@nightpool @nolan
or maybe there are two options:

Big city instances where your admin is knd of faceless and you're just doing your own thing with your own friends in a sea of people doing the same,

And small town instances where everybody knows their neighbors.

Much like physical communities, they both have advantages and disadvantages and suit different people.

There's not a "need" for everyone to exist in one type of environment that makes the other "pointless".

@clacke
Apple pie potato chips are a thing in Sweden now.

@mattskala @thor thinking about that has made me much more conscious of how I relate to people with different beliefs, even when I find the belief itself repellent. I don't think I can change anyone's sincere beliefs but I *can* choose not to throw rocks at them and hope that by not driving them back to their own group, it might give them an opportunity to make connections outside their "fam" and make it easier for them to change their own minds in the future.

This should be required reading for users of social media:

Anyone Can Become a Troll: Causes of Trolling Behavior in Online Discussions (research from Stanford & Cornell universities)

https://files.clr3.com/papers/2017_anyone.pdf

And also Dr. Molly Crockett's work on punishment and retribution. (Spoiler: we punish people because it feels good.)

https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/molly-crockett

@gargron doesn't have time to read much but the Stanford paper has ideas on UI design.

@Elizafox @chr @sonya it's maybe less an issue for the Americans, but it is illegal in Sweden & Germany & France. Not sure if it's EU-wide.