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)