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 !counterpropaganda@hexbear.net 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 !gossip@hexbear.net .

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 !commrequest@hexbear.net 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 !commrequest@hexbear.net 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 !shitreactionariessay@lemmygrad.ml 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)

  • REgon [they/them]
    ·
    6 days ago

    Oftentimes. There was talk of getting rid of the news mega to "support community organising and growth" at one point.
    Some people want this website to be something other than a website, and I don't really understand it. I also don't understand how they think a website can be something other than a website.

    • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
      ·
      6 days ago

      There was talk of getting rid of the news mega to "support community organising and growth" at one point.

      What the hell was even the argument for that?

      • REgon [they/them]
        ·
        6 days ago

        The regular mega was seeing less activity, so if we got rid of the news mega then all the people would post in the regular mega instead.

        Completely unrelated but democrats are silly for saying that third party voters cost them the election, because that assumes all third party voters would vote for them.

          • REgon [they/them]
            ·
            6 days ago

            It didn't happen because people pointed out it would be silly. I think we're also whipping up a bit of a frenzy in here, and we should remember we're not being ruled over by despots. We are on a niche webforum and the worst case scenario is that we stalin-gun-1logout

        • Coca_Cola_but_Commie [he/him]
          ·
          6 days ago

          unironic make-Main-the-only-comm posters but specifically for this site's various megathreads is very funny to me.

          • REgon [they/them]
            ·
            6 days ago

            I've never really understood the megathread, especially not if we wanted to have more activity. It seemed like it was advocated for by people who wanted to turn hexbear into an oldschool bulletinboard forum. Lots of people wanted to get rid of votes entirely as well.

            The only mega thread that makes sense to me is the news mega, and that's in large part because it still links to an overview of the big news that have happened. The regular mega makes no sense to me. I try to interact with it once in a while, but it feels pointless. If that's the format peope enjoy, why not go on mastodon or some other leftist twitter-clone? There's a large group of users who seem to enjoy it though, so I think it would be silly to shut it down.

    • Grebgreb [he/him]
      ·
      6 days ago

      I remember sometime after chapochat went up there was a discussion about how "serious" the site should be and I think the consensus at the time was not very - and I agree with that.

      • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
        ·
        6 days ago

        This place would have to be completely rebuilt from the ground up for it to become a "serious" space, and it would no longer be what I'm fairly confident most of us come here for.

        I'll concede that I'm wrong if and when effortposts go through the roof as a result of closing these two comms. I won't be holding my breath.

        • glimmer_twin [he/him]
          ·
          6 days ago

          It’s essentially impossible to create some international internet “organising” space. We’re all anonymous, the opsec implications are beyond idiotic, and first and foremost organising is done at a local level. Especially the kind of praxis people that are on this website are (or should be) engaging in.

          Sure, if you want education, if you wanna be marxists.org but with a forum attached, by all means. But that really is not this website. It would have to be nuked from orbit and completely rebuilt.

          • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
            ·
            6 days ago

            Exactly. I really do not understand what the point of this is supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely appreciate all the time and effort that has gone into building this site and keeping it running from the very bottom of my heart, but again, this sort of top-down "you don't get to do this anymore because [insert vague not actually explained reasons here]" is not what I believe most of us signed up for.

            I'm fully onboard with closing the dunk tank due to the implications of its name, but you can't use that reasoning for just shutting down the entire concept of what it was meant to be for. There doesn't seem to be any sort of coherent ideological basis for this decision (or if there is one it is yet to be presented), it's looking like it's just "we don't enjoy this type of content, so neither can you". And no, going "it's liberalism" without any further elaboration, just isn't going to cut it.

            Oh, and if anyone reads this comment and finds themselves overwhelmed with the urge to reply with some variation of "you are way too online and you need to log off", I already agree with you. One hundred percent. I absolutely am and I absolutely do, but that's easier said than done. And I could actually provide you with a clear explanation of why that is, unlike what we're getting on the issue we're currently discussing. So just don't bother.

            • REgon [they/them]
              ·
              6 days ago

              And no, going "it's liberalism" without any further elaboration, just isn't going to cut it.

              Especially not when a great many users have written thoughtful posts arguing for maintaining the dunk tank.
              It's funny how many of the users who dislike the concept of "dunking" are the ones doing cheap low-effort dunks in this very thread. On top of that they are going after their own comrades, treating them with toxic hostility, instead of liberals or chuds.
              For all the people who say they dislike dunk tank content, it strikes me as odd to see how easy dunking comes to you. If the logic that "dunk tank gives bad rhetoric" held up, wouldn't the roles be reversed?