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)

  • comrade_pibb [comrade/them]
    ·
    8 days ago

    Can someone help me understand the problematic history of these terms? As always it's a safe bet that any classic American trope is probably racist asf

    • AntiOutsideAktion [he/him]
      ·
      8 days ago

      The dunk tank at a carnival used to just be a black guy sticking his head through the hole

          • Acute_Engles [he/him, any]
            ·
            8 days ago

            So the head through hole thing was likely called something different but the dunk tank is explicitly derived from it? Not trying to argue for the use of the term, just curious about the history

            • miz [any, any]
              ·
              7 days ago

              yes and yes. it was called African Dodger or Hit the N****r Baby

              https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2012/october.htm

              In 1911, some carnivals ushered in a new game for the "progressive era" called the African Dip, the precursor to the dunk tank. The game was "arranged that every time a baseball hits the target a colored man, seated upon a bar, is thrown into a large pool of water. It's said to be lots of fun..." ("It's Called", 1911). This new game didn't entirely replace the African Dodger. Versions of the original African Dodger were still found in the 1950s. Some carnivals and fairs decided to use targets that resembled African Americans instead of using real people. Promoters sold entire family doll racks that were used as targets at Amusement parks (A. J. Smith Mfg. Co., 1914). The development of Amusement parks in permanent locations increased the popularity of the African Dip game because it was hard to travel with the African Dip dunk tank. Riverview Amusement park in Chicago Illinois, was well known for their popular African Dip attraction, which was a staple there until the late 1950s.

            • REgon [they/them]
              ·
              8 days ago

              Yeah I don't believe a leftist would make a comm named after that practice... It seems much more likely that it's an unfortunate connotation and somebody instead thought of making a comm for people getting dunked on and they thought it would be fun with naming it after a bit of a trashy method of containing things. Could easily have been called the_burn_tank or whatever.
              Haven't seen the post people talk of though, so I could be wrong

              • QuietCupcake [any, they/them]
                ·
                8 days ago

                Well, a "dunk tank" is a thing that is still done at carnivals, fairs, and the like even today. It does have exceptionally disgusting racist origins even though most people don't know about that (this is itself a ridiculously common phenomenon in the US: seemingly benign things with racist origins). I think you're right that the name for it here was derived mostly from the fact that we're dunking on bad things, and "dunking" on something that way, as a term, has its origins in basketball. But the play-on-words with the carnival thing was intentional. Innocent of course, but still intentionally a reference to the carnival dunk tanks as a kind of pun playing with the newer slang from basketball dunking. So as a name for a comm, it's about both, if that makes sense. At least that's my understanding.

                • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]
                  ·
                  8 days ago

                  We could remove the racism and have an even better play on words by changing it to the_dunk_court

                  Now it's both a basketball court and a court of law and we can make puns around that

                • REgon [they/them]
                  ·
                  8 days ago

                  I didn't even think about the pun lol. Yeah the carnival thing is fucked up

              • Saeculum [he/him, comrade/them]
                ·
                8 days ago

                Commonplace terms with now obscure origins can end up being used innocently when in fact, their origin is highly racist, sexist, etc.

                I doubt there was any malice to the name, but we should still get rid of it.

                • REgon [they/them]
                  ·
                  8 days ago

                  Oh I completely agree! I just thought the "dunk" wasn't derived from there, but basketball terminology

                  • glimmer_twin [he/him]
                    ·
                    8 days ago

                    100%, getting dunked on is a basketball thing. And yeh it was just an unfortunate coincidence that a pun was made

              • usa_suxxx
                ·
                5 days ago

                deleted by creator

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        8 days ago

        Damn, really? I thought it was that seat thing that dropped you in to a tank of water if someone threw a ball at a target.