Particularly in smaller communities like this entire Lemmy instance, it is much harder for toxicity to develop. Pretty much everyone knows that this community is about posting “lmao i’m lonely and/or horny” memes and it’s easy for new people understand that too (like it was for me).

Why does reddit have so much toxicity though? The issue is that most mods only really care about a community just being in an acceptable state. What they don’t do is actually make the community into a place where you want to spend more time on. They’re doing the bare minimum to moderate as many communities as possible so that they can get notoriety and moderate bigger subreddits because bigger subs (or reddit themselves) can pay those moderators.

Reddit even actively encourages this behaviour, not only by paying those mods but also with some decisions on how subreddit management works (not going into details because you could find my reddit username with that).

The moderation here is out of love for the community. I know very well that the even worst communities can be made into a cozy space with good moderation but if there’s no love for the community then there’s no reason for it (which creates a downwards spiral because the more toxicity, the less love for a sub, and the less love, the less proper moderation).

For context: I was a moderator for a pretty big subreddit and am the only reason why the sub still exists to this day (even if it turned to shit again after my departure)

All of that being said tho:

This image is just a taste of what’s out there that can be toxic

Please tell me why this is toxic, I don’t think I understand ;-;