For me its been a million times better than Mastodon which brigaded me off the platform for merely advocating for the freedom to follow people from a banned instance the admin didnt like in your own timeline. Creates a culture of hate if that is effective, and bluesky turned very much the same way from what I heard. Here people who can't tolerate other opinions usually don't want to join as they'd be forced to see them. As a result everyone has been super chill. I think the concept that others can send you money helps to, if people are being assholes nobody wants to interact and that isn't as rewarding as being friendly.