I think the approach that is sometimes used of dramatic self-important essays is off-putting. Yes, I know, it’s not my role as a cis lesbian to tone police legitimate grievances and how they are articulated. But sometimes, it seems to foster an atmosphere that is reminiscent of those medium articles from Warren surrogates after she claimed he said a woman couldn’t be president, or IRL drama in DSA chapters that spills over into the internet. Simply an observation - I think the essay posting is a way to get user’s attention, and perhaps sometimes that is warranted, but it sometimes seems like a direct message to the user who’s done wrong or a post in user union may be more appropriate, so as not to get people reacting as though the person posting is a wrecker.
Here is a post that addresses an issue that I thought was done in a thoughtful, concise, and persuasive way that fostered a dialogue. I feel like this is a good approach
https://hexbear.net/post/68915
If I only looked at the recent Discourse (TM) on ChaCha, I would think that either this site was basically a neverending Klan rally or the playground of a power-mad clique of unaccountable mods.
The struggle against bigotry on this site will be never be finished. It will always be a work in progress, and people will be hurt. That said, I've never been in any space on the internet that is as welcoming to as many people. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. And I've never been anywhere with mods who have done so much to make/keep it that way.
The mods here are not the enemy. They are posters, they are comrades. It's not even that hard to become one if you want. @BASED_BALL literally shitposted his way into being a mod. Mistakes have been made. I think the approach to sitewide policy has been way too ad hoc. People have been banned mistakenly, which sucks. GIVE ME MY PRECIOUS DOWNVOTES BACK. But I think there is zero basis for questioning whether they are acting in anything other than good faith.
Shoutout to @ScreamoBMO, @TransComrade69, @Uncle_Hoe, @AlephNull, @liberal, @BioWarfarePosadist, [@Beatnik, @itsPina, in particular
o7
@BASED_BALL literally shitposted his way into being a mod. Mistakes have been made.
:shocked_porky:
My new platform is Medicare 4 All but BASED_BALL
Unbanned. No crow-eating yet, which I'd hope to see after something like this. Like I said later in that thread, if Beatnik makes things right I won't hold any grudges.
It wasn't the same mods that did the unbanning, and one of the people that did some unbanning is now un-admined (due to apparent islamophobia) so it's hard to say that things have changed.
For sure for sure, you have every right too. I like to believe most users here engage in good faith, and that those that engage in bad faith get dogpiled and told to shut the fuck up. But I also have the privilege to make that assumption. What it comes down to is a lack of communication, really.
The website can't actually IP ban, chapo.chat does not track IP's. If you're technically inclined you can check the source code.
I think they're doing their best.
I also think they can do better by allowing for things like mod elections.
I also think the site needs features added to help them do better, like actual temp bans, new user / account creation timeouts, anonymized IP bans, etc.
I also think removing the downvotes will make their job easier, meaning they will have more space to do other things better.
I think there is a lot of good conversation that can and should be had here which can be done without shitting on the mods directly, and I think the mods should not only allow that conversation, but support it, because it will ultimately be beneficial to them AND the site.
mod election
I really and truly do not see the appeal of an online popularity contest.
I agree. sees next post disagreeing with this one Hmm, they make some pretty good points. I guess I was wrong. sees next post disagreeing that one Huh, shit, they
e: Anyway, I don't know where people see all this toxicity because I don't click on the struggle sessions thread, but I am also someone who will frequently type out entire essay-length posts defending great art.
I don't think it'll ever be the activist-type place some people expected it to be - it's too few users and decentralized, along with the obvious caveat that most people online who identify as communists (or leftists, I suppose) do not have a genuine passion for it - thinking of the "read theory" meme-spammers despite that someone can read a text 20 times and not understand it if they're not engaging with it. The leftcommunism subreddit had people with a genuine passion and they were still under no delusions it was an "activist" space.
But, this is a left-wing forum where if I'm annoyed, I'm usually able to laugh it off, not feel angry/disgusted as I am with right-wing forums, and that's good for me.
I agree. sees next post disagreeing with this one Hmm, they make some pretty good points. I guess I was wrong. sees next post disagreeing that one Huh, shit, they
CTH is the only place where I regularly up bear both sides in a discussion
The internet was safe until Silver Legion came around. :che-smile:
Except for AOC... wait a minute. It’s all coming together now. AOC was silver legion
I just want a safe space for lefty shit posting and all I get is fucking drama. Hey lefties, stop fighting each other and fight capitalism instead.
This site is the best we have since the sub is gone. Also to me it looks like you are not helping in reducing drama. You don't like it? Don't post in threads that feel like drama to you. There's tons of other quality posts.
eh imo you're overhyping leftist organizing, the best we have is either chapo trapo houso or your local union, and it's fucking sad that all we have is a podcast
hahahaha how tf can you feel unsafe on an internet forum just walk away from the screen or close your eyes hahaha
I didn't question the transphobe purge until just recently but now I no longer trust the admins and mods. I have no confidence that was anything other than some bullshit they said to ban people who bickered with the insider clique. Now that yesterday's drama post actually gave an example of how little it takes and how much the site will gaslight an ethical problem from simply displeasing a power user.
I was once banned from /r/startrek under similar rules. They were banning people for bringing in "negative attitudes" and I asked what that meant exactly and they banned me for it lol. It was very obviously brought in to remove people who didn't like Discovery and Picard but it was under the guise of removing trolls and racists. Several mods on there have even accused anyone who hates the show as being racist.
Hell to TERFs and transphobes but that purge brought up so many false positives it was hilarious. I get that people don't want to put up with bullshit and trans people already deal with having to justify their existence every day but some of the "transphobic user" bans didn't stand up to scrutiny and were unbanned almost immediately after. It kind of shook my faith a little.
I also just want to say that no matter how friendly it is here everyone on here is still a complete stranger who probably doesn't know you or likely anyone else on here.
I'm glad this place works as a safe space for some and it should be kept that way through moderation but literally anyone could be on here and not everyone has good intentions. You can't ever expect this place to be always 100% good because random people are not always good. It would only take some reactionary discord server to harass several people for days. Hell, even I've had randoms in my DMs on Reddit shouting bullshit at me and that's not even coordinated.
No one should have to keep their identity a secret on here, but you should also be willing to accept that not doing so also opens you up to whatever random person on the internet happens to be on that day.
Yeah, there's plenty of things I don't feel comfortable sharing on here because I cannot control the reaction. At least with people I know I have an idea.
I do understand that not everyone has an irl support group though so that's important to note as well.
Just have an intro survey with some questions to gate entry like on any old left discord, yes its more work for the modteam to begin with to approve new users, but it's less work later on playing whack a mole with trolls and infiltrators. I've seen the invite someone to get onto a place backfire before, just takes one disgruntled user to spread the link throughout the vast internet vs a gated question entry takes a lot more effort particularly if you say, have theory questions for more sensitive areas of 'debate' or what not. In my experience left reactionary types really skimp on theory hence why they fall into social chauvinism.
Raising the barrier to entry, even slightly, lowers the amount of crap that gets through.
I dunno if surveys are a good idea though, might quash the lib-to-left pipeline if it’s difficult to join.
Yes, but in my experience the thrill troll types are frankly too foolish or unmotivated to lie whereas infiltrators can be slowed but hard to outright stop since there may or may not be a financial incentive. Depending the survey type it may be something you can't really lie on readily since it requires a degree of understanding.
Yes this can hinder the lib to left pipeline if you put down a solid theory gate for the general site, just put the more difficult surveys on any sort of sensitive or trolled area, rest can be anything from a few words on some check topic(s) or an introduction (say hi and why with a degree of elaboration maybe some interaction from mods/community), there'd be some community standard maybe a degree of subjectivity, or something like what the chapo discord had years back with a long annoying survey that would take a very long min for a troll to deconstruct.
