politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
I see thoughtful, factual comments with double digit negative scores.
I see short, factually incorrect comments highly rewarded for asserting as facts, things that are unlikely and unproven.
I don't know how this has become the pattern, but it now appears to be a culture problem within many communities - this one being high among them.
Mistakes happen and people will be wrong, but I see no avenue to correct growing misbeliefs on topics. There would have to be an article or some kind of other pressure to bring things back to facts.
I'm solidly on the left and my post history reflects that. I'm not saying anything fringe in my posts. I'm just applying the classic rules of critical thought seasoned with skepticism.
I'm tired of the down votes. Not for me, but for what they represent for lemmy at large and for this community. A whole lot of Lemmings are being poorly served by the siren's song of glib half-bites.
Can you help with that?
At present, I'm mostly talking about the "human trafficking" assertion that arrives on migrant bussing threads.
That's one specific example.
Unfortunately, this is really a community cultural issue inherited from the old site. Karma isn't a thing here, but I do believe the habits formed from having karma to be the root of many toxic behaviors here.
There is no user scoring system here, if your views are unpopular but reasonable, I don't see the need to remove it; the opposite is true, if your comment is upvoted but breaks our community rules, then they will be removed.
I am a strong believer in democracy, but I don't believe in mob rule, so the above is the principle I go by.
I've never seen down votes not used to punish people with messages that others disagree with.
I mean, if someone posts a racist angry opinion, Im likely to down vote. Even if this was their carefully considered opinion.
But when people are liberal in their use, it suppresses discourse and creates the echo chambers we say we hate (when other people do it).
I'm not sure lemmy provides mod tools that would help move the needle, but I'm in your corner for changing/expanding the discourse.
I'm here to learn. Sounds like what you're proposing would help that.
Best of luck and thank you for the reply.