Hehe, btw, I'm one of the cranky Linux users slowly growing old...

I can tell you this isn't really an echo chamber for people like me. I'd say the majority of people here are more "normal" people. My take on things often gets opposed. And it feels quite different to the old school places where Linux users and admins mingle. Often times the mob mentality (if there is underneath a post) is against me. A Linux forum feels very different. Especially the way they talk to each other. Here, people argue about opinions, while the "proper" nerds discuss technical facts and then something is objectively right or wrong (or solves something). Which I don't see happening here that often. So I'd say it's not it.

You're right. Everything is kind of political. And arguing about politic sometimes is stupid and tiresome. And I also like diversity of perspectives and opinions. I wouldn't need to talk to other people if I wasn't interested to hear what they got to say...

(And the downvoting here is just silly. I also think it's way more pronounced than on Reddit. I regularly see urban legends getting upvoted. While nuanced and longer perspectives get punished. And being human surely includes ignorance. It just doesn't help anything once it gets part of the dynamics.)