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by ranieuwe 1590 days ago
More echo chambers that we don’t need and no one is asking for.
2 comments

On the contrary, many people do want an echo chamber. I find the key to enjoying my Twitter experience is to differentiate between the threads where people do want a discussion and the ones where they only want to signal how much they agree with each other. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not.
No one asks for "echo chambers", but people do ask for a space where they can interact with like minded individuals and push out "trolls".
I want more spaces that push out trolls, but where I can interact with non-like-minded individuals.

If I only interact with like-minded individuals, that means the internet has failed its use case for me, which is to broaden my world view by seeking out opinions that oppose my own.

Of course if by "like-minded" you mean "polite and rule-abiding," then I agree.

That's why I put "trolls" in quotes. The amount of people who self-sort themselves into echo chambers is far more than the people who would freely admit they want to be in an echo chamber.
That's one use case, but not every platform or forum can or should be expected to traffic in free-form controversy. If I'm on a car forum, I expect an "echo chamber" about cars with individuals interested in discussing cars, not to have a confrontational debate about race science or vaccines or Christian apologetics, at least not in the car threads.