I'm either much nicer here, or people are far less confrontational. I've said it a hundred times, but every time I receive a notification on Lemmy I brace myself for another senseless asshole. But it's almost always positive on here.
This so much. I feel like the founding values of Lemmy lead to creating a community in which users want this to be a respectful place. There's nearly no tolerance for hate. It's awesome.
It truly is night and day. I still see a bit of clashing in the bowels of political posts. Usually a MAGA being downvoted to -48, or various subspecies of liberals having it out, but next to that it's certainly a lot more tame and respectful.
Reddit was bad for my mental health. Especially from 2016 onward. If it wasn't toxic or aggressive people, it was an endless onslaught of all the shitty things happening in the world politically. I don't even live in the States anymore, and I was still angry every single day. I still see some of it on Lemmy and it's good to be informed, but Reddit's algorithm was tailored specifically for my anger. The platform is all ego.