Yeah that's a pretty accurate synopsis of the major trends. Different subs break away from this. If you're coming from reddit then it's was generally left leaning but was just bigger so politics was easy to escape.
Off topic tends to be used very subjectively, particularly if someone just dislikes the comment. Particularly when someone takes one line from a comment that's on topic to say the comment is off topic. Not always of course but it's rare so far as I've seen.
Now as for breaking rules or just being verbally violent, most definitely.
Views, engagement and votes determine what people see and what they don't as well as how they feel about it. What people see shapes their views. Their views shape their behavior. Their behavior shapes the world. It's worthwhile for an online community to not become just another pointless echo chamber.
In my experience here people are very active with voting both up and down and indeed any divergence from the narrative even if it's just questioning is met with downvotes.
It does depend how we are defining what matters. By your definition very few things matter. As a location for discourse it matters in how people related to said discourse in that votes can help push or diminish narratives and craft a location that is or is not an echo chamber. We're all aware what people see shapes their views and their views shape their actions and their actions shape the world. So I'm not sure I agree that the culture of a platform, the content that is pushed doesn't matter.
Yeah the political aspect of Lemmy is quite ubiquitous and specific. I'm neither left or right in that I would prefer a science based political system that optimizes HDI, GDPPP, and environmental impact. Any dissent or questioning either way is typically met with downvotes in the respective areas where people have a political leaning right or left.
It seems you and I are birds of a feather. Same experience here. Any divergence from the accepted norm, even if it's just inquiry is typically met with downvotes. That is most places trend towards an echo chamber, not just here but anywhere online.
You are, I am, we are the masses. I don't mind disagreeing with people. I would be more bothered to be somewhere where everyone agrees and we have a culture of chasing off anyone who doesn't aka an echo chamber. I'll downvote people being mean because we can disagree and have civil discussion. Also someone blatantly trolling.
Yeah that's a pretty accurate synopsis of the major trends. Different subs break away from this. If you're coming from reddit then it's was generally left leaning but was just bigger so politics was easy to escape.