I joined lemmy after reddit API changes, as many people did. At first, it was amazing. The community felt so alive, so friendly and welcoming. Obviously, the activity wasn’t exactly as large as it was on reddit, but I was patient, I knew more stuff was coming, and I was excited for it.

Unfortunately, this period would not last long. It would not last even a week until I got into my first argument with a tankie. I saw them and argued with them from time to time on reddit, but people there usually saw right through the bullshit and downvoted them to oblivion.

Here, it was so much different. They were all upvoted and supported by hordes more tankies. Constant genocide denial in China, support for Ruzzia, and somehow, for North Korea.

In retrospect, I should have left then, abandoned lemmy then and there, not really return to reddit, just leave both alone. I would have saved myself some sanity.

But I didn’t, which I regret. I wasted my time here, constantly seeing this bullshit, and sometimes I didn’t even have the motivation or energy to argue with them.

The amount of genocide denial, dictatorship praising, and insane arguments I’ve seen in a month blew past the amount of this shit I’ve seen on reddit in a fucking decade.

I don’t see the future in this, none whatsoever. Lemmy will be here, but it will always stay a tankie hellhole unless you block thousands of people and whole instances. And if you do, the tankies will always just migrate to other instances to keep spreading hate.

I am tired of this bullshit and I am done.

95 points

idk, I stopped seeing any tankie content after blocking this instances. “sometimes I didn’t even have the motivation or energy to argue with them”? you shouldn’t argue with people like that, it’s pointless. people arguing on Lemmy doesn’t help anyone. if you feel the need to correct everyone then that’s kinda a you issue

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38 points

if you feel the need to correct everyone then that’s kinda a you issue

True but also unhelpful imo. That’s how social networks took hold, right. it’s really hard to not voice your opinion if you see it (esp. unfairly) opposed.
I’m doing it right now, fully aware of it. I think it can lead to really productive interactions, just not with these types the OP describes.

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10 points

The old “Choose your battles” are useful to have in mind when interacting in an environment where both trolls and humans mingle

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91 points

Looking at their comments, OP does nothing on lemmy except interacting with rage bait trolls. Sometimes arguing is fun but if you think you need to correct or respond to every lemmy.ml comment in existence then ofcourse you will get depressed. Touch grass. Because the grass is green and your are just rolling around in a mud puddle.

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55 points

Idk what you are talking about, looks like you filled your feed with the wrong community’s and didn’t block the right keywords. I am just here for the memes and tech and that’s mostly tankiefree.

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9 points

Yeah i mean ofcourse the stuff exists but why would you leave it in your feed if you feel like its impacting you negatively.

I personally want to see it because its a reflection of reality. There sadly just are a lot of crazy people out there in the world that believe this shit and i want to monitor them. This might seem a bit dramatized, but if everyone keeps looking away then we wont notice when they grow larger and once the Nazis are marching into our towns its going to be too late.

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I have a small ass block list. I don’t block by keyword, I have only instance blocked the 2 most egregious instances I’ve heard of (ML and Hexbear), and everything else is a per user basis. I’m also, like, a permanent fixture here; I see a ton of Lemmy.

I really only see the tankies in the communities dedicated to calling them out, like Meanwhile on Lemmygrad. Not just in the posts calling them out, but the droves of them that show up to spout their bullshit in attempt to defend and justify their stupidity. So posts like this just confuse the utter fuck out of me.

Block hexbear and lemmy.ml and all the tankie centric posts magically disappear. Though, you’re on Blahjah; aren’t they defederated from those instances already? And don’t they disable voting?

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4 points

I agree I see very little of those post and my block list is also extremely small! Yes but I think they only disallow downvotes and they block hexbear but not lemmy.ml. Luckly that’s just one click away!

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Why is Lemmy.ml not blocked when they are basically hexbear lite? They should be blocked, many trolls and genocide deniers hide out there.

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2 points

I don’t block anything. I’m not gaining anything by isolating myself in a bubble of comfort that consists of only things that I agree with. I already agree, there’s nothing new to learn. I get my tankie content on Lemmy and magat content on YouTube. I know what the people I disagree with disagree about. I know what their arguments are, why they are wrong(and sometimes partially right), and what to say if they do want to discuss.

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41 points

I hate tankies, but the block button is free.

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