I think my general thought process with interacting with other people online is like yeah you have really cool art. You have really cool writing. You’re really good at that thing you’re posting about, but are you nice?
Are you non-judgemental? If someone was able to show you a creative project or a photo of their room, would you have nothing negative or unsolicited advice to give?
Are you polite to people online because its primarily good for your reputation on your username, or is it something you do automatically? When you make a social mistake, do you first think of how it reflects back on you in the eyes of others? Or how the other person feels in their shoes? Are you more concerned about your reputation or the sense of community?
Do you respond nicely to commenters who ‘just don’t get’ the project you’re working on? Even if they are a little rude or misguided? This is not to say don’t block anyone ever, do that too! But is being nice with an attempt at understanding your first course of action? Do you practice having good faith when you interact with a conflict online?
Can you compliment someone without comparing them to someone else, like another creator? Maybe someone with an art style or hc you don’t vibe with. Are you able to lift up your fellow creatives without creating a habit of using others as a stepping ladder, even if you don’t like them. Do you consider your friend’s feelings when you put them in that situation?
Do you respect the people that obsess over the tv show/game/ship/whatever that you cannot stand even if its overrated? What about things that are unpopular? Do you group people together by a single shared interest/disinterest and carry a preconceived opinion of them based on that? Do you attribute the value of an idea by its prominence, and (even if unknowingly) assign negative or positive connection to it and the people that like it? (<This reflection does not apply to harmful things with real world consequences, such as HP.)
If you’re someone who consumes more than they create, do you practice boundaries? Do you check for consent before sending a stranger a suggestive/nsfw message even if they are creator who makes adult content? Do you remember that creators are people with lives outside of content, and cannot pump out content continuously? Nor will they forever stay creating the same things you want to see?
If you recognize some not-so-nice behaviors, do you know that you can break bad habits, or are you comfortable with them considering they’ve become social norm of internet and influencer culture? Do you remember that people interacting with you are real people and not NPCS?
It’s okay to say that you’ve had trouble with that. Short, near minuscule interactions with hundreds, thousands of people every day on the world wide web such as likes, reblogs, ect have trained our brains into seeing usernames as texts on a screen in our notifications and not registering as a human interaction, and about as common as ads are nowadays.
But did you know that you can rewire your brain away from that? Aren’t you tired of going ape shit? Don’t you just want to be nice?