I wish Hexbear had like 100 - 10k active posters in every comm so I would never need to go to :reddit-logo: for my niche posting/commenting needs.

  • dead [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    What do you suggest that hexbear does to become more welcoming to other?

    • pocket_tofu [she/her,fae/faer]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I don't know. I can think of some changes in the website structure that might help, but the main dev was vegan and left due to the abuse they and the rest of the vegan community received last time. So that ship has sailed.

      The site is what it is, unless we get another dev who can untangle all that code and who also has thick skin. I know there's been talk of moving the community to lemmy so it can be federated, but who knows the timeline on that.

      Otherwise, I don't know how to convince people not to be abusive to incoming communities. My proposal has always been to ban reactionary users, but even that isn't easy, because those who do the banning will catch flak. The mods are overworked, there's not enough of them, and the users mostly heap criticism and abuse on them, so it's not very inspiring work, and it's not like it pays. There's a reason it has high turnover. Not to mention, ban evasion is incredibly easy.

      The users have a lot of power on this site. If they wanted to be welcoming, they could make that change happen. But this is the same site that threw a fit over pronouns, and for two years now still can't stomach one button click to CW posts with animal corpses even though they know that positive posts featuring animal ag victims is upsetting to a portion of the userbase.

      This behavior is killing the site. Again, it made the main dev leave, it's sabotaged all attempts at growth, and it burns people out until they leave. It seems to me that people here would rather the ship sink than let anyone else on-board. Agh, I'm talking in circles. I'm very tired.

      • dead [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Thinking that hexbear needs to absorb other communities to grow is a cannibal way of thinking. Hexbear should not seek to consume other communities. We should want other leftist communities to also grow, even if they are on reddit. Communities promoting leftism on reddit will have more outreach than consolidating them all on hexbear.

        Growth in the community will come from positive engagement. Growth in the community will come from stability. Growth in the community will come from an absence of conflict. Growth in the community will come from shared goals and a shared vision. Growth in the community will come from solidarity.

        Scolding the current users is making people leave the site. Conflicts make people leave the site. Conflicts make new members not join the site. Conflicts make people not tell their friends about the site. Website drama makes me personally not want to tell other people to use this site.

        We should treat the website growth like growing a plant. A plant needs sunlight and water, nutrient rich soil, support structure and protection from pests, but also adequate space for expansion. Likewise hexbear growth needs positive user interactions, engaging content, active moderation that removes misinformation and bans wreckers, but also enough leniency that the majority of the user base doesn't feel suffocated.