That’s true and I can definitely see the appeal. Sometines it’s just nice to chill with like-minded people and get away from the toxicity of the internet.
It’s a double-edged sword in my experience, though. My local subreddit has been an echo chamber for years now. Politics and complaints. You’ll seldom see a thread where both of those aren’t present. Dissent is also discouraged by the majority through actions (downvotes) and replies. It got so bad i stopped going there for more than a year before the reddit API shitshow. I don’t want to see every single post containing a comment about how our country is a shithole with no hope and it’s better to move to literally any other country. Imagine you’re stuck in a community filled with the “other side”. It’s that bad (at least when I was there).
If Beehaw can maintain a good and positive community then there may not be an issue. Unfortunately, we’re on lemmy and it’s quite easy for bad actors to infiltrate a community unless everyone is vigilant. I hate bigots and discrimination probably as much as you, but I have to admit an echo chamber of the other (extreme) side of the spectrum doesn’t really appeal to me, either. Extremes really aren’t for me. A middle ground, like you said, sounds nice.
Hopefully Beehaw can maintain its standard and stay in the middle. I think that would be my biggest concern if I were a beehaw user. Or even a lemmy user.
The app has always been trash. Idk how people can take using it for long periods of time. When I went back for a bit (during r/place), the deterioration of content was obvious. Don’t take my word for it - even redditors know it’s getting worse. All they have now is the amount of users.