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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] .
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 am probably this site's number one dunk/dredge tank hater and I still think this was an awful decision fwiw - both comms, while occasionally nauseating with how some users would fill it with screenshots of a tweet from a 50-follower account, were probably some of the more active comms on this site besides chat, mutual aid, and chapomainhouse.
Honestly if you're gonna get rid of the tanks, get rid of Electoralism and Politics too because I see both literally becoming essentially the same thing in about 6 months. Hell, let's throw out Games too because eh - 90% of the posts there are almost no effort.
This is a very important point and I don't see it brought up much. We should not be blanket deciding that low effort posts are not welcome on Hexbear because Hexbear unironically needs low effort post as an indispensable part of the site culture.
Low effort posts by their nature are a dime a dozen, they help keep the place active and lively. High user activity for the size of our userbase has always been a defining feature of both Hexbear and the subreddit before it. High effort posts come naturally as a consequence of discussion often originating in lower effort threads.
I would even argue that most Hexbears do not even read/participate in high-effort posts. 90% of the Top Posts from the last 3 months are all from the Chapotraphouse comm and DunkTank, with a random main or news post thrown in there. News is actually probably more active than Chat/Mutual Aid when you look at popular posts over time like that, but I can't find a legitimate capital e Effort post in the first 3 pages of the Top 3/6/9 months.
That's right.
Imo all the effortpost activity /c/news would have has just gone into the megathread. Which is too bad because unless someone reads the entire mega, they'll have no chance to see those effortposts, and a mega is a lot less easily searchable than a comm.
Yeah lol, sort by top/alltime and you will not see many effortposts. However if you sort by controversial... You get some juice.
Wish we had a function to sort for comments that wasn't just "most comments of all time"
On top of low effort being good (and if it isn't we need to get rid of a lot of comms and posts) they are also more likely to result in effortposts, than comms requiring effort. An explanation for what I mean can be parsed in this comment https://hexbear.net/comment/5610121
There was one person who created a Hexbear account because /c/the_dunk_tank was blocked on lemmy.ml.
I tried but then I broke something and couldn't log in.
It was solidly half the reason I did though. Just having a space on the internet where common, facist, liberal, reactionary, or racist ideas were challenged was so nice. You don't see that anywhere else, and Hexbear users were good at rebuking the bullshit posted.
Sometimes the log in function gets weird. but please make a new one! We love new comrades!
That was me. And probably other people. But also me.
Literally me forreal forreal!
Are you concerned that users of small accounts whose posts end up in the dunk tank are being harmed in some fashion?
Not at all - I just don't personally think it is really worth it/productive to throw some small account's tweets/posts into the dunktank; becomes a whole "are we dunking on this person to dunk on their objectively incorrect opinions/beliefs, or are we dunking on them specifically because OP saw their tweet and didn't like it?".
I personally was a big supporter of the 'must be famous/notable' rule at its inception specifically because I want to dunk on someone who I'm actually aware of, like any politician or 'famous' person, - not some random user who probably is 14 years old and just being edgy.
Okay, but there are some fabulous brain palaces being built over on live laugh love twitter. Things you wouldn't believe. Wonders of human delusion. Alternate realities built from civility and dreams. Wouldst thou dunk deliciously?
We know what the big guys do and think and this point. I find the weird shit the rank and file believe and say endlessly fascinating. All their weird delusions and distorted views of history and politics give hints in to whatever the hell is happening in the minds of liberals. It's like a jigsaw puzzle of misunderstanding.
Oh yeah for sure and the smaller accounts can absolutely be a window into their kind of delusion/thinking - which is why I am in support of keeping both Dunk & Dredge, they absolutely have their uses and shouldn't be just closed because "white cis culture" or whatever the underlying reason of the mod team is really.
I personally don't really care about being productive on hexbear. Hexbear is inherently not worth it/unproductive. It's weird to me to focus on the value produced by being active on this site, especially considering all we've done to silo this site off from most of the rest of the lemmy-space (not that I disagree with those actions, just... We wanted to create a chill safespace and now we suddenly want it to be a space of productivity or something?)
This is honestly kinda funny. Like the fact you are incapable of perceiving your own behaviour is starting to become kinda goofy. Seek help