TO ENGAGE with people who are here just to start fights.
Mute them. Block them. Do whatever you have to do to take care of your mental health.
They aren't worthy of your time.
Let's keep Mastodon and the rest of the Fedi a "social" network and not a "toxic" network.
I just want to thank all of the people that I've blocked in this thread for showing me who they are.
I had no idea my OP would be such an effective honey pot.
Nice.
@Mrfunkedude This was actually a process I had to go through and a goal to achieve that I keep working on.
Yeah, you've been poisoned. That's how I've felt anyway.
@Mrfunkedude I have noticed an uptick in the negativity on my feed, a lot coming from me, admittedly 😊 - symptomatic of the times, unfortunately.
I like a good argument/debate, but my experience on Twitter was that people weren’t into intelligent discourse, just spewing. It was pretty easy to sort those ones out and block, though - they resort to name-calling pretty quickly.
I appreciate your positive influence 👍🏻😊
@Mrfunkedude Thanks for the reminder. I totally agree with "block early, block often, block for any reason at all".
But I also find that my feeds (and my own posts) are suddenly much more political and much more angry/sad/all the feels for a very obvious reason. I'm trying to keep that in perspective.
@Mrfunkedude Had a new account called "Elon musk" follow me and I did an instant block.
People who are claiming a right to say whatever can do so anywhere but on my feed.
Just like the town square, blocking is the equivalent of walking away.
@Mrfunkedude
Thank you for your post.
I agree. This is mastodon not meta or muskgate.
Peace
I find I need a periodic timeline cleanse. Often a couple of "turn off boosts from ..." from a couple of accounts suffices.
More difficult is the Explore feed ... I could spend hours blocking or muting the accounts that make it a generally bad experience, even on M.
@JustBobtholomew Just give it some more time. It'll go from "refreshing" to "OMG IS THIS PLACE THE BEST OR WHAT?!?!".
It's a natural progression. 😄
some people addicted
This is 2025 and the fascist have broken down the door and are hussling in and breaking shit. Prudishly calling for good manners while Ignoring the vandals is how fascists win.
You may not want the fight here, but it will come here whether you order the tide to retreat or not. The fight for your freedom doesn’t go away by wishing the fascists would be more polite.
They NEVER will.
And I have no doubt you’ll block me, so I wish you the best of luck with your new fascist overlords.
You’re gonna need it.
It can take time: developing new reflexes, healthier responses. I try not to immediately block newish people when I see this, but also (usually) bite my tongue and don’t engage (this is good practice for me too). A little time with poor engagement will often temper an argumentative approach, and sometimes they end up being interesting people… and if they keep being a blockhead, I can still block them later. (YMMV, no judgement if you haven’t the spoons for it)
@Mrfunkedude Also, on behalf of my smol instance, I will limit or block anyone who is just plain rude or spreading disinformation.
(That won't affect you directly, but it means they'll get into slightly fewer discussions because their reach will be slightly less. If other instances follow suit, the effect increases.)
@gary_alderson I think that's true only if you see the "community" as a place to challenge ideas.
For me, a community is also a place to share your ideas about a lot of things. Baking. Schooling. What you plan on doing that day. You know, the things that we all share as part of our collective humanity.
"Drama" doesn't need to be a part of that. You can talk about almost anything without creating "drama" as long as both parties want to understand the other.
I totally get this, but the fights I get in are largely around people saying antisemitic things, and I think that it's important to say something about it. That "something" doesn't have to be name calling or toxic, but if no one says anything, it can be seen as normalizing or approving hate speech.
We need people to call out bad behavior. Ideally it shouldn't have to be the victims who call it out, but *someone* should.
@Mrfunkedude There’s been a hoarde of pretend resisters on blue sky.
https://bsky.app/profile/mcspocky.bsky.social/post/3lghkce2fis2s
AI bots flood Bluesky with automated disagreements. (Bots that argue with each post are often called "trolling bots," "argumentative bots," or "disagreement bots.) I just nicknamed one a confrontation bot. A rose by any other name... 😊 https://boingboing.net/2024/12/05/blueskys-bot-invasion-ai-accounts-argue-with-everything-you-post.html
@temporal_spider @Mrfunkedude The word certainy has some cultural baggage, but I don't think the concept is pointless. There is a difference between beein virtous and virtue signaling after all. The latter is not the same, but the act of performing the appearance of having certain virtues to others. The act depends on being percieved. It is the difference between a person who helps out at a homeless shelter and an influencer who puts in the minimal effort in order to make a few pictures for instagram or whatever.
The tricky thing, which is why I think the concept doesn't work out, is that on (public, global) social media, you cannot distinguish between the thing and its appearance. Is someone only saying "I am against bad thing" because of the internet points, or do they think that this is something where they have to raise their voice in support of?
Everyone is assuming a lot of the intentions about other people, not only here but in general. Half the people assume the other half is either trolling malliciously and the other half thinks the others are just participating in a popularity contest (which on both parts people certainly are!) It is sadly easier if you can assign every person you encounter into some ready made categories, as this makes interpreting what they say easier. And most of the time this works, tbh. After all, being open to new ideas that might change ones world view can be very tiring, and I don't want to make the impression that even I who praises this in principle have the energy to do so all the time.
@Mrfunkedude Not everything argued about is something important. Learning to let go is a skill worth learning for everyone. If it’s not leading somewhere channel one’s energy into something else.
Not worth souring things for little things.
(But if someone is just a straight up dipstick plonker is block time at once.)
It is fine to just ignore or block people, or say:
"No time for engaging in your nonsense."
And then block them if they persist.
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