Hello users of Hexbear, we wanted to inform you that we are going to be locking the_dunk_tank and dredge_tank communities. We have created two new communities /c/gossip and /c/counterpropaganda to serve a similar but clearly distinct purpose than the dunk/dredge tanks.

Not only is the dunk tank a term that has racist origins, but also many posts there were almost no effort and often times requiring later edits to show how they weren’t reactionary, not useful with regard to developing rhetoric and furthering dialectical analysis of that which we dunk upon.

To that end, we wish posts of reactionaries to be placed in [email protected] along with an accompanying explanation (as simple or complex as desired) with the intent of countering the reactionary propaganda in the post body, as of now comments are not subject to the same rhetorical rigor rule.

For the posts that are not "low-hanging fruit’ of notable people we ask that you use [email protected] .

These changes are mainly part of a continued effort to remove the racist and misogynistic elements from our community and grow.

Any moderators of the dunk tank or dredge tank that want to be a mod in the new communities let me know.

Any users with questions or comments please use this post, this change was made at the behest of the entire Hexbear mod and admin team. We will be looking for more moderators in an organized volunteer drive shortly, if you wish to submit an application you may send it to me via hexbear or matrix direct messages.

Use this post as a place for discussion to these changes. We will keep things as they are for 2 weeks and then reflect on the feedback, including this post: https://hexbear.net/post/3858346

As a personal addendum I am sorry if the closing of the tanks these changes removes a beloved space on the site and if you want to suggest a community to replace them you may do so at [email protected] or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

Sitewide or community changes come from proposals put forth from the mod team, discussed, and voted on by the mod team.

Any users wanting to suggest a community to replace the tanks, may do so at [email protected] current discussion is here https://hexbear.net/post/3858346 or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

You may also consider using [email protected] as a substitute for dunk/dredge tank posts as well

The mod statement can be found here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5613033

Application

What is your Hexbear username? Do you have any preferred pronouns? What are your thoughts on capitalism? What are your thoughts on imperialism? What are your thoughts on trans rights? What are your thoughts on racial justice? What do think about current and previous protests around the world? What are your thoughts on Veganism and Animal Liberation? Do you have any experience with other leftist online communities? What did those experiences teach you? What is your approach to moderation, and how do you work with teams? How do you deal with online drama and people who try to start things for the sake of it? What current comms would you be interested in moderating? Do you have any ideas for community engagement? What is your general time availability? (Time zone, amounts, common browsing times, etc)

  • PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    79·
    4 days ago

    Starting to think that the real issue is that large portions of the admin team do not view themselves as users of the site who have stepped into a community role, but rather as managers and who have contempt for the unruly, unwashed masses they are forced to oversee.

    • cosecantphi [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      60·
      4 days ago

      What the fuck? Ok now I understand the difference between allowing dunking on a federated lemmygrad comm and just allowing it here. The admins just wanted to appease other fucking instances once again by letting them dictate our culture from the top down. We need to be the nice, respectable leftists so the liberals on lemmy.world will like us, so keep your uppity complaining on lemmygrad

    • crosswind [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      36·
      4 days ago

      When this was announced, they were arguing that closing the comms wasn’t a problem because people could just post on similar communities in other instances. But that was after they tried to get those other communities shut down too?

    • Venat [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      16·
      4 days ago

      Starting to think that the real issue is that large portions of the admin team do not view themselves as users of the site who have stepped into a community role, but rather as managers and who have contempt for the unruly, unwashed masses they are forced to oversee.

      That’s what the site culture was when Hexbear was still chapo chat; I think since the site gained new members, the user base were also trying to make something new instead of being a lifeboat for chapotraphouse. If I remember correctly, TC69 mass banned the transphobes and other brocialists/anti-vegans because they were reactionaries, and n order to cultivate this site as a safe haven from those people.

      I think the moderators are just burned out from seeing the same reddit tier posts within the dunk tank/dredge tank, because those were the posts and comms that dominated the front page. (Look at the front page now without it. Nonsense, but also nothing inciting, no harassment to other federated users, redditors, or x-posters).

      I suspect the moderators and admins are trying to infuse a culture in this site that can cultivate meaningful praxis. A leftist safe space site that features shitposting, not a shitposting site that features leftist safe spaces.