Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
I may have a bad habit of engaging, but if they post something clearly wrong I like to provide context as to why.
It's not likely going to change their mind, but it's for the benefit of other people. If someone is scrolling the comments of the post, it's possible that they're on the fence or unsure about whatever bigotry is being talked about. I figure if I can help one stranger see both sides of the argument, I can stop the "radicalization" that many of these trolls are going for.
But maybe that's just naive wishful thinking on my part. I certainly don't use social media with the traditional "classic" slur spamming trolls though.
I think you're absolutely positively spot-on with this mindset.
I have a habit of engaging as well, and I also have a bad personality trait of liking to be correct. But. I also think that people spewing bullshit online is at least as bad, probably/usually much worse.
Engaging for the benefit of others is the key. Although sometimes, once in a blue moon, you'll get these chads who will go "oh yeah, good point" or something similar, and actually admit -- with a comment! -- that they were in the wrong. I always make sure to let them know they are good people for being open minded like that.
Spread truth, but also love.