this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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I suspect the answer is that there's probably a depressing number of authentic human adults who just are like that, and it creates a feedback loop/spiral where people are pushed into being more aggressive/vitriolic as a defense mechanism.
The real problem, I think, is the ease with which those individuals can hop between communities/be directed toward communities particularly sensitive to their brand of bile on social media sites. I know there's a lot of talk out there about making on-boarding to Fediverse stuff easier, but realistically, being able to layer several barriers along the way (e.g. finding an instance to join, finding an instance to harass without getting either yourself banned or your entire instance defederated) will go a long way toward limiting the influx of bad actors.
Security through obscurity!
Though be careful, too obscure and you'll get the most horrible people hanging around. I discovered this while Bitmessage community...
I wouldn't necessarily call it "security through obscurity" so much as just the nature of a web that isn't all in a few big baskets.
Besides, it's a knife that cuts both ways: the barriers to fluid movement means the worst people are kinda just stuck festering in a handful of places and everyone eventually learns where they are. Like, the big basket-style web has been a boon for fascists and their ilk in large part because there's lower barriers to entry and its possible to build a funnel from normal/mainstream boards to the more radicalized ones through intermediary communities.
But, when everyone knows, for instance, that something like Voat or Stormfront is where all the vitriolic racists are, there's kinda an upper limit to how easily they can lure people in since eventually they've gotta drag you there or else you'll probably slip away from the indoctrination, and that often means tipping their hands just a bit too soon to get past the "wait a moment, these guys are terrible people" filters.