I'm stepping down as a moderator after recent events - selfcrit

Hey everybody!

The site has been on fire for a few days now in the aftermath of the dunk/dredge changes. While I was not deeply involved in the process of that decision, I will admit that I was one of the moderators that signed off on that decision in the end, with my belief, or hope, being that it would foster a healthier site culture. I was ultimately neutral on whether a third comm alongside c/gossip and c/counterpropaganda should be created, as I wanted to see how the situation would develop and whether it would be ultimately necessary. This was not just my own isolated belief - other moderators who pay closer attention to the broader site culture than I do (as I stay in the news mega 95% of the time) were adamant that these changes be made, as they have repeatedly said that comrades from certain minority groups have been turned off from joining or staying on the site due to the site culture. I am being purposefully vague about this in order to maintain their anonymity and prevent any brigading.

I regret several of the actions that took place after I posted my approval for the idea.

Firstly, and most obviously, there should have been some kind of democratic input. Even merely asking the community what they thought of the issue and whether there were other potential avenues to fixing the problems should have been what happened, rather than immediately jumping to locking down two highly popular comms and then making a post about whether you all think it's a good idea. I should have spoke up about this prior to it going out. Carcosa saying that the decision was not merely an admin decree is entirely true, there was moderator input.

Secondly, we should have more closely vetted and better communicated the statements made, both those made by us through Carcosa, and also my own. I wrote a comment in the original announcement post that sought to explain the situation, and a user brought up my wording around the use of "gossip" as a comm name. I apologize, as I depicted the arguments as to why it was chosen (and again, I did not suggest "gossip" originally) as if I thought that gossip was a) feminine and b) therefore frivolous. I did not intend to portray it this way and don't believe that at all - in fact, users in the mod chat have pointed out that "gossip", far from being frivolous, can be a way for people dismissed by systems of power to protect each other.

Thirdly, the whole business with the bans and tempbans was entirely unnecessary in 99% of cases and was immature and vindictive, and just spread further confusion in an already confusing time. And Alaskaball banning themself didn't really help. As a moderator and not an admin, I was not part of the decision for this part at all, but I still feel like addressing it.

For those who may be worried, I can confirm that the Hexbear moderator chat is not a place dominated by a clique of hostile authoritarian mods or anything like that. It is made up of largely LGBTQIA+ people who want to make the site a better place. I do hope that improvements can be made to the process to further formalize it and entrench more democratic decision-making, but it is also true that Hexbear is a relatively small online forum and that the moderators are volunteers, and so it can be difficult to properly coordinate things in a timely manner. Things sometimes get rushed through, unfortunately.

I get that there is considerable frustration about the lack of real specifics of what we were even complaining about and that many people just want a straight answer, but as I said before, I will maintain vagueness on this point because their anonymity is not mine to take away and I greatly respect them. I hope there is more transparency on the whole issue from this point onwards, but I cannot be the one to grant it.

I do not plan to leave the site. I will - if the admins and moderators allow it - keep posting the news megathreads and generally being a presence on here.

Semper post,

72T

(as of posting this, I am going to sleep, so I won't be around to respond for a while)

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63 comments

I am deeply opposed to this and have no idea why you're all behaving this way.
A mistake happened. It's relatively minor. It doesn't deserve walls of text being written about it, let alone resignations.
A mountain has been made out of a slop molehill. A simple "Yeah this was a mistake. We're replacing the comm and opening it up to new names, but will instead implement a new rule to mitigate inter-lemmy federated drama." would have sufficed.
This site needs to learn de-escalation. You throw a small cup of water on a paper fire. Huge walls of text and resignations and the like are the equivalent of throwing a log on it. If the team doesn't overreact to a mistake or take something too emotionally then communities don't either.
Everyone needs to chill the fuck out. None of this is that important. We're cool 72T.
- Also like the mods that people are mad at most aren't even the ones resigning or apologizing lol. It doesn't really help anything in the end. All it is doing is purging people who care, in a positive way, more.
- Couldn’t agree more tbh. The self crit is great but it’s also disproportionate to jump straight to resignations. Sticking around and committing to doing better next time is far more valuable to the community.
  
  What even do they need to selfcrit for? Making a comm rename people didn't like? Just say "whoops, okay people didn't like that. nevermind." and move on.
- Awoo for admin! (unless you have better shit to do)
  
  As an admin I'm pretty sure I'd get arrested in the UK for some of the things the site allows in comments, so even if I had the time to do it (I don't) I absolutely don't think it's a good idea for my personal safety.
  
  not getting arrested sounds like something better to do
- It's really fucking unpleasant to see thousands of comments calling you horrible. I think that people who haven't been on the accused side of that probably don't realise how that feels.
  
  It's really fucking unpleasant to see thousands of comments calling you horrible.
  I worked as a community manager in videogames.
  
  Oof
- Thanks, as far as I can tell everything escalated and just got out of hand. I still understand there might be part of these struggle sessions that I missed, but it really seems like people can't take disagreement without thinking that it is an existential fight.
  
  This is the silliest struggle session in hexbear history.
  Sillier than the outdoor cats one.
  It's over a comm closure that is getting basically reversed anyway. That's it. That's all. Everything else has spawned out of the first primary issue and needs to be set aside until after the first issue, which is really minor by itself.
  
  Geez, well, despite everything else, I like this site and the connections I made here, so sic sempre hexus ursine. May we find some ability to come together and move on.
  
  It'll blow over when it stops getting fed.
  
  I have been so confused, I worked one (1) extra shift this weekend and I missed everything.
  I certainly don't want to see the people earnest about self crit resigning - the whole point is you want people willing to learn from their mistakes in power because nobody is right all the time.
- I would like to second this comment. JFC this is just a website even if it serves a useful purpose. Chill for the love of god.
- I missed the actual struggle session but I agree with everything you've said, seems like a minor mistake at most, it would be a pointless blow to the community to lose good admins over this
- Agreed. Maybe it's just because I'm probably older than a number of users here, but the number of times that things spiral here over minor bullshit is just absurd at this point. It feels like a bunch of angsty teenagers looking for someone to yell at.
- I see why the claim was too much white cis-het toxic energy— just look at how the 95% white site is responding. Anger, contempt, and DEMANDS.. you would think the admins took someone hostage. Energy that could go into something actually useful
- Literally all we asked for in the first thread was this and things just got worse from there

63 comments