I get very close, very often, to simply leaving Mastodon. There are lots of wonderfully brilliant people here who know how to interact respectfully online... but there's also huge Reply Guy energy. And a lot of simple disrespect. Hate follows, people who treat others like they're inherently suspect until proven otherwise (and it's impossible to prove otherwise). TONS of friendly fire and purity posturing.
I keep trying to decode how to weed that element out, to no success.
There's MUCH less of this on bluesky and it's really bothered me. Is it that bluesky has more comprehensive block list capability? Or is it simply the population on each is different (which they clearly are)? I don't think it's uniquely the types of things I post because it's the same on both and the responses are consistently different.
Posting mostly out of frustration, but if anyone has insights, I'm interested to hear them.
@susankayequinn@wandering.shop
Only advice I have I got from someone else: mute freely. Block if the person is hostile, but mute works great for the immature people who "mean well", but underestimate the complexity of reality and society, and lack self-awareness to boot.
One approach is to simply limit what I post on Mastodon, which I've already done to some extent. Keep a beachhead here, hoping someday it will get better or maybe a reserve for when bsky implodes and the exodus happens and maybe that provides the necessary corrective.
But shit is real out here in the real world and I need to conserve my spoons — it doesn't take too many vampiric interactions to start to feel like decidedly not worth the upsides.
@susankayequinn@wandering.shop
Hm... I'm sorry to hear you're having such a terrible experience on Mastodon.
I'm not having that kind of experience - Masto is my go-to social media, and I like it a lot - so I'm not sure what to suggest other than swift and comprehensive blocking. From the sound of it, that may not be a helpful thing to say.
Best wishes for your social media future, wherever it may be!
@susankayequinn@wandering.shop
My sense is that there are two different norms of interaction here on Mastodon: one where people view posts as invitations to conversations and another very different norm where people are just trying to get their information out and expect those who disagree to just move on.
The conversation mode can be very lovely and gentle, and is wonderful for discussing interests and fandoms and learning about the world. It can however also create an environment where the reply guys, offensive people, or people who just can’t read social cues pile on, or worse try to send private messages. (Requiring requests for followers can filter this.)
More public figures whether authors like yourself or political commentators may generally just be seeking to communicate your views and information. It can be interesting to read them but there’s less real conversation.
Unfortunately, my sense is that the balance between these two has been thrown off as many of the people I used to interact with regularly have joined Bluesky and focus on that.
@AlsoPaisleyCat@tenforward.social I've also noticed the abandonment of Masto in favor of bsky and that might be a contributor to the Masto balance being "thrown off" as you say.
I invite both conversation & post just for info sharing. My only real requirement is that everyone treat everyone else with respect; if you can't, then scroll on (and unfollow).
But that's definitely a challenge for some.
I should look into requests for followers, because I sure get some hate follows.
Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞
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