I was listening to a podcast the other day ( https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy-hour ) and learned about a new phrase: "rep sweats".

When you have a person who is aligned with a specific minority group encountering a piece of media or interest or subculture that provides positive representation of their specific minority group, that there is an inherent pesky need to WANT to like that specific thing EVEN IF it's not very good.

I feel like that's exactly what's happening here with Hexbear. They're self-admitted trolls. But they're friendly to trans people... so we're having rep-sweats about aligning with them.

It's supposedly a sign that your minitory group has truly taken hold in society when one can confidently look at a piece of, say, trans-aligned media and say "Yeah, it's got trans representation in it... but it's not good and I don't like it."

I’d be suspicious of drawing those kinds of subtle lines in the sand. Malicious groups savor those kinds of guidelines so they can dance around them and test their firmness.

The spirit of their dialogue is designed to be disarming, giving them a foothold in this community. Their chosen behaviors and methods of influence are not what I want to see in a virtuous fediverse.

Maybe this is because I have a guarded heart after being burned a lot, but if you’re giving someone “one more chance”, that’s a good sign you’ve given them too many chances already.

I've been blocking individual communities as they pop up in my feeds.

I wish there were an easier method for this (like via the vertical "..." kebab menu) without having to click into the community directly.