I’ve found a few and they seem to be growing as of late:
- questions about Lemmy demographics
- anything discussing negative effects of porn
- benefits of AI
- negative effects of “wokeness”
- critiquing of individuals in trans community
- calling out men as predominant perpetrators of violence towards women
- anything US pro-conservative
One topic that I’ve noticed used to be a nonstarter and is now popular is anti-democrat conversation.
What are other nonstarters you’ve experienced?
EDIT: seemingly asking people what the community doesn’t want to talk about is a nonstarter
EDIT: calling out men as being predominate perps of violence is NOT a nonstarter and accepted within the community. A select few think that’s being a terf but they are wrong.
Countering arguments with ad-hominem puts you right up there with AI bots when it comes to providing value to online discussions.
Not really… AI bots are bad at providing value because they have no values and don’t understand context. You can deliver a scathing reproach that has value as long as it fits the context and reflects your values. But do you consider your response an ad-hominem?
Yes, really. You’re effectively saying “everyone who disagrees with my worldview is a bot,” which is a textbook example of ad hominem - dismissing a position based on who is assumed to hold it rather than engaging with the argument itself. That kind of framing is both delusional and extremely bad faith.
To your question: no, what I said isn’t ad hominem. Criticizing someone for making an ad hominem isn’t the same thing. I’m not using a personal attack to avoid addressing your argument - I’m pointing out that you’re using personal attacks to avoid having one. There’s a difference between attacking someone instead of responding to their point and calling out someone for refusing to make one.