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This weekly thread will focus on debate, discussion, and the lack thereof on social media (including Lemmy).
My apologies for “leading” a bit more than I try to normally in these weekly threads, however this is a topic that pisses me off in particular. Not only as a mod of a discussion-based community, but as someone who loves it when someone challenges me and proves me wrong / disproves my logic so I’d very much like to hear outside opinions on the topic. I can’t even partially understand how people don’t want to have a more cohesive / logically sound opinion.
Some Starters (and don’t feel you have to speak on all or any of them if you don’t care to):
- Do you feel that discussion is worse now? If so, what caused it? If not, where may others get this feeling from?
- Is it potentially a platform issue, or does it happen everywhere?
- Does discussion even matter any longer? Why or why not?
- Do you feel that more could be done to encourage discussion with outside views or are we better off just “bubble”-ing ourselves and blocking everyone we disagree with?
Maybe you can find a good discussion to have your mind changed. I personally find internet text discussions on forums or lemmy or wherever to just be pointless shitflinging contests where everything is an attempted “gotcha”
Maybe. It’s pretty rare, and on Reddit or Lemmy, it’s been very much in the minority. Maybe 1 out of every 100 lead to something worthwhile. It actually makes me really miss a good forum.
I agree, I think most people want to make a point without caring about whether or not they’re being persuasive. It’s the basic tenant of rhetoric that you are open to changing your mind; instead, internet commenters like to be hecklers, and you’ve frequently got a couple going at once. I think the post and comment thread format on the internet is part of the problem, because 1. OP is trying to manage a bunch of “conversations,” 2. There’s no turn order of speaking, partially due to 3. You’ve got potentially millions of people chiming in simultaneously, so how do you find the quality ones? And 4. Replies, as you said, try to be “gotchas” to end whatever dialogue, so no real progress is possible, and those responding aren’t here for a productive discussion.
Tl;dr quality vs quantity and willingness to change an opinion are difficult to get online