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)

  • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
    ·
    5 days ago

    100-com for rooting out racist or reactionary content

    zero-0 for turning my no effort but fun and ready for engagement screenshot of a moron on Twitter into an effortpost. That’s not what I’m posting for, and isn’t natural or the intention behind the post. I don’t think I need to specify why Elon Musk saying coups are good is actually bad. It’s just going to discourage engagement over a technicality.

    100-com for there being a part of this site dedicated to breaking down newsy, social, or otherwise in the cultural zeitgeist things into close readings for discussion/rhetoric/educational purposes, but turning an almost shitposting level comm into that is bad because they aren’t the same thing. I actually made and pinned this post in /agitprop for more extensive news breakdown purposes. We should just have a /seriousnews comm with a Megathread for more in depth discussions than the regular news Megathread which trends towards more general and less nuanced discussion

    And then another zero-0 because as an autistic person this doesn’t feel accessible at all. I really don’t understand where I’m supposed to post because this leave a huge grey area of overlap, and I also don’t easily understand at all what is supposed to be posted in either of those comms. Essentially, the purpose of having a /main in the first place is to have a place that covers the grey area. I know I’m not alone in saying that when I’m not sure where to post something I send it to /chapotraphouse. This change is just going to forcibly turn /chapotraphouse into /main by creating a barrier to contribution and engagement.

    Overall zero-0 because this change is just going to make people post less and have less overall engagement. Create both of those new comms and open up /main or an equivalent for ANY post except for exceptionally sensitive or NSFW posts/topics, then let mods crosspost things from main to comms they moderate without making it exclusive to a comm or removing it from /main