Interesting topic. To me, trolls - based on my experience - seem to be the ones who don't believe in what they post, and in fact do it provocatively to generate negative reactions and gather "audience". And by audience I don't mean necessarily honest audience, in fact they want quite the opposite, they want allies in fake opinions.

With that in mind, I come here with the true feeling of being a guest of Chris and his team, and try to behave as a guest invited in someone's home. Yet, I've had my fair share of disagreements here and I will not fake expressions of my thoughts for someone else's appeasement. I'd rather leave when that day comes.

We nip a few in the bud here and there, usually first-time posters.

One thing I'm worried about is there can't be a movie without conflict because no one will watch. Maybe no one wants to be made fun of and trolled, but they want to watch it unfold on social media. A lot of Twitter stars unleash the zingers, and it's the zingers people like and hence the algorithms deliver.

It's an interesting experiment to see if Jimmy Wales' wt.social gains much traction. It has many of the same values as us and he has an enormous mailing list, but it feels low on traction so far.

Example zinger that got major traction on Twitter:

I wonder why has 'troll' been unanimously accepted the choice for designating what I no longer (two bit brained stunts notwithstanding) may be truly understanding, a classification of certain social media behaviour, when and when not... 🤔

TrollA troll is a being in Scandinavian folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.en.wikipedia.org

I do think that Cake at the moment is a bit of an echo chamber.

I think there are two factors which contribute to this.

1. Certain subjects have a higher interest population on Cake. Sort of like going to a place where Sports fanatics hang out and trying to bring up subjects in which sports fans are not interested. In this case, it is a lack of interest in some subjects rather than any opposition to a specific viewpoint.

2, When an overwhelming majority in any environment holds one position it tends to squelch open discussion. There aren't a lot of vocal Republicans in Hollywood as one example. There are some viewpoints which are held by so many Cake participants that this may intimidate those who are not by nature argumentative.

I agree with your comments. The population on Cake is still too small for more diversity of opinion. I would add that the average Cake contributor is of higher intelligence, more highly educated, and more knowledgeable about science and technology than the average population. That's one of the reasons I enjoy Cake. If there was more diversity though that wouldn't mean that it would stop the same types of conversations that aren't already happening.

I'm not sure that I would say that diversity of convictions does not already exist on Cake, it is rather that many people, sadly, find courage in numbers. Very few are willing to stand alone in an onslaught of opposition.

I guess they'd have to speak up to see if others come to their aid or support their arguments. I have found users on Cake to be quite openminded but then I'm living in my bubble.

My problem is when someone comes at me with an attitude.