Lemmy is mostly the same as Reddit before the “normies” found Reddit. And Reddit was full of vile and toxic shut-ins already from the start. Lemmy isn’t any better. It’s just that Lemmy users mostly lean left and people gloss over toxicity from people they agree with

any opinions which do not conform

Ya this is the common argument we hear from the far right... but as always they omit the primary reason we reject their 'non-conformist' opinion, the actual reason its rejected is because usually doesnt line up with facts or reality. Those things are actually important.

People do not upvote enough and downvote too much. Downvote is not a disagree button.

Get rid of votes.

Atleast your comments arn't auto hidden or deleted by a bot instantly after posting like other social media platforms.

on a variety of topics, any opinions which do not conform are heavily downvoted.

This is is also a problem on Reddit too, I guess it's to do with how the entire concept of subreddits or "sublemmies" while I like it for things like memes & fandoms, it makes everybody able to create a closed-off echochamber shut off from every other allowing opinions to become unified at an extreme.

It's kinda nice to be part of a no-downvote instance, I know other instances keep track of my stats but I don't care, I don't see it.

Even when trying to clarify someone else's point.