Hello, Mastodonians. I'm wondering: do you have a strategy for keeping up a high level of interaction with people on the web while keeping things pleasant and positive? Are there things/places you avoid or emphasize? What do you do to put your voice out there, but try to reduce negative and ultimately pointless arguments and interactions?

@awhite

Hi Andrew, I guess that there is no real answer to your questions. People discuss. I have the feeling that people on Mastodon are quite #positivethinking, particularly compared to #twitter. However, there are discussions which are more confronting and less pleasant such as #forkoff

Hi, @GerryT! I get that, and I understand. Mastodon is a good place, although I haven't quite found my community here yet. But I find that things devolve super-quickly in the broader 'net. I wonder how folks deal?

@GerryT My thinking isn't really fully formed about what I'm asking, or what I'm looking for. I just want to be less grumpy, but still online :)

@awhite @GerryT just choose your battles. Leave those that devolve. I've actually have had quite constructive discussions both here and on birdsite. We started by disagreeing and we probably still disagreed by the end of the thread but I think it helped gain perspective and maybe shift positions slightly, at least for me.