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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BookTenTiger" data-source="post: 8704157" data-attributes="member: 6685541">I'm very careful about what online (and in-person) communities I participate in. When I see a culture of toxic behavior, I just leave or don't read. Otherwise I find that it has a strong negative influence on my mental health. I'll invest way too much emotional energy in the opinions of others.This conversation reminds me of a recent story on This American Life. A woman was feeling bored, so decided to pull a silly little prank. She made a "cat found" poster, but instead of a picture of a cat she put on a picture of an opossum. On the poster she said she had found this cat, and to call her if you were the owner.She got a lot of calls, which really surprised her. Overall, 90% of the calls were actually people trying to help her out- mostly people (kindly) telling her that she was mistaken, and worried that the possum could hurt her. 5% of the calls were people adding to the joke, claiming that the possum was their cat. And 5% of the calls were jerks, telling her she was stupid for thinking the opossum was the cat.She said that the experience actually really reaffirmed her belief in humanity. It showed, to her, that 9/10 people are basically good. You have your jerks out there, but most people aren't them.When I read toxic posts in my communities, I try to remind myself that it's a representative of a minority, not the majority.</blockquote>