"Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and uproot from our land but from our minds as well." - Frantz Fanon
Hello users of Hexbear, the intent of this announcement is two-fold the first is that we would like to do another community moderator drive, if you have a community idea or want to help an existing one then please send an application either through hexbear or matrix direct message.
The call for new mods is crucial to our efforts to reduce racism and misogyny on the site, we need users to report and enough mods to be able to quickly act on the reports throughout the day and night. Also, CW or content warnings are essential to the safe browsing of Hexbear.
In addition, comments or posts removed for racist or misogyny will also be accompanied by escalating temporary bans. Upvotes will not be the single reason for a ban, however they may be used in conjunction with other posts/comments/upvotes. Consider this post the warning, however, mods are encouraged to reach out to hexbear users before a long duration ban.
The second is to increase transparency with regard to the site while not repeating the mistakes of previous attempts that were ultimately counterproductive, in part due to wreckers.
Previous attempts to increase site transparency and user participation were targeted by wreckers through increasing the intensity and frequency of struggle session drama.
Using matrix's increased level of user permissions as an anti-wrecking measure while having an increased barrier to sending messages with a clear process to gaining the ability to send messages, we hope to mitigate wrecking attempts.
Leading to the creation of the Hexbear Proposals chapo.chat matrix room.
This will be a place for site proposals and discussion before implementation on the site.
Every proposal will also be mirrored into a pinned post on the hexbear community. Any other ideas for helping to integrate the two spaces are welcome to be commented here or messaged to me directly.
Within Hexbear Proposals you can see the history of all site proposals and react to them, indicating a vote for or against a proposal.
Sending messages will be restricted to verified and active hexbear accounts older than 1 month with their matrix id in their hexbear user profile.
All top level messages within the channel must be a Proposals (idea for changing the site), Feedback (regarding non-technical aspects of the site, for technical please use https://hexbear.net/c/feedback), or Appeals (regarding admin/moderator actions).
Discussion regarding these will be within nested threads under the post.
To gain matrix verification, all you need to do is navigate to my hexbear userprofile and click the send a secure private message including your hexbear username.
In closing, I want to state that this site would not exist without the volunteer labor of the moderators, who I am deeply grateful for.
I would also like to take this moment to remind people that lemmy direct messages are not encrypted, and finally please use this post to discuss these changes, share community ideas, or express interest in moderation.
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)
Element information
Element is a messaging app that lets you talk to people over the Matrix
protocol.
To get started, check out this link, where you can choose to either download Element for your platform or, if on a computer, open it in a browser.
The instructions that follow are for the desktop application and the web application, but the process is similar on all apps:
Press "Create Account"
We host our own Matrix server, so if you want you can change matrix.org to chapo.chat.
This is completely optional; users who sign up with a matrix.org username can still talk to people with chapo.chat username.
(Note: It is chapo.chat, not hexbear.net. Also, registrations aren't always open on chapo.chat; if they're not, just create an account on matrix.org)
Fill in a username and password
Hit register, and you're done!
I'd just like to say I love all my hexbears. I hate seeing what has been going on lately because this place is the only good thing on the internet. I hope we are able to emerge from these struggle sessions stronger and better but I'm having a hard time holding on to my bloomerism.
Fuck it close all the comms and embrace Megathreadism! Nothing bad ever happens in a Megathread. (this is a joke... mostly)
The megas are actually the problem, but a lot of people aren't ready for that discussion.
My anxiety is telling me that people hate the main site because I post there
I've been sticking to the news mega too much, but unlike the main site posters like you. It's funny, because I was anti-mega-thread when we first starting launching them, and I still kind of am depsite sticking almost solely the news mega now.
I love the Megas I just keep forgetting about them because I'm very very scatterbrained
I actually think the megas have hindered the growth of this site and sense of community, despite primarily being a news mega user lol. Also I get forgetting about them. I have basically stopped posting in other comms, which I kinda regret
i think what hinders growth is ppl feeling like theyre getting bullshitted
example:
https://hexbear.net/post/3894195
someone posted reddit screen shot about food in the food comm. perfectly logical right? ppl enjoyed it and there were quite a few comments and upvotes. there weren’t even any arguments in the thread. what a great day on the internet.
just kidding asshole, it’s a reddit screenshot, wrong comm, post removed.
I’m really indulging by engaging in this meta discussion i’m not sure how strongly i feel about any of this but this is just my vibe assessment. I think part of the answer might be: it’s very straightforward on how to post in the megathread as opposed to the hoops required to post on the rest of the site
You'd think that, but go try and figure out where to post a joke about a current news event. The general will remove it for belonging in the news mega, and the news mega will remove it because the mods of the news mega have decided that it's now only for "serious discussion". There's a bunch of mods here who have started taking this site way too seriously.
If I had a post taken down like that I wouldn't be reposting it. Id be annoyed and just avoid that comm.
Hell no
NO you're silly and great
Nah your shitposts are funny and bring some welcome levity.
i love your posts and you and @[email protected] are why ive never had to become a megathreader
Your anxiety is a fucking dick! If I could I'd punch it for making you feel
The best I can do is say that I find your posting very enjoyable.
I barely ever comment, but will absolutely pop out of the woodwork to join the chorus.
Your posting always gives me little bits of joy in my day, and the community is much better for having you in it
You bring general mega energy to the main site. Cowbee and other well read comrades bring news mega energy to the main site. Etc. etc.
Keep doing what you're doing
I Bring a Badposting mega energy to the main site.
You're generally pretty positive and I'm never unhappy to see owlposting.
Incorrecto
You're my favourite owl and this site would be worse without you
Your owlposting brightens my day
not true!!! i always enjoy your posting!
You joke, but all the good content is in the various megas. The main site is just cheap dunks and pointless drama at this point.
Someone has to step up and post better. I'm trying, are you?
New mega is the only mega
I do feel like the site needs a shake up. The users are good people but there is stagnation that I think is causing unrest.
That's just real life stagnation and depression creeping in. No idea what this website could possibly do about that though.
We would love to hear you and other users thoughts on what needs to change. Part of this new change is to make it easier for users to do so
A few UI changes that might be nice but probably need to be done on the lemmy side: a mark as read button that sorts the comment to the bottom. and a "mark as followed" which sorts that comment to the top and a panel on the home page that shows your followed comments/posts to keep track of the things you'd like to discuss more.
I'll keep thinking but you are asking us to come up with a way to make the best place on the internet better. Its a tall order.
Great ideas, there is a current lemmy git issue regarding the marking a comment as read. The latter function you are describing sounds like the star "save" icon under a comment.
While the Megathreads are great, encouraging posts outside of them would be nice as well
please and thank you, i dont begrudge megathreads or anything but i dont really 'get' them and i have to believe there are dozens of us
I mean the territory outside of megas is like 90% memes, dunks, and struggle sessions. Nothing against comrades who enjoy that kind of thing but I rarely feel the incentive to engage with that kind of post much
I don't mind those posts, but I'd also like more variety outside the megas. Hence the desire for more fullfledged posts
Hexbear themed Uncle Sam: “I want you to post”
Please just take away the like button like you did the dislike button. It will save time if upvotes can lead to accidental purges.