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submitted 4 days ago by ada to c/main

This post is "FYI only" for blahaj lemmy members. It is not a debate, and is not intended for non blahaj lemmy users to weigh in and offer opinions.

I recently received reports of a feddit.uk user espousing transphobia. Specifically, this was a feddit.uk user refusing to use the word cis, repeating the "adult human female" dog whistle, and claiming that trans women are not women. I approached a member of the feddit.uk admin team and raised my concerns and sought clarification of their stance on posts like this, where the transphobia is mostly dogwhistles, and "civil disagreement" on the validity of trans folk.

I was told by the feddit.uk admin that their preferred response is this kind of transphobia is to "sort it out through discussion and voting". However, the comments in question are currently more upvoted than downvoted, and little "sorting out" has occurred. The posts remain in place.

At this point, the admin stopped responding to my messages despite being active elsewhere on lemmy. When it became clear they were ignoring my messages and had no intention of removing the posts in question, I made the decision to defederate the instance.

I know some folk agree with the feddit.uk admins approach of pushback through discussion and voting, but this instance is not designed to be that kind of space. Blahaj lemmy is meant to be a place where we can avoid the rampant transphobia universally visible on nearly every other social media platform, and where we can exist without needing to debate our right to do so.

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[-] Kimiko 3 points 1 day ago

These are tough calls to make. On the one hand I applaud the step taken to protect the community hosted by this instance, on the other I also find that simply cuting ties and conversation only furthers the divide.

Sure we should not have to defend the validity of our existence, and also realise that most hate leaves little place for heathy discussions. But in avoiding their echo chambers I find we quiet ours too, we renounce our visibility for our comfort and theirs.

I guess I wish there were other ways to warn users about potentially triggering instances rather than outright defederating, but I do understand your main motives.

[-] ada 4 points 1 day ago

You are absolutely welcome to maintain an account on another instance and here if you want to have the option of having those discussions. And I don't mean that in a "Well, there's the door" way. What I'm trying to say is that if you don't want to have the types of conversations you're talking about, it's currently very hard to find spaces that make that possible. That's why lbz exists in the form it does. However, I completely understand that some people do want that opportunity. And if that's you, you're welcome to maintain multiple accounts. You'll always have a space here, but you can also use instances that give you access to less protective spaces.

[-] yuri@pawb.social 16 points 2 days ago

ada continues to be the realest MVP

[-] FirstMajesticComet 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Good riddance, fuck TERF island. If communities don't like this change they can move to an instance that isn't filled with and supported by transphobes.

[-] ghen@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 days ago

Calm discussion doesn't work, ridicule them and deplatform them.

They've only grown stronger because the neolibs want calm discussion between The people who want to exist and the bigots who hate them for existing.

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

Calm discussion doesn’t work, ridicule them and deplatform them.

They've tried calm discussion, it's confirmed their position, so (while this decision doesn't really affect me) I'd be satisfied that Ada's not jumping to conclusions. It doesn't matter how diplomatic or polite they are, they're on their way to becoming a Nazi bar.

For those who weren't here before the reddit API exodus last year, Lemmy used to have a sizable US Free Speech instance, Wolfballs, whose owner was more the anti-vax flavor than the bigoted kind and sincerely believed in the Libertarian/liberalist marketplace of ideas. Perhaps out of desperation for growing the platform (Lemmy was in the hundreds of users at that point and that owner was contributing software improvements), it took a while before the bans turned to full defederations. Their admin was diplomatic, they were polite, I believe they were sincere, their instance rules were neutral and open to everyone, and then after a couple of years they shut down their own instance when they realized the literal white supremacist neo-nazis they were platforming, who had scared anyone sane away, weren't just doing a bit to troll the libs and actually did believe they ridiculous junk they spouted about shapeshifters and non-aryan marriages.

When someone creates a permissive instances which platforms bigotry, the people other instances reject will tend to flow there, whether the admin agrees with them or not.


They’ve only grown stronger because the neolibs want calm discussion between The people who want to exist and the bigots who hate them for existing.

Ah, the classic both-sides false equivalence - I've seen a few rare losers playing the "banning someone for their political choices and actions is the same as oppressing someone for having a body I don't like!", and it's mindboggling that certain instances tolerate their fake-neutral chavanism.

[-] kittenzrulz123 13 points 2 days ago

Thanks ADA and I appreciate all the work that you've done. This is why I love Blahaj Lemmy, I dont want to deal with that nonsense.

[-] fadingembers 13 points 2 days ago

Thank you Ada. I really appreciate having a safe space like this.

[-] CapriciousDay@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago

Damn. I don't want to engage with them either now. Are there any better UK instances? I'm getting sick and tired of the Starmer apologetics and general meltery on there anyway.

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[-] Draconic_NEO 37 points 3 days ago

If instances aren't willing to moderate themselves when it comes to transphobia they should get the boot. I hope more instances defederate feddit.uk over this. Might make them change course and rethink if they should maybe moderate better.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 3 days ago

Transphobia has no place on anything I use. I may not be one of the folks on your instance, but I still appreciate the good work.

[-] UpperBroccoli 7 points 2 days ago

This is the way.

[-] ToastedPlanet 4 points 2 days ago

Thank you Ada!

[-] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 215 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Obviously I'm not on blahaj, but I think the decision is pretty on point for the goals of blahaj.

It also makes me disappointed in feddit.uk. "Leave it to discussion/votes" is bullshit and just support for the behavior.

Edit: The admin responded elsewhere with "we want to make sure we comply with the law".

My comment remains unchanged. Allowing this is support. Fuck your bullshit law. You're explicitly supporting this bullshit by your inaction.

[-] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 42 points 3 days ago

"we want to make sure we comply with the law"

on here?

...Christ, why? lmao

They must think they're the main character of lemmy or someshit.

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[-] cupcakezealot 53 points 3 days ago

hard mode: uk stop being transphobic for two seconds.

[-] obsidianfoxxy7870 28 points 3 days ago

Thank you for taking real direct action on issues like this. It keeps our community safe.

[-] druellambass@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

Oh man, that's truly disheartening to see, especially how I noticed a lot more people that are being just unnecessarily mean 😟

Thank you for taking the appropriate steps to deal with this 😄

[-] anzo@programming.dev 41 points 3 days ago

Terf island strikes again!

[-] jac 86 points 3 days ago

As a denizen of terf island myself, all I can say is; fucking good! Our enemies hide behind statements like "just asking questions", but there's no room for debate when it comes to people's rights and look where that thinking has gotten us.

The time for debate is over. I want my rights back.

[-] v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 days ago

slay 💜💅🏻

[-] OctaviaMeowzly 36 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Ada trying not to slay challenge (Impossible)

[-] ploot 37 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I appreciate this move. The nice thing about the Fediverse is that admins can take a step like this to protect the integrity of this instance, and users can still engage with that stuff if they create an account on another instance. I'll continue to argue with bigots elsewhere but I'm grateful for how the admins curate Blahaj Lemmy.

It's a shame how the UK seems to be heading backwards on human rights, and shameful how the UK government has decided to throw in with the bigots and embolden them.

[-] RandomVideos@programming.dev 23 points 3 days ago

How did a transphobic comic get positive votes on lemmy?

[-] will_steal_your_username 31 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Unfortunately some kinds of transphobia gets upvoted now and then because cis people don't always understand what we're going through and what is hurtful or oppressive. Some people just have this stance that others should take things even if they have no understanding of what it's like to actually be the victim of systemic/societal discrimination.

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

lemmy

It's definitely not one homogenous platform, especially when some instances will block the more outspoken political instances who would bombard such posts.

[-] muse 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Thank you Ada and mods. It's too easy to manipulate discussion and voting, which is why safe spaces were created.

[-] SharkWeek 71 points 3 days ago

Blahaj user and former Brit here ... well done Ada for consistency and transparency regarding this.

The whole "let it play out" attitude really says it all, it shows cowardice and a lack of leadership ... kind of like the current prime minister.

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this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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