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New discussion post coming soon re: Changes to Hexbear communities. mod statement in comment

Hello users of Hexbear, we wanted to inform you that we are going to be locking the_dunk_tank and dredge_tank communities. We have created two new communities /c/gossip and /c/counterpropaganda to serve a similar but clearly distinct purpose than the dunk/dredge tanks.

Not only is the dunk tank a term that has racist origins, but also many posts there were almost no effort and often times requiring later edits to show how they weren't reactionary, not useful with regard to developing rhetoric and furthering dialectical analysis of that which we dunk upon.

To that end, we wish posts of reactionaries to be placed in !counterpropaganda@hexbear.net along with an accompanying explanation (as simple or complex as desired) with the intent of countering the reactionary propaganda in the post body, as of now comments are not subject to the same rhetorical rigor rule.

For the posts that are not "low-hanging fruit' of notable people we ask that you use !gossip@hexbear.net .

These changes are mainly part of a continued effort to remove the racist and misogynistic elements from our community and grow.

Any moderators of the dunk tank or dredge tank that want to be a mod in the new communities let me know.

Any users with questions or comments please use this post, this change was made at the behest of the entire Hexbear mod and admin team. We will be looking for more moderators in an organized volunteer drive shortly, if you wish to submit an application you may send it to me via hexbear or matrix direct messages.

Use this post as a place for discussion to these changes. We will keep things as they are for 2 weeks and then reflect on the feedback, including this post: https://hexbear.net/post/3858346

As a personal addendum I am sorry if the closing of the tanks these changes removes a beloved space on the site and if you want to suggest a community to replace them you may do so at !commrequest@hexbear.net or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

Sitewide or community changes come from proposals put forth from the mod team, discussed, and voted on by the mod team.

Any users wanting to suggest a community to replace the tanks, may do so at !commrequest@hexbear.net current discussion is here https://hexbear.net/post/3858346 or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

You may also consider using !shitreactionariessay@lemmygrad.ml as a substitute for dunk/dredge tank posts as well

The mod statement can be found here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5613033

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1.3K comments

  • Hmm

    I don't think dunk tank's purpose can be changed. People want to post shit they dislike to shit all over it and also to get other people to shit all over it and also occasionally to click through and shit all over the other place too.

    That's kinda the point. It's weaponising anger as entertainment to generate counter-argument that people don't often see.

    If !counterpropaganda is to replace it what is to be the culture of this space if not simply exactly the same culture? If it's to be exactly the same culture then people would have probably liked to get input on what the new name should be as they feel it should adequately reflect that culture. If it's not going to be the same culture, the audience for it is going to be different, because it will not scratch the same itch.

    !gossip is again not really telling people what kind of culture the space is intended to have. If it's supposed to 1:1 be dredge tank's culture then the name isn't reflecting that.

    In short: You can't change the name of a community with a specific culture without the new name also reflecting that culture. And also you can't change the entire purpose of a community and expect the same audience to like it, they're likely to just go elsewhere for the same fix they used to get.

    Personally: Not against name change or new communities. Not sure about completely closing a popular existing community without feedback and can't really tell if the two new ones are supposed to be 1:1 replacements or not due to the name choices suggesting they're supposed to have entirely different cultures.

    I probably would have suggested something riffing off "roasting" instead.

1270 comments