But are they more positive or just more ideologically aligned with you? I looked through your post history and most of the conflicts you had seem to be ideological in nature. Much as I wish it wasn’t so, strongly negative reactions to ideological differences are a prominent feature of culture right now, particularly in online spaces.

So, to give a relevant example, posting about how socialism is bad on Lemmy.ml (which is a Marxist-Leninist instance in case you did not know) is going to generate a strong negative reaction. But I don’t know that this is because of something inherent to Lemmy. This would likely happen any time you criticize socialism in a space where most people agree with that ideology. If you made the same post in a fascist online community, you might get a more positive response, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that community is more positive, just that you align with them on that issue more so.

They might not have the volume of users that grants some level of peer protection. Lemmy is big enough for the biggest asshats to find likeminded individuals, while other sites are struggling to reach anything remotely close to critical mass, so individuals stand out more and might hold back.

Or they all belong to a certain subgroup or subculture already, which makes it more harmonious.

What alternatives are you using? I've only tried Lemmy after Reddit. I don't find it overly negative here either btw, but I'm interested to compare.

Maybe the existing user base? (before the reddit exodus.) It was hardcore left, and now that their echo chamber is being opened and challenged they don't like the new discussions. And being so used to the old ways they think they can continue bashing progressive as not progressive enough.