Hi all,
I am noticing that a lot of what is being posted is the same outrage clickbait articles on crime and poverty that have overrun other Portland centric communities. These are absolutely important topics, and something I hope everyone is thinking about and involved with advocating for improved policy around. However, I do question the usefulness of a constant deluge of these types of articles.
When we go to a space like the local coffee shop, pub, or bookstore, a place where we immediately feel the "Portland vibes", we usually aren't met with a non-stop stream of poverty, drug, and crime news. If I we were, then we would probably leave (or at least I would). Similarly, I feel like our online space can be so much more than just the same daily rehash of divisive arguments that don't go anywhere.
This is especially true on our Lemmy community, where we are small and still developing a culture. There are not many other types of posts here yet, so the click-bait outrage headlines dominate. Personally, I would love to see more events, reviews of concerts, pictures, slice of life stories, and other things that make this feel like the "Portland vibes".
This isn't a moderation decision. It's more of an appeal. I haven't removed any links or banned anyone (other than some obvious malicious spam), and I don't plan to. I haven't even been down voting.
IDK ... what do you think about the future of this space and how we might build a community space that isn't just local doom scrolling?
When I first came to r/Portland, it was the kind of place that made fun of the oLive comment section. Over the last few years, it became functionally indistinguishable from it, with posters stumbling over each other to find the most nihilistic Eeyore take on any given subject.
It'd be awesome if we could avoid the same trap here, and I guess the solution is to consciously try to avoid Nextdooring the place up too hard. Like, how many different homeless camp fire articles do we need in a week to drive meaningful conversation?
I showed up during the Slough-people drama. Started with a guy asking why seemingly homeless people were being dropped off on the shore of the Columbia Slough via pontoon boat every morning. Ended with a guy getting his drone shot out of the air by pirates.
That was my kind of content.