I’ve been with hexbear since the days of r/chapotraphouse so I’ve seen the site at its best and worst.

The main issue imo is that hexbear has a very “vibe-based” culture. What is correct in any given post is less a question of truth and more a question of what the first few commenters opinions on the matter were. You can be flamed for opinions in one thread but then have those opinions widely accepted a week later because the vibe was different that day. Hexbear is far too focused on dunking libs that discussion becomes a way to blow off steam rather than actually understand something.

They’re still better imo than most of lemmy though. At least I don’t have to re-defend my first principles of “nazis bad” every post. But sometimes you do get flamed for reasonable opinions because the post had different vibes. You go to hexbear because you want to talk about politics but you stay because you find it cozy. Anyone who cares about the politics surrounding Hexbear is going to have a bad time.