Yes because this community definitely doesn’t have a huge bias towards US culture.
Makes you wonder if the demographics are skewed towards Americans. Or maybe others are not that vocal about their local culture?
Any fellow Europeans here?
Actually when I moved here from Reddit I really enjoyed that it seemed like the perspectives weren’t so US-focused. I don’t know if there were really more non-US folks or if maybe the more left leaning userbase meant I noticed it less. But now I feel like I’ve been in quite a few threads where US dominance was in full force, like the one asking why weed is illegal but alcohol not, or anything that mentions gun control.
Weed is not illegal for the majority of Americans, funny enough. Europe is a different story.
Oh for sure. When I joined, servers and communities dedicated to specific countries or even cities had a bit of activity. Used to see a lot of German, Austrian, french, Dutch, Australian and NZ content in my feed. Now only the Germans and Australians, sometimes.
Aussies are just Yanks slathered in vegemite :D
See, I always imagined Aussies as redneck brits, but somehow more approachable and friendly. But as they are quite literally on the other side of the world, I haven’t interacted with enough Aussies to confirm or deny such prejudice.
You guys really as friendly as my imagination suggests?
Yeah, pretty friendly i think. Kiwis and Canadians might be friendlier, but we are close.
From my limited experience, kiwis and Canadians are friendly in a more polite/well-mannered way, Aussies are friendly in a more, errr, “colourful” way.
The Dutch are usually pretty good at announcing their presence, as they will flock to anything even remotely associated with their country. Just look at the comments on a Not Just Bikes video and you’ll see for yourself.
They’re also massive shitposters, so expect to find them in the less serious parts of the fediverse.
Both provide great strategies to pull them out of hiding.
Yes
There are more lemmy servers hosted in the U.S. than any other country, although they certainly don’t make up the majority. IDK about users though.
I don’t get it. Are you saying that lemmy.world has too many US users? Why would that matter?
As an American:
I do try to avoid spaces with an over abundance of other Americans. Largely because I get way more than my share of American news pushed at me on all fronts every day and those people just tend to echo what CNN/Fox has to say about something over and over.
But to other nationalities, any space with a US presence is regarded as “CIA controlled propaganda and those Americans are all slaves of their rich overlords and their capitalism is the singular reason the world is shit”
Believe it or not, American media exists on a spectrum too, just like anywhere. Ironically, the people who spout this uninformed nonsense remind me of the lowest-common-denominator types of Americans who are afraid of Chinese immigrants and healthcare because “communism”.
I don’t regard any place with the US presence as a CIA clubhouse, but you must admit, The Default Country for many on the internet, here included, is the US. So yeah, most of the news are the US news
And to add, even our so-called “left-leaning” news outlets have a STRONG pro-establishment pro-capitalist bias, but we’re so immersed in it that I feel like it’s super hard to recognize. Anarchist and Marxist sources often get called out for their obvious bias, but guess what? CNN, MSNBC, WaPo… those are just as biased, but they’re more aligned to the status quo so we fail to see it.
Usually when people complain about bias, it’s because the news source is promoting something undesirable. If you agree with the viewpoints and ideology, then you’re not going to complain about bias usually, unless there’s some politics at play.
Yes exactly. This is also why those sites that proclaim to measure bias tend to be utterly subjective. They themselves show bias in their criteria and methodology
Because it means that contributions are always leaning towards American viewpoints. From politics being mainly concerned with US politics to comments being written from an English speaking, US perspective.
Would you join an instance with a dominating presence of Russian or Chinese or Brazilian or South African or Iranian users? I hope you can see why it matters now.
would you join an instance
If I could read those languages yes probably.
Same. But I don’t think the Russians or Chinese would give two shits what I think about them dominating an online space lol
Also pretty sure Iranians are struggling to get online rn let alone take over an instance
But I don’t think the Russians or Chinese would give two shits what I think about them dominating an online space
I’d expect anyone who’s dominating to not give a shit about others, because such a status somewhat benefits them.
Except that such a situation strengthens bias and creates an echo-chamber which may be problematic in the long run but isn’t seen as an issue most of the time, I think
There is no need to read those languages. Translations are still a thing. I remember that, while on Reddit, r/Europe posted links in other languages, but OP provided an English translation. So, yes, you can post national news in your official language, whatever it is, and post its translation, and now you have an international community or instance.
But it seems I’m the only one who posts links in my official language (Spanish) on international communities.
So, you’re saying that US users on lemmy.world are keeping other nationalities from talking about issues or viewpoints relevant to them?
No, not at all. But by sheer number of submissions and comments the collective hive mind will tend towards topics that are relevant for the biggest population.
It’s nothing malicious. People are simply less likely to upvote and engage with content that does not interest them or is not relevant for them. All natural of course. But the side effect is that minority topics are suppressed.
There really are just a lot of us. Many English speaking platforms will naturally be filled with US folks because of the sheer number of us.
Exactly!
For what it’s worth, the same issue exists in German speaking communities as well. /r/de is the subreddit for all German speakers. But while the Austrians and Swiss are explicitly invited too, by sheer number of citizens the news about German politics make up the vast majority of submissions in the subreddit.
The same probably applies to my account’s instance (feddit.de), though I am not sure if the swiss and austrians have dedicated instances as well. Thanks to federation the effect is lessened, because every country (or otherwise defined group) can have their own frontpage. (E.g. lemmy.ca or lemmy.blahaj.zone)
I would love to see some examples of these minority topics being down voted or suppressed since it seems to be deeply affecting international users’ experience.
To me, it seems like you and the OP resent US users for simply existing in an online space without putting forth any solutions to the issue. Are you sure you’re not trying to find ways to justify anti-US bias?
If you want the space to have more equal representation, why not produce high-quality content that appeals to your fellows rather than moaning about people who by your own admission mean no harm?
The comment you replied to very clearly said “less likely to upvote” not that topics are downvoted. But this kind of American exceptionalism is like 90% of the problem I have with spaces being dominated by y’all. Frankly it’s insufferable how far up your own arses you’ve stuffed your heads.
Do you think “supress” simply means “not up voting non-US content?” Okay, maybe I got that one wrong.
But you really don’t get how hostile you guys come off toward US folks who are just existing?
I mean, your comment is the very embodiment 9f the anti-US sentiment I see from so many. What are people supposed to do to appease you?
You barged in here and mischaracterised what someone said so you could be outraged…SMH and you still think we all are the problem.
The one thing that you could do, that any American could do, is be capable of introspection on this stuff. But this thread kinda proves how impossible that is. Other people and places exist. English is the lingua franca of the Internet. Would y’all please stop being so self-centred?
As @princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone already pointed out (thanks girl!), I never said they would get downvoted. It’s just that if US news are upvoted and international news are not, then sorting by upvotes (which any reasonable algorithm will do), will inevitably lead to a reduced visibility of said international news.
Thanks to federation the frontpage itself is mostly non specific memes and tech/Linux content. But if you want a concrete example: here is a screenshot of !news@lemmy.world. the name of the community would suggest well, world news. The reality is … Quite different:
The nine posts in the screenshot are about:
- Elon musk (50/50)
- Jk Rowling & a new Scottish law (international)
- US traffic blockades (US)
- Donald Trump (US)
- Israel war (international)
- US jails (US)
- US housing (US)
- Donald Trump (US)
- Donald Trump (US)
If you want the space to have more equal representation, why not produce high-quality content that appeals to your fellows rather than moaning about people who by your own admission mean no harm?
As i have just explained in my first paragraph this will not be enough. (And that’s aside from the extra effort required to keep up said high quality work. Even if it would lead to equal representation, it’s an uphill battle.)
Are you sure you’re not trying to find ways to justify anti-US bias?
Yes, I am sure. I am merely stating a fact. This dynamic develops in any online space with a clear majority group. For example, take the /r/de subreddit. It is the default subreddit for German speaking users on reddit. Austrian and Swiss users are explicitly invited. And yet, by sheer number of citizens the news about German politics dominate the submissions. I do no more resent Germans for up voting content that interest them on /r/de (for example myself) than I resent Americans upvoting content that interests them.
Similarly you can take any other instance that is specific to a group, be it defined via country (e.g. lemmy.ca) or shared interest/experience (e.g. lemmy.blahaj.zone) and you will find that minorities that are not part of that definition will inevitably be suppressed. But these country or interest specific instances do not claim to cover the world. In fact, OP was probably writing this post not due to the presence of US citizens on Lemmy, but due to the overwhelming presence of US citizens on an instance that claims to represent the world. Renaming !news@lemmy.world to !usnews@lemmy.world would go a long way.
Sure, petition to rename it. I don’t think anyone would care, except the folks feeling suppressed by American exceptionalism.
Or, idk, start your own world news instance with super strict rules, zero US stuff. No one is stopping you. Isn’t that the point of this platform?
To me, it seems like you and the OP resent US users for simply existing in an online space without putting forth any solutions to the issue. Are you sure you’re not trying to find ways to justify anti-US bias?
If you want the space to have more equal representation, why not produce high-quality content that appeals to your fellows rather than moaning about people who by your own admission mean no harm?
EDIT:
I would love to see some examples of these minority topics being down voted or suppressed since it seems to be deeply affecting international users’ experience
Could you please provide some examples? I am at a loss about what that could be except some hate topics that I expect to naturally get downvoted
i appreciate your leveled and honest analysis here. others are nitpicking your choice of language but personally this is the best summary of the situation i have seen to date :)
Be the change you want to see in lemmy.world.
- Abraham Lincoln or smth I dunno
I already do, not every day but sometimes, when I see something worth to be published. You can check inside my profile.
…no?
I mean they’re not wrong, but it does seem silly to complain about American politics on a website where most people are American.
They could block instances/users posting content they don’t want to see, or browse by “subscribed.”
I’ve personally considered blocking .world, but I like a lot of the users there and so I’d miss seeing them around. Like stamets and hamid, for instance (no pun intended)
I don’t think that blocks the users just the communities. If those users post to other instances I think you can still see them.
Yeah true, but in this case I do like seeing their posts on .world communities
Well, I personally didn’t notice anything like that tbh, or at least not more than on other social media platforms like Reddit
You should have called them CIA plants, or Feds. That would have really showed them.
I wanted to see what I would get with the prompt “CIA Plants”
Omg it was the grassy knoll all along wasn’t it
Stylish
Ai art bad
Ai generated images funny
That’s just US Election Season
Gringos tend to vore every conversation when that time rolls around.
Let them get it out their systems. They are in pain.
I’m from Latin America, btw.
It’s always election season in USA
No I’m pretty sure that’s exclusively 196 during this election season for some reason
for some reason
Perhaps the impending chance of us living with 4 more years of someone who openly wants to violently overthrow our government and be a dictator?
Well most of the political posts I’ve been seeing here have ranged from “Biden isn’t any better” to literal Soviet propaganda.
lemmy users got that antipolitical brainrot
for some reason
I honestly hoped just blocking Lemmygrad would keep lemmy from going to shit but alas
Lemmy.world is just Reddit 2, basically.
It’s because America is #1 baby!
/s
TAIWAN #1
Actually yes, you guys have a kick ass country and make all the cool computer chips I like.
1/10
How?
