Cruelty online is mostly a matter of structure. The large platforms turn every exchange into a one shot game between strangers, and in a one shot game defection pays. Cooperation only becomes rational when the game repeats, because once you expect to meet the same people again, your reputation starts behaving like capital.
I suspect that's the quiet reason conversation feels different here. Nobody has to enforce good manners on a network where people expect to see each other tomorrow. They grow there on their own.
