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)

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
    ·
    14 days ago

    Damn, this reasoning is even more baffling than what I initially thought. I thought you all were pulling the "Trump got elected and so many liberals are now disillusioned about the electoral process, making them a good target for radicalization. Therefore, we're pivoting Hexbear towards being more serious in order to seize this window of opportunity. And also, the tweets of genocidal libs airing out their genocidal grievances at POCs who refuse to bend the knee to the genocidal party are bumming out the POCs in this website."

    But this? I'm sorry, but this is so terminally online. Like cmon, POC shittalk irl. Now the nature and target and punchline might be entirely different from the way white people commiserate, but cheap dunks with the punchline being "Man, crackers ain't shit lmao" or "pinche gringo" are a thing, and ime, a good way to build camaraderie and weed out people who would otherwise suck up to whitey.

    I can't believe I even have to type this, but POCs talking shit about white people is a thing and is a common bonding experience. In general, people gathering together to talk shit about a mutual target, be it their shitty boss or their sports team that always chokes or the fucking weather or traffic, is a thing. Like, this is just basic socializing. The jobs of admins and mods ought to be that the targets are deserved.

    • REgon [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      14 days ago

      Most of their response is just "coating your shitty opiniong in leftist rhetoric to make it acceptable." Like wtf are they even talking about with trying to make it a race thing lol. Isn't almost the entirety of this site white anyway? Every single comm reeks of white leftist, that's not in any way unique to the dunk tank. Guess we gotta get rid of c/food as well then, since most of the food posted is white people food.

      It's alienating as fuck as a person who isn't "just" a cishet man to be told that enjoying the comm "reeks of cis white men". Ffs whoever was the moron who wrote that should do a massive amount of self crit for their bad faith brain

      • PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        14 days ago

        It's alienating as fuck as a person who isn't "just" a cishet man to be told that enjoying the comm "reeks of cis white men". Ffs whoever was the moron who wrote that should do a massive amount of self crit for their bad faith brain

        this

        Anonymous coward, show yourself and self crit

      • TheSpectreOfGay [he/him, she/her]
        ·
        14 days ago

        It's alienating as fuck as a person who isn't "just" a cishet man to be told that enjoying the comm "reeks of cis white men".

        Yea ngl I don't really care about most struggle sessions 90% of the time but it really really rubbed me the wrong way to be told i was giving off cis white man vibes.

        Would have probably made me spiral if I was AMAB ngl

        • Aradina [She/They]@lemmy.ml
          ·
          14 days ago

          It's genuinely upsetting. The anonymous nature of the post also means that I have to assume literally all mods that haven't disavowed the statement agree with it, and are thus complicit in the inherent transphobia of misgendering.

        • REgon [they/them]
          ·
          14 days ago

          Seriously that shit would cost anyone who isn't a mod a ban. It should cost the mod a ban and the admins knowing a bit more about the mod, should stop working with them about this site in general.

          Fucking dweeb ass coward posting this behind a shield of anonymity, making carcosa take all the flak. Children.

    • ratboy [they/them]
      ·
      14 days ago

      literally, like the dozens and roasting have been a long time tradition in black culture, it is definitely not a white thing. Also when I lived elsewhere and my friendgroup was mostly Mexican, roasting was a HUGE part of how we got along....And dunking isn't even roasting or the dozens. Maybe I'm missing something and the way that it's done here is white or something, idk..

      • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
        ·
        14 days ago

        Go look at some of the newer comments. That was a bullshit excuse. The real reason is because the admins don't want us dunking on L*dditor losers.

        • ratboy [they/them]
          ·
          14 days ago

          Ohhhh yeah that's right, so fucking ridiculous. I joined Lemmy when that Reddit exodus happened last year, and then hopped on Hexbear when it refederated or whatever. Wasn't there a big struggle session about dunking on redditors then? Lol. Even WITHOUT dunking on them, a bunch of instances defederated from us simply because we're "tankies". You can try to be as "serious" and welcoming to libs but at the end of the day it's an anarchist/communist space and no amount of civility/welcome/seriousness is gonna change that and magically make those people want to study revolutionary theory unless they were already thinking about/flirting with the ideologies in the first place