Older users that listen/listened to the podcast Chapo Trap House and joined the subreddit (the namesake for this comm) from back in the day vs people who have come to Hexbear later on for the vibes.
The podcast in question (and adjacent TrueAnon et al) drew in plenty of baby leftists, but their style includes a fair amount of things this comm (once again, named after the podcast) or this website as a whole does not allow. Felix would have been banned a long time ago for body shaming Charlie Kirk or some dweeb. Brace for being ableist. Matt Christman for for being fatphobic in a rant somewhere. Etc etc. But the podcast(s) also drew in so many listeners who like it because it wasn't as serious as some of the other left leaning podcasts.
I believe a schism was always going to occur. Mainly between the old users who made up who we were and new users who want to shape what we will be. For some we have strayed too far from the days of allowing a reactionary comment up so we can dogpile on the reactionary, get them to post their penis then body shame them for their ugly penis or weight. For others, creating a safe space for comrades supersedes the need to leave up reactionary posts for the purposes of dog piling on a chud.