this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
0 points (NaN% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26701 readers
1750 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics.


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, 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 spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust 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:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I can understand the desire to get as many downvotes as possible on reddit. I don't sympathize, but I can at least see where people are coming from. Because Reddit gives you that total and shows it to you.

And I'm sure it's possible to use an API to really that number up on Lemmy, but "total karma" doesn't seem to be something Lemmy cares about by default, so where is the motivation coming from?

Is it just the same reason people have always been trolls? Because I've never quite understood that, either

top 5 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Trolls are just bullies, I guess. For some of them, getting a rise out of people strikes then as funny, probably because of superiority issues. The psychology is interesting, but those people likely aren't leading very happy lives. Karma probably isn't top of their priority beyond it being funny how many people have gotten a rise.

There's also toxic people who hang around with trolls and other toxic people. They form social groups where some minority group becomes the butt of a joke, which then becomes an "in joke". This historically has been against lgbt folks, certain nationalities, furries, disabled people and neurodivergent people, among others.

Then those people internalise those feelings, and spread them to other social groups, where they either land or the person gets confused as to why people hate them. If you run a community, you need to keep an eye out for this sort of thing and stop it before it takes hold.

Trolls attack people to get a reaction. Toxic people attack people out of indifference to their feelings.

There's also a group of people that feel they have a moral imperative to help people. That is, they should actively spread their own moral views and opinions so that other people may learn from them. This may or may not be a problem depending on the views of you and the platform.

Anyway, that's just me rambling a bit, sorry if it's all nonsense.

[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Trolls are just bullies, I guess.

I guess that's the root of it. I don't really understand the mentality of bullies.

Like, the kid who gets picked on and stays picking on the smaller kids when he gets bigger because his home life sucks and that's just always the way it's been for him... I maybe get it, but I don't think anyone thinks that's a good way to be, and they can stop once they start interacting with a better social group and see how it can be better. Right?

Is it really just that but online, or what have you? Idgi

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I guess for some people there's no "good" or "bad" way to be. There's just the real world, and that's it.

If people have been through abuse and trauma, they've been surrounded by people who think that power is the most important thing. And I guess that gets internalised to the extent that "strong" and "weak" becomes their axis instead of "right" and "wrong".

I think it's rather telling that the narrative that these people lay out usually revolves around the idea that people should get a thicker skin or learn to deal with it.

And sadly, I don't think people that have gone through those things are able to find and maintain a good social group of positive people.

[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That tracks, I suppose. Kinda makes me want to help somehow...

[–] otacon239@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago

I’ve found that unless you already know someone at a personal level, someone that thinks they don’t need help is unable to accept it. In their mind, needing help means they weren’t strong to begin with. It’s a show of humility to ask for help. Humility is often misinterpreted as weakness.