Comment on Hexbear federation megathread
CrypticCoffee@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Thank you for your candour, and much respect for you going against what could have been personally easy for you to do. Your adherence to your principles over your emotions and personal experiences show a really strong character.
This instance is my go to, recommended instance. You’ve shown great technical leadership and now you’re showing leadership in moderation. If people don’t want to see hexbear, they have a choice in .world. The fact that .ee can differentiate gives users that freedom to choose.
I do think that those opposed to federation with hexbear are a loud minority and using the same arguments as was applied against lemmy.ml. In many cases they aren’t nuanced views, just recycled lines repeated. It’s so frequently and so similar, I have wondered if it’s brigading. Is this people who were on exploding heads that are still angry and trying to get even?
Please ignore the initial hot response you’ll get, and give people to come to terms with and accept what you’ve said. They often push and push and push until you yield, and you need to keep strong to maintain this as your choice, which it should be. Even if you do defederate later, do it on your terms and based on clear criteria of what you feel is right. Many will agree with my view, but don’t always wade in on debates. Often the ones that respond are the ones that are most emotionally agitated. I am responding to show support for you and what you have been through, and thank you for your transparency. I respect your integrity.
For disclosure: I am a leftie, but personally opposed to communism. I am opposed to authoritarianism on both sides of the political spectrum. I welcome debate with people that differ from them views. I’m already frequently immersed in debate with Americans that have a very different view of capitalism, and I can live with that. I ain’t a snowflake, and I don’t endorse cancel culture (I do feel a whiff of irony here and I think it’s important to raise that rhetoric the right often throw at at the left, because if you believe if free speech, you believe in free speech).
CrypticCoffee@lemm.ee 1 year ago
One point I’ll add that I think needs saying is that these folk set up after CTH got banned from reddit. They were pushed into an echo chamber against their choice. It’s been years now, and they’ve got used to that echo chamber and how they behave around each other. Federating means that culture that they have been used to for years is now not the only way to operate and could be problematic for them. It will take some time to bed in, and realise in low effort in joke meme’s just won’t work. They will be outside their comfort zones, but will learn to adjust. Some quicker than others.
The point I am making is that initial impressions may not reflect the behaviour 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 2 years down the line. Do we believe that people should be pushed to the fringe in echo chambers, or do we believe that maybe reddit’s content policies are probably more geared to atmosphere and money than what is correct for an online discussion forum?