[AdamJMarsh]

Bodybuilding.com misc & 4chan are super toxic communities.

I look back at my teenage years and realised how hazardous they are to mental health. My curiousity & engagement on those communities was limited to infrequent lurking.

I now understand why alt-right/q anon movement popped up so quickly.

A big issue with these boards is that the ownership can't overmod because these communities are a big drawcard, even if they're financial negatives.

[eternityforest]

It's always fun to see someone use the word "chit" for shit, and think "Oh hey that copypasta leaked out of bodybuilding".

These forums seem to collect the most problematic people from every political group and subculture, put them all together, and then teach them their own unique manosphere philosophy that is currently one of my least favorite things about all of mankind.

It's some kind of primitivist thought combined with a screenshot of a Nietzsche quote about strength and power, some pretentious militant atheism, a bit of eugenics, a lot of intelligence-worshipping, and a heavy dose of still believing in cringe culture.

Way bigger than just alt right, there seems to be a variant for every affiliation. It's almost mainstream.

[Lascaille]

>Bodybuilding.com misc & 4chan are super toxic communities.

They're places that provide access to actual human beings though. So many other online communities - especially ones with wide readership - are astroturfed into oblivion.

My take on it is that having to deal mentally with lunatics howling at the moon and screaming about the upcoming Great Replacement is the price you pay for access to actual opinions. That screaming horde is what keeps the astroturfers and consent manufacturers out.

[newaccount74]

> the price you pay for access to actual opinions

But you only see opinions of people who are willing to tolerate the torrent of abusive posts. You won't see the opinions of the silent majority who see the stupid flamewars and decide they'll spend their time elsewhere.

[Werewolf255]

You're acting like the opinions on these forums are strongly held and like there aren't a significant minority of people 'trying on' personas or personality traits in order to see how others respond to them. I don't see how that's a meaningful distinction from people who have made the color beige their sole personality trait and strongly believe in manufacturing consent at the cost of all other goals.

[coolso]

> Bodybuilding.com misc & 4chan are super toxic communities.

There’s that word. The world is super “toxic”. The aforementioned sites allow people to speak freely, which can result in negativity, but they’re also bastions of freedom and creativity and everyone’s thoughts being equally visible.

One can easily argue that that’s far less toxic than Reddit’s style of everyone being the church mom that silences and admonishes everyone that says something “problematic” or what the congregation considers unacceptable. Where’s the fun in that?

There’s definitely a certain group of people who hate not being able to silence others, since if they can’t silence and censor their opponents, their arguments don’t really hold up.

[n4r9]

4chan is a bastion of free speech in the same way that Somalia is a bastion of the free market. Being the only place in the world to do something "freely" means you mostly attract people that want to "freely" do all the things that other places have rules against.

[hef19898]

You freedom ends where my nose begins, or something like that. The freedom to voice your opinions, even unpopular ones, is good. It stops being good once it turns to online harassment, IMHO even before that.

And by the way, just because there is no active moderation doesn't mean that every voice is equally heard. Or did any one on running.com listen what Dr. Meza had to say?

[Lascaille]

Very well said.

[Ansil849]

> Bodybuilding.com misc & 4chan are super toxic communities.

Yes, but so are Facebook and Twitter.

[ciphol]

FB/Twitter are not one community, they are a million different communities that mostly don't see each other.

[AdamJMarsh]

Communities there can and have been super toxic yes.

There is a difference though as those platforms have larger moderation resources though.

[Zerverus]

Not communities.