I’m just bored and exploring the web. I’ve also taken more of an interest in privacy and open-sourced/decentralized projects. I hope that the more active these projects become, the more interest they will get, and people will leave sites like Facebook and whatnot. I want these projects to succeed :)
Which site was that?
Tildes.net
Interesting, I have never heard of it. What was it like?
It started off as a smaller more human-focused alternative to Reddit. For the most part people there were a bit more friendly, a bit more left-leaning and a lot less racist. There was a focus on in-depth discussion of topics. Unfortunately, due to the neglect and lack of moderation the line in the sand of what was acceptable behavior slowly got pushed in the direction of eccentric rationalism and centrism which drove many minorities away from the website. I tried to hold meta discussions there about this and whether the site wanted to work on fixing the problems it had, but it drew the ire of the person who started the website. Eventually he gave me the longest temporary ban on the website given to date (still in effect), for a rather minor infraction (I asked about a new feature he had implemented without telling anyone).
something worth noting here is that a lot of tildes’s failure in this regard was completely preventable. moderation powers, for example, could have easily been granted to multiple people to prevent this shift instead of being consolidated in the hands of the owner. unfortunately this did not happen–and to my knowledge, still hasn’t–and eventually bringing this up was more likely to get you sanctioned than actually contributing to the negative shift in the website’s vibe.
additionally, a lot of tildes’s core ideas (for example, a “trust system” which would have likely automated much of the moderation process) are still not even close to being realized, much less implemented, despite being the backbone of actually living up to the website’s promise. and even some of the older members of the website like myself are unclear on the specifics of what the system entails (or would have entailed) because of how vague the specifications for it are, and the total lack of progress toward achieving it. in hindsight, the website held a great deal of promise which has been squandered, and that squandering is a big part of what led to the creation of this website.
oof. i hate admins like that.
I am a huge proponent of radical transparency, and it is one of the key ideals that I hope to foster at Beehaw. You can’t build trust without insight and trust wanes with time - it needs to be maintained with regular insight into what is happening. I can’t promise that everyone will always agree with the decisions made, but attempting to hide them to avoid the controversy is not the right way to manage anything.