In an effort not to be disengenuous, this is the first time I've continued after I said I would disengage, because:

• I realize I worded that poorly.
• I say it when I don't think a debate will be productive or I don't have the spoons for it. It's polite to inform people I won't respond but also recognize their right to respond to anything I say.

So, I will disengage after this and I recognize you may respond, and that's okay. I'm not trying to convince you of anything, at this point the debate is informative for anyone who may read it.

You're right, I straight up do not care that people think these instances, specifically are bad. My main griefs on this platform are the brigading against women, even in the communities specific for women's perspectives, and the lack of media pluralism, both of which are prevalent accross communities and instances. Women everywhere face discrimination, poorer healthcare, and violence, so my battles are in real life and closer to home. I seek to inform and correct misinformation while bolstering media pluralism on this platform, which is why I like having access to as many instances as possible.

I save my spoons for bolder activism, like writing my political reps, showing up at city hall, contributing to a sex positive women's zine, grant writing for outsider artists, running art workshops for adults with developmental challenges, and fundraising for Fairy Creek protesters, because a number of my friends were abused by The RCMP while being arrested for standing against the illegal logging of treaty protected land. That's another issue close to me, as Metis with a Mi'kmaq grandmother who had to give up her status to marry a white man.

I don't say this to shame you, or as a "gotcha," but to say there's more than one thing going on in the world. Everyone picks their battles, and everyone has battles.

My points have been:

• A lemmy instance can't be authoritarian since participation is voluntary, it's transparent, viewable to other instances and open source.
• I haven't personally had issues with grad, ml or hexbear. I'm not defending those instances, their mods, suggesting the admins act in good faith, or claiming they haven't said shitty things.
• Goat incites drama. Not liking them or MOG is not the same as supporting the statements that appear on MOG, which, again, I don't subscribe to. It's almost like I'm here for fun.

This whole thing is like saying "all BMW owners are terrible drivers" — you start watching BMWs more closely. When someone's being an idiot on the road in a BMW, you're like "Hah! Of course it's a BMW." It's a confirmation bias, you notice when a so-called communist is being an idiot. You might even start assuming that everyone who's an idiot is also a communist, further reinforcing the bias. Or assume something ridiculous like how my few points amount to defense of individuals I haven't even mentioned.

Alright my friend, I'm done with this conversation. I don't mind if you respond to get the last word.

This is is what I mean when I say I get more shit from people who are against .ml than the people there.

I can't change my experiences to suit your narrative. If you believe everyone who doesn't support your beliefs is lying, you have the same flaws as the people so absorbed by authoritarian propaganda they can afford a nuanced view to western media.

I post all my alts on my profile. I'm not going to dig for you, but if you don't believe me, it was on comics about a short comic with a caricature of Art Spiegelman.

Speaking of bad faith:

You can ignore it if you want (it may not be important for you), but a lot of people are not OK with genocidal, pro-imperialism, authoritarian communists.

That's a hell of a long walk from my take that "Lemmy instances can't be authoritarian." Suggesting that makes me okay with genocide is a dick move.

In the interest of not carrying an conversation across two threads with you, I'm just responding here.

MeanwhileOnGrad is run by someone who's been bamned from multiple communities for drama farming, defending genocide, and harassing people. Goat was banned from YPTB multiple times for it.

I run two news communities and I'm a journalism nerd, I see bad takes from everyone — but these are comments on the internet. Call out people who suck, fine, but I don't like that community.

I could fall asleep listening to him tell me all about why I should use the pre-wash function on the dishwasher.

Again, I've been on Lemmy for two years. I know the deep magic. (Still thank you, Those are good recommendations.)

This account is new to try out piefed, but I list all my alts in my profile. My main is Wren@Lemmy.today - where I'm into the YPTB com. I'm not big on posting about that kind of alt/vote manipulation drama because it's just so... stupid? Inconsequential? On the other hand maga and pro-genocide folks need to be shut down, hard.

I kinda love cowbee. I've interacted but haven't felt inclined to argue with him. As a compulsive fact-checker who literally reads the news as part of my job, I can't get behind some of his sources, but he does post quite a lot of fair and grounded citations to back up his views. I even like how he's a little shit sometimes, because he's absolutely polite enough to back off if someone just walks away. I mean, is it really sea-lioning if someone else really wants to have the last word?

Weirdly, I tracked all my unproductive interractions and found a fairly even spread. Granted, I post to a women's only community and assholes exist across the political spectrum. So no, I haven't had problems with the comrades, except geneva_convenience, I hope their socks get wet at fhe beginning of the day.

It's interesting to see what opinions people take for granted. So many comments here just assumed I didn't know what those instances were like, because I would for sure never wonder why they were on my block list if I knew, right?

Then again maybe I don't know as much as I think. I've changed my mind on a lot of things over the years, I just try to be open.

Some of us live in the future. A future where every time I make popcorn my blueteeth speakers crackle so I can't hear my cryptobro podcast and go all in on bitcoin in 2018.

Guys, you just listen and wait until there's three seconds between pops, then it's done.

I don't know? Certainly not all of it because I've been critical of both in .ml. The craziest argument I had was about Art Spiegelman in hexbear, but even then that was just two users, and I didn't get modded.

Of the few mod actions against my accounts, none have been from the "triad." I was banned forever from a community in awful.systems for "fascism" though. I linked to a fascist guy's blog to prove the guy we were talking about was a fascist.

That still isn't the definition of an authoritarian, that's just being a asshole.

Thanks for your input and perspective. Good to know other people feel the same way about the votes. And weird about my "Attitude," my profile shows 100% for me, I don't think I've downvotwd anyone yet. My ratio on my main account is like 100/1. I even upvote people who argue with me because I like the attention.

I've been on lemmy for about two years and my main account is on Lemmy.Today, which doesn't block any instance.

The maga trolls are rare but they are 100% right wing and incendiary. There's really only one user from .ml I find consistently... sucks. I see more people attacking folks for having .ml in their username than .ml's giving people shit. Most of them seem pretty socialist/democratic to me. The hexbears have their own vibe and I don't see many .grads outside of their instance, or maybe I just don't notice them.

It's kinda delightful being able to see all the hexbears in the comments like little mischievous ghosts removed about the liberals.

Meanwhile on Grad is some highschool level call-out culture. The person who runs it is abusive, insulting, has made some pretty crazy comments about Isreal, and uses alts to manipulate votes.

But I agree there needs to be more transparent rules about the expectations for individual instances, that said, mods trying to curate a certain kind of vibe on an instance or in a community isn't out of the ordinary. On the one hand I think we need to protect minority opinions so Lemmy doesn't become a sad, monotonous gruel of opinions. On the other hand, spicy peppers are gross in a fruit cake.

I don't think a fun, optional instance on the fediverse, built on software that's open-source and customizable, with a transparent modlog, fits the definition of "authoritarian."

Awesome, thank you.

Heya. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, that helps a bunch.

With the pre-blocked instances, it was from this welcome message:

To help ease you into the Fediverse, we automatically block some of the “spicier” Fediverse instances. You are free to remove these yourself at any time, by going to your [user settings] -> Filters -> Instances (at the bottom) and unblocking those instances. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Which is reiterated on the broader piefed features page. I understand that's customizable, and I can unblock them on my user side, more wondering why those instances in particular are suggested for what looks like all users. As a socialist I find it off-putting. The question I guess I'm getting at is, is this place more maga friendly than socialist friendly?

I should have worded that better. I know where the modlog is but I don't see anything in it, even after searching. I was wondering if that was another time-delay thing.

Again, thank you. 24hrs is totally reasonable and I'll have to figure out how to hover since I use my phone.

Edit: Figured it out, Press and Hold.

Menergy.

There's still time to prank order a pizza to his haunted magical island.

Just wanna say I've been following Sandy across all my accounts. These genuinely bringe me joy, so thank you.