Let me start off by saying, in my official admin capacity, that I really don't know if I want to be here anymore (see the problem outlined below). That has implications beyond me just deleting my account and going outside since I would not allow the instance to run unattended. I'm also unsure if my backup admin would have any interest in taking over full time.
If it does come to that, there will be a subsequent announcement and either a transition plan or a sunset plan.
That is still up in the air, but for now....
The Problem
I just wanted to take a moment here to address Lemmy's extremism problem / lynch-mob mentality and how DubVee is responding to that.
Last month, a new site rule was added expressly forbidding any form of extremism with regards to violence. Every rule is there for a reason, and this was added as a direct response to the increasingly violent rhetoric I've been seeing from users.
In full:
I don't care which end of the spectrum you're on. Any post/comment calling for or glorifying violence, especially political violence, will be removed. Offenders will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but bans will be the norm and swift for violating this rule.
After running reports against the database, there have been a very large number of bans issued in the last few days for both explicit and implicit violations of that rule:
Explicit Extremism
- Explicitly praising or justifying acts of violence
- Explicitly justifying / advocating for violence / "revolution" / whatever
- Suggesting, justifying, or advocating political violence, vigilantism, and/or breaking with the foundational principles of this country in order to "solve" a problem.
- Hypocritical posts/comments that amount to "Fascism / authoritarianism / whatever -ism is bad, but a little bit is okay when it's my side doing it"
- Stirring the pot by jumping into otherwise civil discussions and suggesting acts of violence (I'll admit, those were mostly new accounts and likely provocateur trolls seizing on current events, but established accounts are also guilty)
Implicit Extremism
- Patterns of upvoting or boosting posts/comments that explicitly praise, endorse, or advocate for violence (or any of the 'explicit' items above)
- Patterns of downvoting posts/comments that denounce violence or those that advocate for lawful/peaceful solutions.
Note: Before you cry "thought crime!" about issuing bans based on vote patterns, it is a well-known tactic for trolls to operate bot or sockpuppet accounts to manipulate votes to serve an agenda. Owing to the federated nature of Lemmy, this becomes easier to do and harder to detect since those can be distributed among different instances that have varying moderation, signup, monitoring, and administrative policies and procedures. So, no, I have no compunction about banning accounts that express support for extremism by way of voting; there's simply no straightforward way to tell bot from person from my point of view.
Even accounting for gallows humor, I must reiterate that extremism and violence are absolutely forbidden, and there will be zero tolerance shown.
While I'm aware there's a certain "mob mentality" inherent to social media in general, "lynch-mob mentality" will not be tolerated; we're better than that, and DubVee is not here to spread hate, violence, or fan the flames.
In Conclusion
If it turns out that we end up blocking 90% of the Fediverse because of this, then I'll just shut this whole instance down. DubVee, by way of federation, will not devolve to 4chan (or 8chan or wherever the shitty little edgelords post their green text nowadays), and I will (figuratively) burn it to the ground before it gets to that point.
What Can You Do as a User?
First and foremost, make sure you report any content that violates this rule and refrain from violating it yourself.
If you're seeing less comments than you were a few days ago or are no longer seeing content from certain users, this is most definitely why. You can check the modlog to see if someone you're expecting to see has been banned.
If you (local user) wish to challenge a ban and advocate for someone who has been blocked, you may send me a DM with your request, and I will review the account further (accounts were reviewed prior to banning, but it never hurts to take a second look).
If you have a problem with this rule and our enforcement of it, there's plenty of other instances you can choose from.