I definitely get why, but people have been paranoid of interacting with bots, shills or astroturfers for as long as the internet exists. Calling someone either of these without asking to elaborate on their comment is just adding to the polarisation and intolerance of our platforms.
Often when I try to talk to people with wildly different opinions they just come back with those insults because “who can ever disagree with my opinion? They must be trolling.”
So I definitely blame people for jumping to the wrong conclusions.
Yes there needs that be at least a little blame lmao. Cuz the corollary of “everyone that isn’t agreeing with me is [bot, troll, shill]” is that everyone that isn’t agreeing with you may be rightfully treated with spite and abuse.
I definitely get why, but people have been paranoid of interacting with bots, shills or astroturfers for as long as the internet exists. Calling someone either of these without asking to elaborate on their comment is just adding to the polarisation and intolerance of our platforms.
Often when I try to talk to people with wildly different opinions they just come back with those insults because “who can ever disagree with my opinion? They must be trolling.”
So I definitely blame people for jumping to the wrong conclusions.
Yes there needs that be at least a little blame lmao. Cuz the corollary of “everyone that isn’t agreeing with me is [bot, troll, shill]” is that everyone that isn’t agreeing with you may be rightfully treated with spite and abuse.
Which is generally… not good.