I think it has become more than apparent that our federation with Hexbear has degraded the quality of browsing on this instance. I'm generally for open federation, but the amount of brigading and general toxicity is not conducive to the friendly communications that make Lemmy great.
I remember lemmy.world got a bunch of heat for defederating from them pre-emptively, but it seems like it was a good call at this point.
Bad faith arguments and sealioning abound from their users and it seems the whole instance is just designed to encourage it.
"Everyone who disagrees with me is Sealioning!" Its a ridiculous concept and i take exception to the suggestion that we are debate nerds, or civil. What evidence does anyone ever present in an internet debate beyond a news article or a wikipedia entry? Its become apparent that the people who write in those mediums are no more diligent with their research than anyone else. There are no consequences for laziness. Reputations no longer mean anything to media firms. They have monopoly power, they can print rubbish and continue to hold their audience. To truly examine any evidence requires questioning all assumptions and no one who spends their time arguing with strangers on the internet is going to be that committed. Apparently asking for evidence and and pointing out its flaws makes you a troll.