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I don't know if I should make this post, but has anyone noticed the weird vibe here these days? (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Dort_Owl@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net

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Is it just because the collapse is getting particularly bad and everyone is extra miserable? (Me too, hard not to be down when the world is burning and you can't afford food.)

I have this stupid thing where I feel the need to help, but I don't know what to do... I'm sorry if I annoy everyone. I feel powerless.

Feel free to delete this if it counts as too meta

EDIT: I don't really know how to react to everyone saying such heartfelt things, other than saying thank you.

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[–] CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net 39 points 3 days ago

Is it just because the collapse is getting particularly bad and everyone is extra miserable?

I think this is a reasonable supposition. Things are getting worse and I get the impression we are overwhelmingly a bunch of downtrodden and beaten down people trying to provide community and help for each other. But there are very real limits to what online communities can do to help each other with offline problems, and as we are ourselves beaten down more and more we are able to do less. e.g. I see people pleading for help and I feel that deep sense of duty to help, but I'm also in such a bad state that I'm only getting by because I'm relying on other people irl so I've got nothing material to give. It's not a good feeling.

However:

I'm sorry if I annoy everyone

Real talk I haven't seen reason to think people are annoyed by you, at least from comments I've seen on your post. And if they have, let me counter them! You are one of my favorite posters here and not just because I love birds. You've got a subtle and different sense of humor that is pleasant to run into. Inasmuch as any online community can help with offline problems, I find your contributions and posts are part of what I like about this site, and it feels like that is actually helpful. (That's not meant to pressure you to be consistent about posting or anything, but to let you know that even when you don't see it, you create ripples which do help people in small ways you wouldn't ever know about or think about).

There is something to be said for people coming together to create a small community or culture that is safe, welcoming, and free of a lot of the brainworms that corporate social media have. The few times I lapse and check out reddit I'm reminded just how bad other places are.

On for-profit social media, people are products in that (and they even have a term for it) User Generated Content is what keeps people using the site so that the site can sell ad space on the grounds that it gets engagement. Here that's not the case. Here when we post something and it makes a stranger smile, we're just making someone else's day a tiny bit less terrible and no corporate vampires get to leech off that.

I'm really tired and not figuring out how to say what I'm trying to say, but I hope this helps.