Hello users of hexbear after some discussion we mainly wanted to get your thoughts on the two pinned megathreads, one general and one news.
We've noticed that the news mega has basically become the general mega and the general mega has kinda slowed. Some are thinking that it might be time to tell people to stop posting random shit to the news mega because some appreciate the ever so slightly more serious, focused tone of the news mega
As of now there is not much of a standard for comments however we wanted to discuss with you regarding making a change. Where the news megathread is for discussion on current events and their history/implications for future while the general megathread is for commenting on one's life, interests, or for shit-posting.
This would result in the news megathread being more heavily moderated to actively remove comments that are a better fit for the general megathread or off topic.
Please comment with any thoughts, opinions, comments, questions, or concerns.
Keep both but disallow off topic shitposting in news mega. On topic shitposting should be legal.
If we're tallying the opinions here, I agree that this would be the ideal situation. Shitposting should be fine and accepted in the newsmega so long as it's news-related, at least tangentially. There should also still be a completely separate megathread for general socializing, posting random thoughts, or whatever people want to say. One thread is for talking specifically about news, if it's not always serious discussion, and another thread where people can just hang out, shoot the shit, or let off steam. Pretty much how it was most of the time since the founding of the newsmega as more than just an ongoing Ukraine thread
Perhaps some perspective will help, because it is important to understand why we have the news megathread on Hexbear in the first place.
The news mega started off as Ukraine war daily megathread when Russia invaded Ukraine back in February 2022.
I don’t know if people still remember, but 2021 Hexbear was largely dominated by US-centric posts, many of which related to electoralism and soc dem related news in America (Bernie was still our socdem grandpa who got shoved by the DNC back then).
As the war in Ukraine dragged on beyond the first few weeks, people started to post about news and reactions from their respective countries in the Ukraine megathread, and the discussions that ensued attracted more international (non-US based) Hexbear users who gravitate towards non-US-centric news to congregate around the megathread and exchange their views.
Back then, if you post news or write up perspectives about left wing movements in your country, say Denmark, or South Africa, in any comm, you’d likely get very few engagements and would easily be drowned out by the rest of the US-centric posts. (This is still largely the case, today, I’d say, though the war in Ukraine has really forced a more international perspective on our American/Western comrades).
However, if you post them in the Ukraine megathread, people who are already interested in this kind of geopolitical affairs would be able to easily interact with them. You get a lot more engagements in the news mega than making separate posts in the news comm. It was then that people started to think we should probably turn the Ukraine megathread into a news megathread that provides a focus on non-US based global affairs (Comrade 72T was already posting tons of daily updates then, so the evolution of the megathread was completely natural at the time).
Since then, the news mega has grown into a niche enclave where the more international (read: non American) Hexbear users (and just based on vibes alone, a significant portion of them are non-white) congregate and hang out to share perspectives about their countries/regions. As familiarity and congeniality set in (I don’t recall even a single major struggle session occurring in the news mega since its very inception), it has cultivated a kind of sub-culture where some users understandably grew more comfortable expressing themselves in the news mega rather than the other places of the site, simply because of familiarity and the perceived safeness in the news mega.
What is happening in the news mega today (the memes and the shit-posting) is simply a natural progression of how the news mega came to being in Hexbear.
I am not saying it’s a good or a bad thing with respect to Hexbear in general, but it needs to be taken into considerations that some users may see the news mega as a space where they can safely express themselves, and most of the time without judgment or getting into arguments.
It makes it easy for me to catch up on news all around the world. I already get enough us news, i want to hear about what's going on in the Sahel, or in Syria, or Brazil, or Vietnam. There isn't really a place where i can get all of this content in one place, especially with a culture like it.
I don’t know if people still remember, but 2021 Hexbear was largely dominated by US-centric posts, many of which related to electoralism and soc dem related news in America (Bernie was still our socdem grandpa who got shoved by the DNC back then).
Let me tell you a secret. Look at all the posts on the front page right now, they all have many comments. The Lemmy algorithm highly prioritizes posts which have more comments to be shown on the front page. If you see a non-US post that you think is important, post a comment on the post, preferably something that is optimistic or positive. Post "good article" or why you think it is important, this will encourage the poster to post more similar articles. Post an emoji if you want. Your comment doesn't have to be particularly informative. As long as you comment on posts that like, you will see more things that you like on the front page.
In the inverse case, do not comment on posts that you do not like. If you see a post that is malicious, western propaganda, etc. do not comment on it. You may be tempted to bully the poster or correct the narrative, but your comment is only going to boost the post in the algorithm. Most people who upvote a post probably don't even read the comments, so correcting a narrative is pointless. Report posts that you believe are bourgeois propaganda, mods handle it. Make your own post with a more correct news article.
With this information in mind, I believe that having a "news megathread" where users post all world news is making hexbear more US-centric. Megathreads act as a containment, a quarantine. Let's say you have a story where China does something extremely cool. User A posts "China does something extremely cool thing" in c/news and 2 people comment on it. User B posts the same article in the news megathread and 3 people comment on it. By having the discussion split, the c/news post does less well in the algorithm and never shows up on the Hexbear frontpage. Likewise, if the article was only posted in the news megathread, it would also not show up on the front page. In either case, a world news megathread is reducing the chances for non-US news to reach the front page of hexbear. Having a news megathread makes Hexbear more US-centric.
If you think that US news and world news needs to be split, Hexbear could have a international news comm and US news comm. Lemmy is a link aggregator software, the whole website is designed around the concept of posting links as posts, not as comments. If you want Hexbear to be less US-centric, then internation news posts should be posted as posts, not as comments.
See, when you call one the News Megathread and the other the New Megathread I think you're doing it intentionally to confuse me specifically.
we should have the new general megathread for generalized shitposting, the general news megathread for generalized newsposting, the new generals megathread for shitposting specifically about recently promoted high ranking military officers, and the generals news megathread for newsposting specifically about the washington generals basketball team and their eternal rivalry with the harlem globetrotters
yeah sure one megathread for the season makes sense but what if they make the playoffs?
it's understandable that liberals get them confused, but the judean peoples front is a patsoc group whereas the peoples' front of judea is the locally organized chapter of an internationalist workers movement
We should defederate with the News Megathread and have that be a seperate Hexbear.
Hexbear has been too unified these past few years and hasn't lead to an official splinter lemmy yet.
What kind of leftists are we if we don’t split into at least two separate groups???
slightly stricter moderation of the news mega would probably be good. but IMO the general mega should remain completely open to all topics, even ones that could go in the news mega as well
Death to America
Hard disagree. The general megathread is mostly people microblogging while the news megathread is topical. Even the shitposting on the news megathread pertains to current events. Plus, I get the sense there's almost no overlap between the regulars of the two megathreads, so if shitposting gets banned in the news megathread, the regulars would just flood the_dunk_tank with posts shitting on Zionists. I don't see them posting their shitposts in the general megathread. So in a sense, the news megathread is also a containment area so the entire site doesn't get flooded with anti-Zionist memes.
As a newsmain regular, I've always liked how welcoming we've been when people get lost and post there, it's a good bit and nobody really gets bent out of shape over it. Understandable however if we want to breath some life into the other mega. I am torn comrades, each mega presents such unique value that their competition is regrettable :/ but perhaps I've just grown used to the status quo
It's only fun when it's accidental. I've neglected the general mega since 7/10 and while I've tried to contribute materially to the news mega since, I've also diluted the content with a looot of unnecessary shit. I try to keep top level stuff to updates or articles, but I'm sure some havent been up to snuff.
I should go back to the general mega tbh but I'm too scared to diarise/microblog as much as I'd like so instead it's just bad puns and call-response bits, which are better suited to general than news regardless
Indeed. Also, at least personally, things I find I want to post to the general mega will in general get a better engagement as it's own separate post, if there's a link to be had.
Increased separation / moderation is the way to go IMO; with news-related shitposting being OK on the news megathread though (unless it eventually devolves into a majority of the content but that's far from the case right now).
Personal stuff, informal discussion, interest stuff, etc. in the general mega. Doubly so because venturing in the news mega means being exposed to really depressing stuff, and if the two ended up combined (organically or not) it'd become problematic.
The news mega must be protected from off-topic bloat and shitposting. A certain playful nature should be preserved if possible, but this is a secondary concern after sharing and discussing the news. Back when the news mega was often not pinned outside the news com, news was easier to gather and discuss on days where it wasn’t pinned.
News mega needs shitposting kept to a relevant minimum. Retvrn to general shitposting in the general mega
I think news mega is great as is. Has its own sub-culture as someone else pointed out.
I go to the regular mega too but it’s like 50 percent gaming and anime references - cool if that’s your thing
Pretty much the reason i only pop into the regular mega every once in a while, i just have no idea what people are taking about
That's how I used to feel but now I just keep scrolling until there's something I understand.
I think things are close to how they should be. Current events are consuming more of our attention and posting has shifted accordingly. Posts are mostly on topic, with the occasional person getting lost. I suppose when we escape the weeks where decades happen and return to the decades where weeks happen, the general megathread will return to normal activity.
As for tone, I like the topical memes in the news mega, but I support removing them if they become stale / reposts to reduce the noise a little.
Much like the reason we used when we first federated, i also find that the newsmega has a sub-culture unique to it, compared to the rest of the site. The humor is, understandbly, a bit darker than what's typically posted, and the bits much more obscure. The regulars also seem to double down on the "reply, don't just upvote" behaviour, which is why it's so active. There's very little offtopic posting, as even the most shitposty comment is generally related to news.
All to say, i do agree that once we get back to kherson, and everything grinds to a halt, people will migrate back to the regular mega and things will stabilize again. But for now,
This would result in the news megathread being more heavily moderated to actively remove comments that are a better fit for the general megathread or off topic.
good call
