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)
I gotta say the idea that hexbear should be a place for "developing rhetoric" makes me sick. I get enough NT people tonepolicing me about rhetoric in my day to day, I don't need it for hexbear. The idea we'd want this site culture to be one that is focused on making people effective at debating is one I perceive as fundamentally hostile to ND-users. I get enough dorks nitpicking my political communication IRL that I don't need it online.
The_dunk_tank functioned as a nice breathing space, a place to vent, a place where you could just call out obvious bullshit without having to duel with some fucking :nerd: about exactly precisely how much genocide is too much. Lord help you if you accidentally insult them.
I can't speak on behalf of all ND people (obviously) and I know plenty enjoy debates, but I also know a great many hate the hostile engagement, focus on precisely communicating ideas (according to how NT people think one communicates precisely), the nitpicking, the... the fucking debatebroism. I don't know how else to put it - that's poor rhetoric! huehuehue :smuglord:
The idea that this site is going to have one of its' biggest comms dedicated to focusing on rhetoric makes me- I feel like I should say worried, but I'm not worried- it makes me mad. I know what that will do, I know what would happen to the site culture if we suddenly begin fetishising debate and "polite" discussion. It would foster a site full of debateperverts. We used to ban people for debatebroism, but now it seems we wish to foster it.
I know what the concept of "developing rhetoric" will mean for a great many ND people and it will mean they're gonna be actively triggered whenever they chime in, because they don't communicate their thoughts in "the right way".
Also the dunking on the concept of dunking is asinine, and teeters on tone policing. The whole concept of dunking is effective rhetoric. Debateperverts should be treated with derision and mockery. Debateperverts want you to go thru all their dumb bullshit point by point. There's several descriptors for this - sealioning for example. Mocking them is a more effective rebuttal and it is a rhetorical tool and one you should make use of at times.
I don't think the site will become full of debatebros, because I think you'll realise your mistake and revert it beforehand. But it's gonna be shitty until you do, and it's gonna push some people away.
edit: I apologise for the heated rhetoric. I hold on to my worries, but I should remember that this is just a website, worst case is permanent
The !counterpropaganda@hexbear.net mods may be open to the accompanying text being phrased in many different ways as long as some attempt is made in the post body as to why its bad. Not just "lol look at this lib" rather "this lib thinks being a landlord is a real job"
This does not alleviate my worry, though I appreciate the attempt
Respectfully, if someone posts an screenshot of some doofus posting “landlords are the best they are providing a service”, literally what is the point of including a caption that just repeats the statement in the image? The doofus opinion is self evident.
to establish a protocol for the event the post is not self-evident
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That really does not line up with my experience
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I've seen posts dunking on infantile ideas of how the world works.
I've seen posts who dunk on liberals attempting to checks notes signal superiority clears throat by affecting laughs subtly a, uhm, casual above-it-all tone, in order to condescend, which do not dunk on the method of writing, but on the shitty condescention attempted.
If you take issue with people taking issue with cringe vibes, then you've got an issue with the site at large, and I don't know what to tell you. I also don't think there is really any place that will not dunk on what the culture of the space considers cringe, that's sort of what cringe is. If you make it cringe to dunk on cringe, then that's just the new cringe.
I don't see people mocking ND people or ND behaviour however. I see noone mocking people for stimming, for odd methods of communication or for uwu language. In fact a user @twink who hornyposted a lot, had a large score of vocal defenders in part because of communicating like that. Several users user checks notes this kinda stuff too.
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Okay, I've never seen somebody dunk on neurodivergent stuff and get celebrated here. If someone dunks on neurodivergent people, then I see them get dunked on and banned in return.