Just blocked lemmy.ml from my Lemmy account, and I swear to god it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done on this platform. My homepage feels actually clean now.

For the past few months I’d been seeing a lot of tankie posting and pretty much far-left propaganda on my feed. It got tiring enough that I finally checked my blocked-user list, and realized pretty much everyone I’d blocked was from lemmy.ml. So I just blocked the whole instance instead.

Saying this as someone who considers themselves a leftist: I used to think Lemmy itself was an echo chamber. Turns out lemmy.ml was the problem the entire time. Probably the reason I tolerated it for so long is that I agreed with a lot of what they posted, but like an oversaturated meme, I’d had enough. Browsing the platform was starting to feel way too tiring instead of fun, which defeats the point of being here in the first place.

The breaking point was seeing some dude post a “meme” implying North Korea and China are basically communist utopias and that the West sucks. I mean, the West does suck, but come on - you’re saying North Korea is the ideal the West should strive for? What the hell…

  • lokalhorst@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 day ago

    I think you will still see users from lemmy.ml despite the instance block. I have blocked it about 2 years ago and its the only reason why I am still here. I hesitated at first because of the open source communities, but then I thought, fuck it

    • Alex@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 hours ago

      I joined the .ml server because it was the dev server. Looking at the communities I subscribe to most are on other servers. Occasionally people ascribe beliefs to me based on my home server but so far I haven’t bothered looking for a new home.

      When I first joined there were a bunch of popular instances that closed down so choosing a non-dev server seemed like a bit of a gamble. Same with mastodon servers.

      • lokalhorst@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        18 hours ago

        That’s something that is criticized often - that the devs are not independent but instead try to push their instance as the “main instance”. But yeah I guess there are a lot of people like you. Don’t forget there is no Karma system, it does no harm to change the account from time to time, I do it yearly.

          • lokalhorst@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            17 hours ago

            The Lemmy software developers are the admins of lemmy.ml at the same time. Instead of being neutral, they push their questionable political agenda onto the instance. lemmy.ml is 8th now, but 3 years ago that was different. Also the most open source communities have been there, I don’t know really if that changed meanwhile.

                • lokalhorst@feddit.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  5 hours ago

                  Without the context, it’s difficult to discuss. But I don’t see why we should favour one religious extremist group over the other tbh

            • notfromhere@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              17 hours ago

              If you started a project, wouldn’t you list your server up top? The fact they changed it should tell you all you need to know. Also it’s their instance, they can do with it what they want. That’s like saying someone painted their house a color that is questionable. Block it and move on.

              Sorry I just don’t think it’s right to pass judgement on people for doing what they want with their project or instance especially when they designed it in a way that anyone can set up their own instance do do what THEY want with their own.

              • lokalhorst@feddit.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                17 hours ago

                If you started a project, wouldn’t you list your server up top?

                You can bet I would. But when the participation in the project grew in the way Lemmy did, I would step down from my instance admin rule and pass to someone else. I am not saying they should unlist the instance, all I say is that the roles should not be mixed.

                Block it and move on.

                That’s what I did, but that doesn’t mean I can’t talk about the topic here.

                Sorry I just don’t think it’s right to pass judgement on people for doing what they want with their project or instance

                I can understand what you mean. The problem is that this constellation prevent Lemmy from growing because people are weirded the fuck out by the statements that are being made on lemmy.ml and especially the moderation strategy of the developers. I can recommend taking a look at !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works and sort by Top. Some of the stuff is about others members of the tankie triad and some is bs, but it quickly gets clear who you are talking to.

      • OpenStars@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 hours ago

        It used to be the case that, aside from hexbear and Lemmygrad (both defederated from on your instance), 90% of the most trolling comments came from Lemmy.ml. However, immediately after Trump won the USA election, I started seeing that behavior all over the place. Perhaps that timing is mere coincidence, but regardless, blocking all users on that instance (which PieFed allows you to do) no longer works to keep the most batshit insane takes from my feed.

        Also I have consistently seen people commenting on that instance (and on Lemmygrad) about how proud they are that no does not mean no, but rather that they need to push forward harder - by making alts to mask their associations - and which they readily do.

        So I was adding historical context to your statement here: I see what you mean, now, but a couple years ago things were notably different. Then again, obviously not all trolls are the same, and trolls exist everywhere - which I should know, being one myself (as people keep telling me:-).