I figured since their admin has asked them to stop participating over here it may be worthwhile to get a new discussion going that is primarily blahaj. I'm almost certain they'll still be upvoting so keep that in mind as that may skew things. Worthwhile to check in from instances that have already defederated them. The previous thread definitely left a bad taste in my mouth but what do y'all think?
Old thread can be found here
EDIT: With regards to the post on new federation guidelines here: https://hexbear.net/post/352119
The current top comment is:
Every instance that has talked shit and got dogpiled should be thanking us for breathing some life into their dead and boring ass websites.
I really do not think it's fair to go after Ada about this. I think this is such a weird hill to die on.
If you say so, but I just feel like this reflects on a broader issue I've noticed of the admins here being overly concerned with civility or respectability, and it just felt very avoidable.
Edit: And besides, my life is nothing if not a series of weird hills to die on. I think I've always had a problem with refusing to let things go, which can be both a strength and a weakness.
I for one do not mind admins that are concerned with civility or respectability. Forums should be about talking to people and I will always prefer to talk to people with civility and respect.
This comment has been bothering me for the past two hours. I just don't know how to respond to this perspective which clearly comes from a very different lived experience. Assuming you were a Redditor before, which types of subreddits did you spend time on? I spent most of my time in the past few years on TGCJ, which could be described as the most "anomalous" of the major trans subreddits. I see a lot of the TGCJ spirit in Hexbear, in how anti-respectability-politics and anti-tone-policing it is, and this is probably why I'm so invested in defending Hexbear even as a non-member.
Because I have moderated communities that live and die by the quality of their discussion and I understand that once you slip too far, you will not come back. Rabid circlejerky instances that promote dogpiling do not facilitate discussion and as a whole are bad for the health of the threadiverse. If people can't have a reasonable discussion here they will simply leave. That does not mean that I think hexbear should not exist, but they should probably be contained to their own corner of the broader threadiverse.
If only there was a way to be a user of both and browse them as one feed, this whole discussion wouldn't be nearly as consequential.
TGCJ is fine, but TGCJ culture stays in TGCJ spaces because outside of TGCJ, it's just transphobia. I get that that place is great for people, and I respect its right to exist and have no problem with the people in it, but I don't want to be confronted with TGCJ memes every time I log into my safe space.
That's kinda how I feel about Hexbear's behavior so far. My understanding is that Hexbear has a very supportive culture, and that their "dunking" happens in the context of being supportive of their own? But that's not what we see out here. Out here it just seems like they're toxic and hostile, and even as someone who ostensibly should feel left unity with them I just feel alienated.
Maybe it's my fault for not being familiar enough with their meme culture. But at the same time, they should be making more of an effort to be aware of what space they're in and the fact that they're in community now, and not everywhere has the same norms.
That said, I still am glad we're not defederating. The admin team over there seems to be making headway, and I think we should let them try to improve before we cut them off preemptively. My hope is that the culture shock will pass with time.
Couldn't have said it better myself. That's why I added rules for CW's, post titles, and the /j tone indicator to Blåhaj Lemmy's TGCJ, after seeing someone post something absolutely vile that ended up showing up in non-members' feeds.
not from blahaj, but considering your concerns about federating with illegal content i feel like its important to note that calling for violence against or deaths of people or groups of people is illegal in large parts of the world, especially those that federation users will be from
I can't find any laws that would apply in Norway's or Minnesota's criminal codes. The only laws there that I can find concern threats against specific people and threats to commit terrorist acts. People saying "death to Lorem-Ipsumland" is most likely just going to be taken as free speech.
When I'm referring to "illegal content" I'm honestly specifically thinking of websites used in the proliferation of drugs, snuff, and sexual abuse material (incl. drawings thereof), and websites used to plan real-world criminal acts. It's also illegal to share memes based on anime fanart due to copyright infringement, but you don't really see anyone worrying about that, do you?
im sure that theres more uproar over hexbear for political reasons, but i feel like there are other valid reasons for copyright issues not causing as much concern as perceived death threats or calls to violence
Honestly, if you ask me, it's politics all the way down.
if youre unable or unwilling to accept that someone might feel more strongly about perceived death threats and calls for violence than copyright law for non political reasons, im not sure what to tell you
What would you consider to be "non-political"? You're under no obligation to respond, and if you don't want me to respond again, you can say so.
being generally opposed to death threats or calls to violence on a website you use, regardless of the political affiliations of the people making them, and regardless of the political affiliations of the people they're made towards
i interpreted your comment as believing that the above is not actually happening, and that any issues with death threats are actually entirely because of who is (perceived to be) threatened and who is (perceived to be) threatening them, and i feel like that is unfair
i understand how this might be a misinterpretation, for instance because you consider 'being against death threats or calls to violence' to inherently be a political ideal
Generally opposed for what reason? Is it maybe a moral judgment, and if so, where did you get your morals from? Is it more that it just makes you feel uncomfortable, and if so why does it make you feel that way? If it's something else, then what is it and why? Do you think that there may have been a difference of experience that led one community to find calls to violence to be acceptable, while your community finds that type of behavior to be completely reprehensible? What sort of difference of experience might that be? Have you ever thought to look into that?
These are the questions that I want you to seriously reflect on. Again, you have no obligation to respond, you can even dismiss this whole comment and say that these are all loaded questions, and tell me to stop replying if I'm being annoying and you've had enough. All of that is completely fair.
Sorry, I didn't see that you edited this. Yes, that would be unfair.