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#Iamhere Australia


LemonMyrtle

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LemonMyrtle

I hope this isn’t breaking forum rules cause I’m about to promote a Facebook group.


I have joined an online movement. You may be aware of it already. It started in Sweden as #JagArHar with the goal of making Facebook a nicer place. The Australian branch is #Iamhere Australia.


Basically, when someone spots a news post that’s generating a barrage of negative comments, it’s flagged, and we all swoop in with some logic and “like” the positive comments to bump them up.


Recently there have been posts about Brittany Higgins, white supremacy, equal pay, etc, and they have attracted some horrible horrible comments from people, so it’s nice to have the group come in and post positive things backed by facts to balance things.


They could do with some extra members if anyone’s interested. It’s a great way to fight the rude and ignorant and make them realise they are not the majority they think they are.


Check it out. :)


https://www.facebook.com/groups/iamhereaustralia/?ref=share

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LemonMyrtle

I'm in. Thanks for this. When I'm up to it, I do try to counter bigotry in a mature way, using real information. I know I've been caught with my cranky pants on here a couple of times, but I've always been a good kid on Facebook, I swear (except on my private profile, where I'm all subversive and shit).


Looking forward to steering social media in a different direction, I hope.

 

The members of the group are amazingly patient. You’re not allowed to counter hate with hate, and they’re all so positive and factual. And they just let things lie when needed. It has improved my perception of the world.

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I'm in a different group that does much the same thing but mostly about climate change. A couple of things to consider

- don't make it a public group - trolls will find out and infiltrate and be generally awful

- you will end up spending a lot of time on Sky News and Craig Kelly's facebook - this can make you feel quite bad about the world - remember to keep things in context

- keep in mind that when people look at the comments they won't necessarily see the replies to the comments. This is important because when multiple people make appalling replies to your comments it firstly acts to push your comment up on the most relevant ranking - your aim is for your comment to be seen and ANY reaction helps that. Keeping this in mind is really helpful when people are posting inane things - just remember that every comment is helping you.

- likewise - don't reply to awful comments - reply to the original post, but you can tag the person who made a comment you wish to address (this may start a war)

- take note of identities you regularly butt heads against - let your allies know who they are so you can ask for assistance, and liberally report them to facebook for bad behaviour or if you think they might be a fake account. Many of the 'climate denialism' brigade turn out to be fake accounts.


Sounds great - good luck with it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been doing this project this past week. So far I'm learning so much from both other members and the excellent resources posted in the group. I've felt so powerless to do anything about all the hate and misinformation out there these past few years. This project fills me with the hope for humanity I've needed so badly


[mention]egg[/mention] great advice. Until I read the resources in this group I used to get bogged down in responding to hateful comments rather than starting my own comment. Which was probably inadvertantly boosting the hateful stuff. It's also been good to know that when I can't find more positive words myself, that I can help by boosting other positive comments.

It's also been mindblowing reading up about the tactics hate groups use - for example that 12 individuals with hundreds of accounts are responsible for over 90% of antivax content on SM. Mind. Blown.


Between this and the March4Justice stuff it feels like the real "quiet australians" are finding their voices

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