• huey_m@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Not sure arguing with them really does either. I think this was true in simple chronological message boards, but anything that boosts content due to engagement is just going to make it worse…

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        To be clear, I’m writing from a Lemmy/Reddit/Slashdot perspective. Maybe on Mastodon/Twitter (or, dog forbid, Facebook) it’s different, but I wouldn’t know because I’ve never used that shit.

        • huey_m@piefed.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 hours ago

          Pretty sure reddit uses some algorithmic stuff to push threads, no? If you jump all over a bullshit political post, for example, doesn’t that help push it into ‘hot’ or whatever? (Honestly asking, been off reddit for years at this point).

          Lemmy/piefed/etc might be less prone to it though, that’s fair, though I’ve so far run into less outright propagandistic stuff here so far… might’ve just been lucky on that front.

    • fisch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      But interacting with them will be interpreted as “engagement” and lead the algorithms to push them into more feeds and rank them higher.

      • bedwyr@piefed.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 day ago

        Well not on lemmy I don’t think they use algorathms to rank content and are open about how they rank comments and such. Not entirely sure though I am not a computer guy.

        • [object Object]@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          7 hours ago

          Sorting by ‘active’ takes into account the time of the last comment, and/or the number of comments. And it’s the default sorting option in the default UI and apps that I’ve seen.

      • whyderrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 day ago

        The big problem is discerning when you’re playing chess against a pigeon, and when you’re acting like the pigeon yourself. “I would never” - a pigeon

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        The point is not to change the troll’s opinion; the point is to discredit them in front of whoever else may be reading the thread.

        Also, the other action other than blocking them is reporting them and having a mod or admin remove them for everybody at once.

        Both of those are better options than individually blocking.

        • the_fuckler@nord.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 day ago

          Not gonna lie, I see people doing this theatrical shit in the 2020’s and I instantly hate them for killing any good vibes that were happening. They no longer represent their politics to me.

        • Kangae_Hishiryo@scribe.disroot.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          Yeah.

          There are vulnerable people that might fall for their bullshit, so at least we must deny their nonsense so that fewer people fall for it.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      If they’re propagandizing, there’s not an argument you can make to stop them.