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I've been meeting a lot more really cool people on Mastodon than I have in the entire 15+ years I was on Twitter. Discussions end up much more civil, everyone has been friendly so far. It's just really chill not having an algorithm push outrage topics to bump engagements.

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Not to worry. There's nothing inherent in the platform that encourages to be more civil and friendly other than established cultural norms that will soon be trampled by the influx of new users if things continue on the current trajectory.

Federation, defederation, local moderation and zero algorithmic amplification are all inherent in the platform.

Don't most new communities start that way?

I wouldn’t call this a new community though. A lot of people I’ve talked to have been on the platform for years now. I think it has more to do with the heavier moderation and whole hateful instances being blocked.

I think non-commercial status is also an important factor.

It doesn't need to aim for hockeystick growth or guard its data to create value for investors. It doesn't need to manipulate users for high engagement metrics to impress advertisers.

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