this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
66 points (72.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

38751 readers
1576 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling 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.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


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 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I came here a few weeks ago after many years of reddit. Altogether I find discussions I enjoy, however, the posts and comments noticeably lean, well, tankie (I didn’t know that term before I came here). It’s not that I am looking for an echo chamber, but I also don’t want to spend my time reading propaganda. I’m really curious about a lot of things outside politics, as well as the opinions and arguments of reasonable people across the political spectrum, but I don’t want to listen to the boring canned lies of fascists and tankies. I realized that people celebrating communist dictators trigger me, and this is something I didn’t have to deal with before I started reading lemmy, I didn’t even know this type existed.
I also notice that accounts created just a few hours in advance come from other instances to brigade political posts. Because of how lemmy works, I can block individual users or communities, but not individual instances. Is there an instance that could be a “safe space” from this kind of brigading and tankie spam? Or a way to use the internet to read interesting things now that blogs died and then Reddit became whatever it became?

Edit: Thanks everyone for the helpful and wholesome comments. Of course, some trolls/wackos showed up as well to say hi.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 41 points 6 days ago (74 children)

I largely use Lemmy because it doesn't tolerate conservatives.

It's 2026. There is no such thing as a moderate conservative. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. They don't deserve yet another platform to argue in bad faith on. They've gone too far. Every platform they touch turns into a cesspool of bigotry and garbage opinions they think should be taken seriously or they play victim.

I don't want them on Lemmy.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

There is no such thing as a moderate conservative

IDK, I'd think most Democrats in Congress this decade are moderate conservatives (stupid Overton window shift).

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 11 points 6 days ago

i was confused at first when i saw moderate/ or reasonable conservatives. almost every conservative ive encountered just make uniformed rants or opinions about trump. my favorite is when they dont know about trumps actual policies and get defensive over being questioned about it,.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

There are a lot of "bipartisan" social media websites (at least they self-advertise as such)
There are also social media apps for mainly conservatives.
Surely there can be one form of social media for leftists to talk to each other.

I enjoy reading anarchists and socialists debate their case because I actually agree with points they make. I can see where each side is coming from and even have change my viewpoints at times.

Some edgy highschooler on the side screaming about how "God wants capitalism" would not contribute anything to the conversation. We already established their ideas don't work, let us actually come up with new ones now.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (71 replies)
[–] RoddyStiggs@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

You know, OP is doing me a real service by posting this thread. I'm just scrolling down and blocking nazis right and left.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 days ago

Real life. If you want moderate, complex opinions. Talk to real people. Not the bots and shills that populate this place.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago

It's way past time to be reasonable about politics

[–] fun_times@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You want an online community that allows both the right and the far right? That would be ALL OTHER ONLINE COMMUNITIES!

We came here specifically to get our own forum, where the centre left, regular left and far left are all allowed. This is a forum for the working class, not for the capitalists. And you capitalists can't handle the fact that us workers for once get to have a forum of our own.

[–] DougPiranha42@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Who said this is a forum for the working class? I have not seen this mentioned anywhere. Read the sidebar: this is a generic forum for everyone. I’m inclined to think you are making this up.

Why do you want people with extreme views (left or right) in your community?

[–] Alloi@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

(ive been told my writing style is a bit abrasive, but i got a touch of the tism', and that can effect the "cadence" of how i write. so take that into perspective when reading this inside your head. im not hostile.)

"Who said this is a forum for the working class?"

its implied, considering almost 99% of the worlds population needs to work to make a living and to support their loved ones who cant. and the vast majority of the people who post here arent billionaire oligarchs, or petty bourgeoisie. its statistically unlikely. therefor, fair to say.

"Why do you want people with extreme views (left or right) in your community?"

radicals are at the forefront of change in every conflict. for better, or for worse.

today (in the US) to be opposed to fascism, is to be considered a "far left terrorist" or ANTIFA. another boogeyman made by the fascists to scare people away from "socialism" or the "wokes" or some other nonsense.

the new modern definition of "far left extremism" is a dog whistle used by fascists trying to play the "both sides bad" or "innocent centrist" take that ultimately leads left leaning people and fence sitters further down the road of fascism, for those who take it at face value. overuse of the word "tankie" as well, which has been used as a blanket term for socialists/communists a lot more in recent days. but most people dont understand its roots, or the roots of socialism/communism, and how they have changed since their inception.

unfortunately, the reason so many "far left" voices appear here, is because platforms like reddit started banning people because they called out fascism, and began communicating on how they should stop it. or simply joking about it. i personally am one of those people, i said elon musk did a nazi salute, and was likely a nazi to some degree. and i was perma banned within minutes. for "violent" content. (it wasnt in the slightest) so here i am. and honestly its quite nice, people are more level headed, kind, and willing to discuss things thoughtfully. without the "gotchyas" and hostile armchair intellectualism that is so rampant on platforms like reddit.

this is a platform of the people, each instance essentially ran/hosted by volunteers. working class people, like you or me. thats the basis of the fediverse. anyone can spin up an instance, some bigger/better than others, and choose to link with all/certain instances. some instances can be honey pots, filled with bots, AI slop. or real human beings, making real connections. who knows. its crazy out here. still small, quiet. but growing, and getting louder.

the best thing about the fediverse, is that if you dont like an instance. you can leave it.

but if you dont leave quietly, its always a little bit sus as to your real motivations.

OP seems to be confusing people with a distaste for fascism/general knowledge of communism/socialism, and the history that birthed them, for actual "tankies"

a common mistake made by the misinformed, and a common tactic used by the misaligned.

but id rather not make those assumptions, and assume its coming from a purely anecdotal view/experience of the world that i havent seen reflected in my own use of lemmy.

regardless, at the end of the day, its not left vs right, its up vs down. and i think thats the bigger zeitgeist here on lemmy

sorry for the wall of text. i hope this helps provides a bit more context.

[–] greenbit@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago

Nowadays reasonable is radical. Moderate isn't enough and conservative is poison

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 7 points 6 days ago

From what I can tell, Lemmy started as wildly left but if you avoid the .ml areas, you're going to get a much broader mix of views.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I know of no one who actually esposes conservative principles to me. pay as you go, rainy day funds, infrastructure investment, efficient social safety nets, rule of law (constitution and founding principles respected even seperation of church and state), middle of the road (balancing state power [regulations] and private power). This is a us centric view though were our conservative party has seem to have thrown out all conservative principles. I do see plenty of generally left of center moderate liberals (don't get me wrong a lot of ultra left too) although again often presented nowadays like ultra left views. Folks who don't want to see an end to all capitalism but want to limit wealth disparity and the effect of money on politics, have social safety nets like universal healthcare and equitable public education, sensible regulation, progressive taxes, efforts to limit global warming fallout, etc.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›