Hexbear’s new head of operations just dropped, and their way of dealing with the fallout of their last struggle session is to hand bans out like candy to their concerned and disillusioned users while throwing out “epic” quips like insecure teenagers along the way coupled with their communication (and seemingly contempt) towards their own userbase which isn’t helping their allegations at all and the revelations that were learned about Hexbear’s moderators and admins from their most recent struggle session.
The last few days have honestly shaken my faith in Hexbear and their team and I hope the mods and admins at Lemmygrad are monitoring the situation closely.
My take?
It’s all dumb. Admins didn’t communicate effectively, made changes without making most of the community aware of it on a timescale that should have been days; as most of these discussions should be. A good chunk of the community is irate. Random bans are a method of obfuscation, all though I am doubting that’s actually what is happening here.
Regardless, it is a website and we have this space here.
TC69 immediately sets off red flags for me. It’s one thing to return and welcome yourself back; but the passive language they’re using suggests that they view themselves as some sort of cult of personality figure already, reinforcing the thoughts some have about that concern. The “random number ban” thing is literally just a flex of power, joking or not. I’ve seen that happen so, so many times in communities. It’s the same thing as “Who wants to get a bop on the head from my baton?”. Sure, it’s a joke.
There are already quite a few complaining about moderation style from times past and upon immediate return they make a comment on how the “website has improved” yet still needs an entire overhaul/COC. REgon, usa_suxxx is banned, all though unsure if that is changed now. Also, the thread was locked on that discussion.
It’s all just red flags. Maybe it’ll be a good thing, maybe not. To me, Hexbear did a really good job already on cracking down on shitlibs and misogynistic fucks. Where the hell is this rampant offenses occurring? I don’t doubt we have some idiots wander in and that things were worse before, but this is being treated like we have an active crisis in Hexbear. Which, I don’t really get.
If I’m wrong, I’ll be happy to be wrong and I’ll be more understanding of TC69’s more heavy-handed approach to moderation. But is there like some mass DM-harassment campaign I’m unaware of?