[tonymet]

thank you for sharing. I believe the shadowban issue contributes to this reluctance. There are a few pillars, some policy, some cultural, that discourage more engaging dialog.

The rules are sound, and I'm not pushing back on those. But I think with better tools, more community members will be encouraged to participate and be authentic.

Of course, shadowbans are not the biggest issue ( groupthink and AI spam are bigger, among others). but it's an issue I know firsthand.

[SanjayMehta]

If you're authentic here, you *will* be flagged and downvoted.

[defrost]

Think of it as a martial arts dojo .. comment harshly and inadvertantly snark others and you might get sweep off your feet and take damage.

With time and atention you can be yor authentic self, ( sans swearing, personal attacks, implications that parallel commenters are deranged, etc ) and maintain your balance.

I've been throttled at least three times and have come back unscathed.

The trick is to hold your ground without "being a dick about it" (Australian idiom), don't get baited, and keep a broad high view of the general domain of discussion .. the ground is littered with minefields.

[tonymet]

> With time and atention you can be yor authentic self,

I disagree with this part , because the comment ranking rewards groupthink . I would like to see a "sort by controversial" . I usually scroll to the very bottom of posts to see the interesting comments.

[defrost]

Not everybody pays attention to comment ranking and while an algorithm might cause some to slavishly follow karma it doesn't prevent others less easily led from being their true selves.

> I would like to see a "sort by controversial"

Ahhh. Okay, maybe try reddit or one of those karma farming sites then - they have this "feature".

[tonymet]

Generally readers read from the top down. So whether they intend to or not, the groupthink comments bubble to the top