Pretty sure they’re still openly okay with them. Not the reason I was looking to leave, though. Unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t scared of the Lemmy developers politics.
Racism, sexism and homophobia is not “politics”, but okay 😂
What do you mean by “being going downhill for 10 years” then?
I think you’re misreading me. Racism, sexism, and homophobia weren’t the “politics” I was referring to, because you’re right, those aren’t politics, those are people being trash. I mean the Lemmy developers being socialists/communists didn’t deter me from making an account here, because I’m not some capitalism worshipping pigboy. Their hard-left politics (the kind that led them to banning transphobic EMPRESS) are not scary to me, because I’m not a racist, sexist, homophobic douchebag.
As for Reddit and its decline. Reddit has been managed by State actors for a long time. At least since 2013ish.
Example:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5644
This is far from the only research paper around controlling discussions online produced by Eglin Air Force Base. They were the “most reddit addicted city” because they’re trying to massage the message into what they want it to be. They flood the site with persona management software and bots to influence the perception of what “people’s opinions are.”
If you’re in any way a leftist, this alone should have been enough reason to pack up and bail on it, because they are openly going out of their way to try minimize and hide voices like yours.
EDIT: Here’s another paper on the subject from EAFB, this is the one I 'member from long ago: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1402.5644.pdf