I don't think QTs (or lack thereof) are the reason Mastodon feels more civil than Twitter. I think it mostly comes down to *not* having an engagement-driven algorithm that rewards spectacle.
@acjay the sane people self selected to move resulting in less harassment.
@chaos I don't think that's true. There are plenty of abusive people on the Fediverse. Look at poa.st, for example.
I think it's unlikely that Mastodon users have self-selected to only include civil people and abusive people, but not sensationalists.
One thing I've noticed about social dynamics is that most people conform to a large extent to the culture and norms of whatever it is they join. In offline organizations, this is dominated by behavioral norms. But on tech platforms, the platform itself shapes the culture. "The medium is the message" and all.
@acjay those people on poa.st were already here and are probably on blocked instances. If you follow many people that participated in the twittermigration, they will be less aggressive than the trolls that did not make the jump. I don't disagree with your second point, just saying it's not only about the platform because any platform can be overrun by idiots.