@PurpCat @arc @Mr_NutterButter Just looking at old-school Internet forums has shown me how much has changed. At least on those, all of the debates and political discussions would be contained in certain subforums and people got along outside of said subforums.

I talked about this a while back, but there is this forum for the unofficial Quintet/Soul Blazer trilogy called TerraEarth. It's still around, but nowhere near as active as it used to be. On it, there is a subforum for debates, except these debates are nothing like the right-wing (or left-wing) bloodsports we see today. There is almost zero ideological bias. People came up with some of the craziest conspiracy theories. People from all over (and off) the political compass had open minded discussions, and nothing was off the table. Of course, people naturally argued, but people didn't cancel or make lolcows out of each other. And it being all contained in a single subforum meant that participating in such debates is 100% optional. You almost never find that happening today unless you really know where to look.

https://gameliberty.club/@xianc78/113266826044484395

But besides that, the other thing I don't like about the modern Internet is that you really can't just use the Internet just to show of your creativity anymore. You HAVE to pick a side. It's inevitable that someone with a pink and cyan striped flag will point a gun to your head, asking you to say "trans rights". Hell, even merely choosing what community or platform to be on (leftists on BlueSky, boomer rightoids on Gab and Minds, etc) is a political statement in of itself.