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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards @lemmy.dbzer0.com
Universal Monk @lemmy.dbzer0.com

Ban Reason: Universal Monk

So I started a piefed account, mostly for my writing so that dbzer0 (and Lemmy) wouldn’t have to put up with all my weird fiction stories all the time. Plus, I wanted to check out the biggest Piefed space, piefed.social, because I'm excited about some of the new concepts they are bringing to the table.

I created a writing community, a Socialist community, and a Green Party community there today.

Nothing outrageous or controversial. I posted one news article in each of the Socialist and Green Party communities, and a couple to my writing comm.

The Socialist and Writing communities were local only, so they wouldn’t even show up in the larger Fediverse. I only posted in my own communities. No controversy intended, none created.

I just got banned, almost immediately after starting the communities. The reason in the mod log says: "Universal Monk".

The admin, @rimu@piefed.social, hasn't replied to my DM asking why (yet). I guess being me is reason enough. I feel so famous! Or maybe infamous?

I'm still a libertarian socialist tho! Piefed.social and Lemmy ain't gonna change my mind.

Oh, I already know how the votes (down) here are gonna go! But doing my part in adding content to Lemmy anyway; being the change I wanna see. No regrets! :)

EDIT: I'm posting this here, and I've repeated it in this thread. Just in case piefed.social banned me on the assumption that I’m “conservative” because I’ve posted links to conservative news articles… then, by that same logic, shouldn’t I also be considered socialist and anarchist because I post so much socialist and anarchist content? I actually post way more socialist content than anything else. And there is nothing in my fiction writing that is conservative at all. My entire post history is public, it doesn't take much effort to see that I post practically anything I find interesting.

49 comments

  • I can't say I generally agree with you a whole lot as i recall; but you seem a nice enough person and you're an active poster, which like, forums need to stay alive!

    Certainly a ridiculous ban reason, you're hardly the most controversial poster out there, but yeah it must feel pretty wild to be internet infamous!

    • but yeah it must feel pretty wild to be internet infamous!

      It is kinda weird. I tried to introduce my gf to Lemmy (she hated it), but as I was showing her around, she did a search for "Universal Monk" in the search bar. Obviously lots of results cuz lots of people hatin' on me. The first thing she reads is a thread called, 'I'm calling for the Fediverse to ban Universal Monk.' Which is basically a post with over 300 comments of people saying the most ridiculous shit about me.

      So she reads that and a bunch of other comments about me, and sees all my bans. She turns to me and says, "What the fuck?! You're the most boring guy in the world. How is this possible?" lmao

  • Maybe I'm thinking of another user but don't you have many universalmonk accounts across many Lemmy instances? Is it possible another of your accounts was already banned? If that's the case then perhaps it could be seen as ban evasion if you post from another account.

    • Banned accounts

      Additional context: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/49158164/20132454

      • And I still don’t see what all the controversy is about. I post just about anything I read that I find interesting. Funny how everyone overlooks the hundreds of posts I’ve made about science, socialism, anarchism, third parties, college, education, math, and more. I’ve started conservative communities, mixed-politics communities, socialist communities, anarchist communities, death cult communities, writing communities—you name it. My other main account is @UniversalMonk@sh.itjust.works.

        Now, using the logic a lot of people on Lemmy seem to apply: if Universal Monk is “conservative” just because I've posted links to conservative articles... then, by that same logic, shouldn’t I also be considered socialist and anarchist because I post so much socialist and anarchist content?

        Also, if I were seriously trying to "ban evade," would I really use my well-known and widely disliked username? Obviously not. I usually get banned right away anyway, as my history shows.

        Posting links to news articles from across the political spectrum is not a good enough reason for the chaos my name seems to cause.

        I’d love to see someone make a pie chart showing the ratio of my socialist, anarchist, and libertarian posts versus anything remotely conservative. You know why that’s hard? Because I’ve posted so much, and it covers so many topics, because I’m a human being with nuance.

        Anyone who actually looks at my posting history would see that I lean libertarian-socialist, just like I’ve always said. The real issue is that Lemmy doesn’t like that I’ve never supported the two-party system. Not before the election or now. I never have, and I never will. I still stand by what I’ve said: Trump getting elected was the Democrats’ fault. They dropped the ball, and they deserved to lose. That’s been my view from the very beginning, and it hasn’t changed.

        And if anyone has a problem with me posting a lot, or having more than one account on lemmy, then I invite them to check out:

        @Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com

        @Blaze@sopuli.xyz

        @Blaze@lemmy.zip

        @Blaze@feddit.org

        @Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com

        @Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de

        I regret nothing and I won't change my posting habits. Thanks, friend!

    • Most usually would usually note that with a generic "ban evasion," which is often times incorrect as well, but that wasn't used in this case. And would have taken the same amount of time to type as "Universal Monk."

      I'm working on transferring all my fiction writing to piefed, and since piefed.social doesn't like me, I've started putting my writing on Feddit.online now. The admin there, @Jerry@feddit.online is awesome! I talked to him about me being there to make sure it was ok. He's been super cool about everything. Great piefed instance and great admin. So at the end of the day, I'm fine with his piefed being the only piefed instance I'm on.

      I just wish there were a way to transfer all my writing to my community on there without having to repost them, and bore Lemmy with seeing my stuff be posted all over again. :/

  • I honestly don't know what you've done to piss the libs off quite that much. Not even some of the hardcore tankies get so instabanned.

    • Right?! They don't even give a real reason now. Just putting "Universal Monk" as the ban reason feels so lazy to me. And honestly, back before the election—when I was supposedly so controversial—nothing I said or posted even came close to the shit I see people saying on Lemmy now.

      If anyone goes back and looks at my posts, where I supposedly caused all that "trouble," it’s laughable compared to the hardcore stuff people say today. Like people were legit pissed that I liked the Green Party and then the Socialist party. People ended up writing programs to track me, asking for investigations into me (still happens, someone just asked a guy to write a Lemmy program to investigate me a few days ago), noting times I posted, telling me that I would die on the war front in Russia, saying that I was trying trying to destroy Lemmy, etc.

      And look at Lemmy now, baby! lol

    • UM used to post conservative articles in the past

      Allegedly, it was to "post political posts of all angles to that sub, including conservative articles", but some people interpreted this as trolling/sea lioning

      • Then why is he on an anarchist instance, supporting the socialist parties and hating Trump?

      • I also posted socialist anarchist content in the past. And to copypasta what I said elsewhere in this thread: Using the logic a lot of people on Lemmy seem to apply: if I'm “conservative” just because I’ve posted links to conservative articles… then, by that same logic, shouldn’t I also be considered socialist and anarchist because I post so much socialist and anarchist content?

        Not to mention I have posted way more socialist/anarchist content than links to conservative news articles.

        The truth is, I'm not a fascist; I'm a narcissist. If I read something and think it's interesting, I rush to Lemmy and post it, no matter the quality. :)

    • Oh, and I'm sorry in advance for the messages you're probably about to get once people notice I'm still on your instance. Maybe they've calmed down by now though.

    • He called out that supporting genocide is a bad position to claim the moral ground on. That's why the turbolibs hate him.

  • Well, I gotta point at PTB on this one, despite generally being okay with preemptive bans.

    I'm not saying that an admin shouldn't be able to do this; they take the risks and hassles of making the fediverse function, so they get some leeway before PTB can be fully applied.

    But there is still a range of ways to execute this kind of decision that aren't cool. Making it personal is right at the PTB side of that range.

    As an example, if I wanted to ban you from southsamurairocks.edu because I didn't agree with your beliefs, and the hassles that might come from them, or your reputation, I think it would be my obligation to give that as the reason, not just the fact that it's you. It crosses the line from making a measured policy decision into just being a dick without the guts to just be a dick outright and honestly.

    Like, if we had beef, and that's why I ban you, I'm going to publicly state that I don't like you, and thus don't want you in my instance. Not just be snarky by using your name as shorthand for it.

    It's the smugness of it that makes it PTB instead of a legitimate preemptive ban. Nobody has to let anyone onto their instance if they don't want to. But you gotta be up front and detailed about it if you don't want to be the asshole.

    • Good points. Mods, I give a little more leeway to. I expect a bit more informative reasons from admins giving instance bans. It makes me think that the admin just assumed bad stuff because of my rep without any actual proof or research. Especially since I posted nothing controversial on his instance.

49 comments