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)

  • HarryLime [any]
    ·
    1 month ago

    We don't post counterpropaganda for a simple reason we defedded with anyone who might find it counter.

    fr if we wanted to be a revolutionary consciousness-spreading organization then we probably shouldn't have done that lol

    Like, if the mods want to make counterpropaganda and raise revolutionary consciousness then the thing to do is to join a damn party. Hexbear is not a political party, it's a shitposting website.

    • Adkml [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Especially because we specifically defederated from a bunch of people with the reasoning that the chance to interact with people outside the community wasn't worth exposing people to all the bad faith dumbasses, which I'm pretty sure is why the dunk tank was created originally.

      So we've defeded from everybody that doesn't already align with us but also all posts have to be high effort to spread communism and grow the movement or something.

      I think you're overestimating how many people want to use a website to write essays about why they agree with everything everybody else said.

      • Crucible [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 month ago

        Tbh whether the site is a cozy safe space or if it's supposed to be the starting point of a vanguard party has been an issue which feels like it has been intentionally glossed over ever since federation

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          1 month ago

          I thought with all the defederations we'd pretty much settled on Cozy.

    • glimmer_twin [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Hexbear is not a political party, it's a shitposting website.

      So much this. I do plenty of irl shit, to the point of activist burnout, and it’s fun to come here as one of the only (somewhat…) sane places in the internet where I can chat with other commies.

      Not to say I don’t mind serious posts about theory, history, and news - education is good, but the website itself is not activism. I can’t stress this enough people. Posting on an extremely niche website for a couple of hundred other commies is not a political act.