Badabinski

I used to have this problem all the time, I think it’s pretty normal. I did many years of therapy, and part of what I got out of that was an understanding of how people deal with pain and anger. The best way to change someone’s mind is to try to empathize with their position and show your understanding. Once you share context with them, you can gently explain why you feel the way you do. Sometimes, you do this and find that the other person’s point of view is a more accurate reflection of your values and you change your mind instead.

Don’t do this with bad faith actors though. just block them.

I used to have this problem all the time, I think it’s pretty normal. I did many years of therapy, and part of what I got out of that was an understanding of how people deal with pain and anger. The best way to change someone’s mind is to try to empathize with their position and show your understanding. Once you share context with them, you can gently explain why you feel the way you do. Sometimes, you do this and find that the other person’s point of view is a more accurate reflection of your values and you change your mind instead.

Don’t do this with bad faith actors though. just block them.

I’ll throw in “folks” as another gender neutral option. I say “you folks” all the time, especially in professional contexts. I’m not from the South, but I have family there so y’all is a part of my vocabulary. I use it in more informal situations pretty commonly.

As others have said, email is a great way to get the point across without getting into nerd shit. I just say something like this: “You know how you can have an email account with Microsoft and can send messages to an email account at Google? Lemmy is that, but instead of sending and receiving emails, you’re looking at, voting on, and leaving comments on posts like you would on Reddit.”

I have had a 100% success rate with this analogy when the person I’m talking to knows what Reddit is. If they don’t know, then I don’t really bother explaining it since it’s likely outside of their interests. I’m not out proselytizing for the Fediverse, but it comes up on occasion (especially when I share a links to shitposts).