This is a theory that’s previously been stated in log/39-normie-hypothesis.gmi, but I think it’s worth expanding on as it’s become very relevant with the recent Reddit shit-show actualizing just how bad that website has gotten along with social media in general.
I think the model demonstrate how the ’enshittification’ process is an inevitability with any social media that is run on a venture capital model.
An online community can be like a village, where you have familiar faces, collective experiences, shared values and so forth.
I’ve noticed that it really matters which subs you read. I tried to make my reddit experience a bit more serious, so that I wouldn’t be just joyscrolling cat gifs all day and doomscrolling hate news all night. That’s why I focussed a lot on Linux, FOSS, science, technology, engineering, maths, statistics, biology, physics, chemistry subs and stayed away from subs that were more focused on entertainment and jokes etc. That’s probably a big reason why I didn’t see that many jerks.
I had the same experience. That said, I also was apparently in mid sized subs, or the ones that were sort of Q&A (sysadmin, askphotography) so I never saw a sense of community. I might recognize 5 usernames as having good or bad answers / comments, but being topic focused (even tv or movies was like this) I never really formed any kind of connection.
The closest I could see like that is actually on things like the subs discord where you’re kind of shooting the shit a lot more, and it seems more ephemeral. Like Photography discord has an off topic and a computer and a tv channel as well as a lounge / anything channel. These are the photography people talking about other stuff too so you kind of can get to know them. On reddit these are all different subs, so you’ll never get the photography subs feeling about the latest anime…
Idk, I also may just be strange.