this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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MeanwhileOnGrad

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"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"

Welcome to MoG!


Meanwhile On Grad


Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!


What is a Tankie?


Alternatively, a detailed blog post about Tankies.

(caution of biased source)


Basic Rules:

Sh.itjust.works Instance rules apply! If you are from other instances, please be mindful of the rules. — Basically, don't be a dick.

Hate-Speech — You should be familiar with this one already; practically all instances have the same rules on hate speech.

Apologia(Using the Modern terminology for Apologia) No Defending, Denying, Justifying, Bolstering, or Differentiating authoritarian acts or endeavours, whether be a Pro-CCP viewpoint, Stalinism, Islamic Terrorism or any variation of Tankie Ideology.

Revisionism — No downplaying or denying atrocities past and present. Calling Tankies shills, foreign/federal agents, or bots also falls under this rule. Extremists exist. They are real. Do not call them shills or fake users as it handwaves their extremism.

Tankies can explain their views but may be criticised or attacked for them. Any slight infraction on the rules above will immediately earn a warning and possibly a ban.

Off-topic Discussion — Do not discuss unrelated topics to the point of derailing the thread. Stay focused on the direct content of the post as opposed to arguing.

You'll be warned if you're violating the instance and community rules. Continuing poor behaviour after being warned will result in a ban or removal of your comments. Bans typically only last 24 hours, but each subsequent infraction will double the amount. Depending on the content, the ban time may be increased. You may request an unban at any time.


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I joined lemmy after reddit API changes, as many people did. At first, it was amazing. The community felt so alive, so friendly and welcoming. Obviously, the activity wasn't exactly as large as it was on reddit, but I was patient, I knew more stuff was coming, and I was excited for it.

Unfortunately, this period would not last long. It would not last even a week until I got into my first argument with a tankie. I saw them and argued with them from time to time on reddit, but people there usually saw right through the bullshit and downvoted them to oblivion.

Here, it was so much different. They were all upvoted and supported by hordes more tankies. Constant genocide denial in China, support for Ruzzia, and somehow, for North Korea.

In retrospect, I should have left then, abandoned lemmy then and there, not really return to reddit, just leave both alone. I would have saved myself some sanity.

But I didn't, which I regret. I wasted my time here, constantly seeing this bullshit, and sometimes, I didn't even have the motivation or energy to argue with them.

The amount of genocide denial, dictatorship praising, and insane arguments I've seen in a month blew past the amount of this shit I've seen on reddit in a fucking decade.

I don't see the future in this, none whatsoever. Lemmy will be here, but it will always stay a tankie hellhole unless you block thousands of people and whole instances. And if you do, the tankies will always just migrate to other instances to keep spreading hate.

You guys are awesome. Keep doing what you are doing, but I am tired of this bullshit and I am done.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 week ago (2 children)

While I have my run ins with tankies sometimes, I actually don’t think it’s that bad. Join an instance that blocks lemmygrad and hexbear, ignore lemmy.ml or block it too and you’re golden.

That’s the power of fediverse, it’s flexibility.

Also tankies have a strong foothold on Lemmy, because they were here first. But they are not as numerous as you or they themself think. Watch them outside of their safespace communities and see them downvoted into oblivion.

[–] fartsparkles 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The fact you can block an instance where communities reside that you have issues with is incredible!

It’s like if Reddit gave you a feature to block a subreddit and all the users that subscribed to it in one single action.

Edit: OP should try creating an account on different instances? For instance on the instance hosting the community that just posted this to..?

I have several accounts and sh.itjust.works has been doing a stellar job with managing the toxicity from leaking into this instance.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Yes, absolutely! The ability to do that immensely valuable.

I actually don’t like to use it too much, because I like to see whats going on and don’t want to lock myself into a bubble.

But my instance is thankfully defederated from lemmygrad and hexbear and I think about blocking .ml too. I think nothing of worse will be lost.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

lemmy.cafe blocks the big three and has good uptime

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's nice here on instances which have both Grad and Hexbear blocked. I remember the early days on .world, when Grad was still federated. Those were some high-intensity dipshits.

Anyway, you do what you need to for your mental health, my guy/gal/nonbinary pal. If ever you change your mind, most of us brainrotted terminally online types will still be here when you come back - and hopefully will have continued to marginalize the tankie fuckwads.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Lemmy.cafe is pretty cool with ML blocked, though I’ve noticed a seepage of tankies into .world and lemmee unfortunately

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Really? I've noticed a decline in tankies, at least in the long-term. I remember when World News and Political Memes still had significant tankie contingents. Like, 1/5 comments/votes were tankies. Now it's more like 1/10. There are just a handful of prolific tankie or tankie-adjacent posters which linger, like a fart in an elevator.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

I like the elevator comparison.

But I often posts memes that get from a couple hundred to a thousand upvotes, and every time, atleast 15%-20% of my notifications are crazy tankie takes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

You can take a sure bet that a number where just here for the US election cycle. Their job is done so time to move onto the next topic to stoke outrage over.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

lemm.ee is one of two other instances that I've seen a high frequency of Tankies as well, even in this very thread.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago

I took a look at your profile and I think they aren’t the actual problem here. I mean, yes. Their dicksucking of dictators is strong. Like, holy shit! Go easy of the slurping, boys!

But if you waste your time in places where they are dominant, you’re gonna have a bad time no matter what. You should avoid those places or (even better) learn to not give that much of a fuck what others say online. Online communities should not be able to have a significantly negative impact on your mental wellbeing.

I hope you find a bit of relief. Take care!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago (8 children)

There's plenty of instances that block the 2 tankie instances and even .ml. This is a self-inflicted problem.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yo Mate don't take what you see here so seriously, block .ml and stop looking at your phone. You'll be doing yourself a favour.

I have been in more arguments here than on reddit but I think it has more to do with the fact that I have a certain attachment to this federated platform.

I really want its model to succeed and when I see toxicity here it hurts way more than when it's on reddit/Facebook etc...

A lot of people are here in their own safezone so the moment you disturb someone even so slightly they go berserk.

it's hard to respect shitty opinions but it's best for you to just avoid and block. Real life is stressful enough you don't need to stress yourself more online.

[–] Grandwolf319 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Everytime I see these posts and comments I think:

“Where????”

I’ve seen 10 times more people complaining about tankies than actual tankies denying genocide. In fact, I can’t seem to think back to a single instance of someone denying China’s past acts.

Do you guys go to different instances or do you sort by controversial?

My issue with lemmy is that it basically become super political (thank you US election for ruining media again).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

“Where???”

Any active political thread about China.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

May I suggest trying out

lemmy.cafe

(which blocks ML too, on top of grad and hexbearg)

and only subscribing to non-political communities

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We need a Lemmy tankie blocklist.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I sometimes might block a little too liberally, so perhaps some of the people here are just TANKIE LIGHT^TM^ but I think 95% of my blocks are full blown tankies, and if instance is ML I won’t do any due diligence, instant block when you say something sketchy.

[–] Noel_Skum 13 points 1 week ago

“…and sometimes, I didn't even have the motivation or energy to argue with them.”

May I suggest just ignoring things (words, NOT actions) you don’t agree with? I don’t go to churches / temples / mosques / synagogues etc to yell at believers. I don’t post hunting photos in vegan and veterinarian subs. It takes two to tango.

In my personal experience I see much less “debatability” coming from (some) .world accounts - but I understand user experience varies massively from person to person.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

I blocked ml and hexbear and rarely encounter them now. When I do, I block the user individually. It’s made lemmy delightful, frankly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

just subscribe and block man. in a buffet you don't have to taste everything. grab what you want. I block magazines im even just not interested in like sports so that when I do all I don't have to see them. there is a wierd view people have that subscribing is great and blocking is bad. if someone subscribes to stuff and never looks at all then its the same as if they blocked everything except what they subscribed to. Its all just filtering.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

That's the thing with the fediverse. You end up getting instances where certain beliefs are held more strongly. The solution is to go somewhere where those instances are just straight up defederated (or ask your instance admin to do something). This does result in the instances who remain federated seeing less push-back against extremist views.

On the fediverse you're more in control of what you're able to see through your choice of instance, which affects the "all" view, and which comments show up on posts, obviously defederated instances' comments won't be there; who you follow or what communities you subscribe to, and your block lists.

If your instance chose not to do anything about tankie instances (or individual tankie accounts), then that's on your instance and its admins, not Lemmy as a whole.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

You can try https://lemmy.cafe

Ml, grad and Hexbear are defederated.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On Reddit it was more so the Nazis, while here it's the Tankies that rule the bullshit narratives. And the mod abuse here is also very similar to that on Reddit, which is worrying because the platform is small enough where moderation would be comparatively easier.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Mod abuse happens because of the power given to mods and the expectations of the communities they are in. Lemmy did nothing to update how mods work.

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[–] IcyToes 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

I'm a leftie, but not a tankie. I'm not a fan of autocracy, or defending atrocities. Tankies are misguided but there are many decent communists, even if I do not agree with their views.

On Reddit, the Overton window is way over to the right. You make the point their posts are downvoted to oblivion. Of course with that, any left wing view is often down voted to oblivian. In a space where it is left leaning, like Lemmy, you don't get that and you have a more diverse debate. You'll get liberals over on .world engaging with communists, socialists and tankies. Some can handle a site where left wing views are allowed. Some won't. You have a block feature where you can block, grad, hexbear and even lemmy.ml if you're really struggling to digest left views.

If not, maybe your views are more rightwards than you realise and that bias on reddit is more comfortable. If that is the case, it may be better for you over there.

I personally don't get how people cannot understand that people have different views, especially in different countries. I'm left in the UK, a socialist, and sometimes Americans think that is a euthenism for communism because they cannot comprehend that the state can have a role in reducing inequality.

You highlight that genocide denial is rampant, but I see here people comfortable to be critical of Israel's treatment of Palestine. I think only some genocides/atrocities you want to see discussed.

Either way, I hope you find an environment you're comfortable in. Not everything has to be a battle.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

The genocide denial is very selective. If a "western nation" involved. You'll generally see widespread near universal condemnation. Should you dare to point out other genocides, historical or contemporary with leninist, Maoist, Stalinist ties. Be ready for strong tonal whiplash. Because apparently it's only genocide when capitalists do it. When those groups do it, it's a noble involuntary sacrifice for the proletariat by the benevolent vanguard party.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Can someone fill me into what a tankie is? I'm a progressive socialist, so do I fit that category? I'm genuinely in the dark about it

OP just seems mad that this is a communist safe zone

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

I’m a progressive socialist, so do I fit that category? I’m genuinely in the dark about it

No. In fact, they would regard progressive socialists as 'controlled opposition'. Tankies are typically Marxist-Leninists who constantly play apologia for fascist states painted red, like China and North Korea, and will always find some reason why fascist states not even painted red, like Russia, are Good, Actually, because they oppose the West.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I don't think I've actually blocked any individual for a reason other than being an outright troll in the pure post-2-piss-off sense or a spambot.

The thing to remember with the extreme left or right is that they're about as credible as the drunk on the corner ranting and raving about aliens putting mind control chips in their breakfast cereal.

I've engaged with them a bit too much at length occasionally, particularly on former accounts, but often as not it's for the novelty of a freak show spectacle.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I find the tankies entertaining personally

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