anytime i want to post something on lemmygrad like a question or a thought, i get some odd resistance that tries to hold me back from posting. and there is so many things i want to post right now
anytime i want to post something on lemmygrad like a question or a thought, i get some odd resistance that tries to hold me back from posting. and there is so many things i want to post right now
It took me a lot of courage to post here. I made one bad post that I am still embarassed about and deleted once I noticed it received many downvotes immediately, meaning it was likely not just libs from other instances. Sometimes I overshare or get a bit "reckless" with my posts and comments, especially when I am sick from work and/or my deliriously overworked brain is loopy but still awake enough to post mindlessly here. My advice is if you want to post something without fear of backlash, try to get a sense of the "vibe" and culture of the community and post something in a similar vain. I can tell you lemmygrad is probably the best community I have been in online. Lemmy.ml is now worse than reddit in my opinion (at least, small community subreddits before they are flooded with libs and Nazis), but that's probably due to all of the lemmy.worlders and other toxic, fascist/neolib echo chambers in most other instances downvoting and harassing posts that are remotely left and challenge their narrow worldviews. Heck, I have been downvoted from other instances making harmless Linux jokes. People here are kind and understanding. We're comrades after all. Just make sure to do your research and avoid making posts that break rules or could be interpreted reactionary. I would start off making posts from articles or videos that other comrades here post from, but I would try to post something new. By rule of thumb, I usually search the thing I want to post first to avoid making a repost (especially if recent). I believe that is part of forum netiquette. Lemmy will sometimes tell you if you are creating a post that's already made with the same url, I believe, which is nice.
I haven't read theory yet, but I tend to get a good grasp on ideas expressed in lemmygrad, PSL, etc. Reading theory, especially with a reading group under a party to help explain things like the meaning behind Lenin's writings (I recommend this class from Brian Becker (it's very engaging, too): https://yewtu.be/playlist?list=PLlpc6eFEd8ovixEvkHxXsJLRxqTUcyw-v), would probably help me improve the quality and accuracy of my posts and comments. I try to be a sponge here, open-minded and willing to take criticism, especially since I'm the noob here. I am very busy and overworked, and I struggle with time management. It's difficult for me to fit time for myself to read, especially with working at a thinly staffed corporation, long commute, many projects, many devices breaking down that I need to fix or replace, working with PSL, needing to support my mom, etc. I am going to start doing a class with PSL soon, though, so that should help me.
I'm not sure which post you're referring to so i could be wrong, but I can pretty confidently say if it was more than 5 downvotes within the first hour that it was definitely one of those mass-downvoting bot waves that makes its way around here sent by libshits every once in a while. I remember I asked a question/started a discussion about how Marxism/materialism plays into free will and it got like 45 downvotes (along with every other post that day lol). Barring you posting something heavily liberal or fascist (saying the same thing twice) then you're probably fine and a victim of said bots.
Even if it was you, that's totally fine, you're clearly open to good faith criticism and most of the time people don't get downvoted if they are just saying something out of ignorance or are being misinterpreted/not explicitly reactionary. At least I don't. The only times I see mass downvoting that's real is like, lemmy world invaders that come say dumb provocative shit in the comments or whatever.
Point is this place is very mature and good faith most of the time and you're right to keep posting despite any pushback, much like NA/AA, the newcomer is the most important person in the room! You're already 100 steps ahead of 75% of USians so congrats.
Nothing to be embarrassed about either we all start somewhere and I was the exact same way back in February 2022 when I first got into ML thought and online spaces/organizations. But trust despite any shortcomings you may have when it comes to theory you are still not a noob because by virtue of being a person and an ally of the working class then we are here to learn from you just as much as you are from us, that's how this whole thing works and how a democracy actually functions.
Godspeed comrade and apologies for the wall of text Iol
I received like 10 downvotes within the first minute and not a single upvote, which is much faster than what I normally see even with the downvoting bots, and it was a post (which I deleted immediately, so few people probably saw it) of a video from a reactionary youtube channel, but I thought the topic was interesting, but could have been possibly conspiratorial. I tried to be clear in the description of my thoughts and to clarify my intentions, but it was still getting downvoted heavily, and I had a feeling some lemmygraders were active at that time. My goal with my posts here is to avoid spreading mis/disinformation or reactionary thoughts. Since I am working with PSL, one of the principles we need to follow is to maintain democratic centralism and to be consistent with the messages of the party and avoid accidentally undermining them by personalizing them with negative connotations: https://www.liberationschool.org/social-media-and-democratic-centralism-opportunities-and-challenges/
I believe my post was breaking the spirit of this community and probably provided little/poor substance and could have led newcomers to trust reactionary content. I was sick that day and was getting a bit carried away with my posts. I think the rest of my posts were okay.
I appreciate your response, and I do feel pretty comfortable here being myself and posting things that interest me. And I like providing content and comments to help people here, especially if I think of something I noticed hasn't been mentioned. I have learned a lot here, and I want to be able to give back more than I have received in this world. I know reading theory is not the only way to help the working class as a comrade, especially considering how valuable experience in the real world and working with a party or union is. I just believe I am at a point where I need to start reading more to help me flesh out my understanding of ML, and I believe I am good at giving layman explanations to complex topics, thus I want to do so to help other people learn.