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submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by SovietCollie@lemmygrad.ml to c/comradeship@lemmygrad.ml

Hexbear's new head of operations just dropped, and their way of dealing with the fallout of their last struggle session is to hand bans out like candy to their concerned and disillusioned users while throwing out "epic" quips like insecure teenagers along the way coupled with their communication (and seemingly contempt) towards their own userbase which isn't helping their allegations at all and the revelations that were learned about Hexbear's moderators and admins from their most recent struggle session.

The last few days have honestly shaken my faith in Hexbear and their team and I hope the mods and admins at Lemmygrad are monitoring the situation closely.

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[-] PaX@hexbear.net 56 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Late-stage irony poisoning

In addition to the first ban wave which was partially a bit or something cuz people requested to be banned so TC69 used a random number generator but also entries in the modlog that have the RNG stuff weren't people who requested it??, some of our admins are now banning their alts as a bit to start drama, other obvious alts are coming out to call it out and continue more drama, there's more but...... you get the idea :/

Idk, this all started in an attempt to make our site more serious by replacing the_{dunk,dredge}_tank with higher effort alternatives and now that that didn't go through it's all a joke now

Honestly I may log off for a while too, is not rly that funny to me :/ People on this site have literally fed me and my friend, kept us out of overdraft status on bank accts, I learned so much from reading stuff here or books I learned about from here, people have been housed cuz of this site, someone nearby legit offered to take care of one of my irl friend's pets when he was homeless for a bit, I met new friends here that I talk to every day. It's not a political party but it's not just a giant shitpost either, so idk where this is going :/

I'm sure this looks even worse from the outside wowee, but it's okay, site has survived worse

Like FuckyWucky mentioned, there is a lot of talking going on behind the scenes and no one outside rly knows what is going on sooooo..... we see what happens I guess

[-] Alunyanners@lemmygrad.ml 48 points 3 weeks ago

this all started in an attempt to make our site more serious

...why? Lemmygrad was right there in the corner.

Hexbear always gave me a party vibe, Lemmygrad - a library.

[-] Kuori@hexbear.net 24 points 3 weeks ago

the admins seem to have wanted HB to be more serious for a long time now, well before federation.

LG is also not a left unity space the way HB is. it would only be a suitable fit for some (admittedly likely most) of our users.

[-] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago

the admins seem to have wanted HB to be more serious for a long time now, well before federation.

They should lead by example.

[-] Kuori@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago

sure, i agree with that. i think i'd personally rather they just dropped the notion altogether, or even just accept that you can have both in the same space with little detriment.

mostly i just wish they weren't doing...whatever this is.

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[-] DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml 46 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I feel the same. Ironically the mod's attempts to make the site more "serious" is probably just going to do the opposite. I've spoken at length about this before, but you don't get people to learn and discuss leftist theory by insisting it is always serious business and you aren't allowed to joke around or acknowledge how fucked up our capitalist society is.

It'll just chase people away, which is a shame, though that might be a "win" as far as the mods are concerned. There's plenty of "serious" leftist groups out there with half a dozen members with their own very specific interpretation of theory with 0 fun allowed, but I can't really think of anywhere else quite like Hexbear. I don't want to see them become yet another insular "leftist" space that is actively hostile to people who don't take themselves as seriously as the world's most dedicated Internet Leftists.

I'm probably overreacting though, as others have said, this isn't the first time mods on Hexbear have gone full reddit mod and won't be the last.

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[-] sudo_halt@lemmygrad.ml 46 points 3 weeks ago

I am once again asking a bunch of fringe online leftists to stop being so delulu as to think themselves as the new international vanguard ffs

[-] 666@lemmygrad.ml 35 points 3 weeks ago

This too. The serious platform shit is not happening. You scroll down to the bottom of Hexbear, click a link and you get a picture of a pig pooping on it's own balls.

The entire space is literally synonymous with that. The Pig Poop Balls Vanguard isn't gonna be a thing.

[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 33 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah it's crazy to try and make Hexbear ultra serious when the whole reason many people even found and like us is because we made fun of terrible right-wingers and making light of the hell world we live in.

[-] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 45 points 3 weeks ago

As someone with a 2 year old account, I have no fucking clue. What started out as misgivings over two comms being replaced has metastasized into whatever the fuck this is. It seems like there are contradictions that had existed since /r/chapotraphouse that were never fully resolved. I don't know exactly what because I only occasionally lurked /r/chapotraphouse way back in the day. Mix in all these 2 month alts of people who claim to have been around since /r/chapotraphouse and it comes off as a bizarre mess. It really does feel like people with 5+ year old grudges beefing at this point.

Anyways, this is yet another case of the news mega being the best part of Hexbear.

[-] SovietCollie@lemmygrad.ml 36 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Anyways, this is yet another case of the news mega being the best part of Hexbear.

Facts. I only really go on Hexbear for the news mega, I'd personally don't want to lose it because a bunch of admins wanted to make Hexbear their own fiefdom.

EDIT: Even though I rarely go on the TheDunkTank if at all, I do hope they get their comm reinstated.

[-] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 28 points 3 weeks ago

Realistically, if we somehow lose the news mega, we'll just move to lemmygrad.

And the news mega actually tries to implement some form of democratic centralism:

It turns out people are less likely to get mad at major changes if they're actually the one submitting and voting on those changes.

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[-] tripartitegraph@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I appreciate the occasional dunk, but I'm basically only going to use the news mega anymore. Big fat unforced L from the admins/mods

[-] multitotal@lemmygrad.ml 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Same thing that destroyed leftypol years ago: immature mods, cliques and egos.

[-] Alunyanners@lemmygrad.ml 35 points 3 weeks ago

man why are leftist spaces online like this? feels like they're too busy shooting themselves on the foot constantly to get their shit together while fascism and reich-wingers are taking over everything.

at least this isn't a problem in the grad from what i've seen (and hopefully never will)

[-] multitotal@lemmygrad.ml 42 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

man why are leftist spaces online like this?

They don't start off this way. People usually start-up communities out of genuine passion, but as time goes on the only people willing to babysit/moderate the community are people who spend a lot of time on the internet already. Eventually, the whole mod team becomes people who do nothing else but chat about the community/forum. As they reinforce each other, in their minds the importance of their community/forum grows. No longer is it a fun internet site, now it's serious business, and that means that bad actors want to destroy. Then they give themselves carte blanche to "protect" the community. Naturally, with that kind of mindset anyone who disagrees with them is a potential threat, everyone who posts could be a bad actor in disguise, pretending so as to gain the community's trust.

What do you get? An insular, paranoid community, resistant to change, distrustful of new people, ruled by a mod clique with their own agenda.

I don't know enough about Hexbear to make a judgment, those are just my general observations, but from little I've seen I think it is happening there too. The whole "I wasn't lying to you users! It was all a sneaky ruse!" bit is actually sus, feels like damage control after being found out. The HB mods have clearly made their decision without the community and now they're trying to find a way to frame the change so that it doesn't piss off the userbase and result in them losing power or worse losing the userbase over whom they lord over. I haven't seen an apology to the effect of "maybe we were wrong to delete the community" or "maybe we should have consulted the userbase", it's all "sorry we handled it poorly" and "I'm sorry we're bad at communicating!" Very disingenuous.

[-] Beetle@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I don’t think it’s fair to put it all on people who spend a lot of time on the internet. I’m very online due to a chronic illness and know what it’s like to depend on an online community to interact with people. Mod abuse happens due to too big fragile ego, simple as.

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[-] Aradina@lemmy.ml 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It seems they're just trying to memory hole it now.

The newest statement claims everyone was unbanned, which isn't true. The sockpuppet being used for the new post claims that it was all drama over the AlaskaBall misgendering and banning, which isn't true. So here's my extremely biased version of events(They banned me for opposing their bullshit, thus creating this bias.)

The mods wanted to rename the dunk tank, due to the racist origins, but due to federation reasons renaming communities doesn't work properly, so they locked it and the dredge tank entirely and replaced them with poorly defined pseudo-replacements.

People question this choice and are given a mod statement that misgenders most of the website at the same time, and contains a self-harm reference without a CW.

People question this post and the admin that acted as the mouthpiece steps down. The thread is locked and a new one is made.

Basically no one wanted that and most people want the admin back. The admin comes back.

AlaskaBall bans themself from a new alt, and then when questioned on it, misgenders themself. This was the misunderstanding element of this.

Stuff blows up massively now, since an admin seems to have done something very transphobic and uncool.

Another thread is made, where dissenting voices are banned for three days. One of these bans is reversed and no longer shows in the mod log.

TC69 does a "joke" and posts offering random bans to replies, she then bans people who don't reply to that post with the same message.

This is around when this thread is made.

Then another thread, using a brand new admin alt, claims that the bans have been reversed (they haven't)

https://hexbear.net/u/DengistDonnieDarko

https://hexbear.net/u/morte

https://hexbear.net/u/chair

https://hexbear.net/u/TerribleHands

https://hexbear.net/u/REgon

And the rest (me) remain banned. Only four of the banned users are actually unbanned.

People have already pointed out that the bans haven't actually been removed.

Overall, the Hexbear admin team shoved a stick into their own bike wheel and are blaming he/hims, despite the obvious fact that can be seen by checking the pronouns of those linked users (and me).

edit: I'm unbanned now

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[-] Parsani@hexbear.net 43 points 3 weeks ago
[-] 666@lemmygrad.ml 38 points 3 weeks ago

My take?

It's all dumb. Admins didn't communicate effectively, made changes without making most of the community aware of it on a timescale that should have been days; as most of these discussions should be. A good chunk of the community is irate. Random bans are a method of obfuscation, all though I am doubting that's actually what is happening here.

Regardless, it is a website and we have this space here.

TC69 immediately sets off red flags for me. It's one thing to return and welcome yourself back; but the passive language they're using suggests that they view themselves as some sort of cult of personality figure already, reinforcing the thoughts some have about that concern. The "random number ban" thing is literally just a flex of power, joking or not. I've seen that happen so, so many times in communities. It's the same thing as "Who wants to get a bop on the head from my baton?". Sure, it's a joke.

There are already quite a few complaining about moderation style from times past and upon immediate return they make a comment on how the "website has improved" yet still needs an entire overhaul/COC. REgon, usa_suxxx is banned, all though unsure if that is changed now. Also, the thread was locked on that discussion.

It's all just red flags. Maybe it'll be a good thing, maybe not. To me, Hexbear did a really good job already on cracking down on shitlibs and misogynistic fucks. Where the hell is this rampant offenses occurring? I don't doubt we have some idiots wander in and that things were worse before, but this is being treated like we have an active crisis in Hexbear. Which, I don't really get.

If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to be wrong and I'll be more understanding of TC69's more heavy-handed approach to moderation. But is there like some mass DM-harassment campaign I'm unaware of?

[-] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 36 points 3 weeks ago

Everything under heaven is in chaos; the situation is excellent.

[-] DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 36 points 3 weeks ago

To prevent Hexbear's internal struggle from spilling over to here and detailing this thread as a whole, we will be locking it. A lot has been said already in the comments and we feel like we are involved in Hexbear too little to a) contribute positively and b) moderate reports that require knowledge on Hexbear lore.

I think I can safely say that we hope Hexbear manages to overcome their internal issues again.

[-] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 34 points 3 weeks ago

I'm not familiar with what goes on there, so as an outsider, the fact that in skimming, some of the replies make more sense to me than the admin/mod posts doesn't seem like a great sign for their leadership. Comes across like they're acting based on vibes and don't want to provide substantive examples to back up what they're doing.

[-] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 33 points 3 weeks ago

I don't get much of it either. My guess is there is a lot of talk going on behind the scenes.

I don't think a purge right now is necessary especially given that the user count is pretty stagnant.

It was all working fine. Splitting dunk tank into dredge tank was a good idea but idk why they removed and renamed it all together.

[-] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 40 points 3 weeks ago

They said it was because “dunk tank” has racist origins, which it does, but idk I felt it was pretty excessive anyway. Almost nobody alive today even knows that and those that do are aware that it’s a term that hasn’t been used for over a century. It’s not even the same game anymore.

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[-] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 31 points 3 weeks ago
[-] DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 30 points 3 weeks ago

I know I'm an admin myself and I do try to take it somewhat seriously but if I ever find myself in a situation like that and talking like that I will probably log off for good lol

I don't have a hexbear account and never visit the place so I can't add a meaningful comment about the situation but it seems like constructive talk was never an option

[-] absolutefuckinidiot@lemmygrad.ml 28 points 3 weeks ago

Based only on reading this thread I find this all very confusing and unnecessary, but this is the sort of strange niche drama that only small independent message boards can offer, just not the same on corporate social media, sorta gotta love it.

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[-] lorty@lemmygrad.ml 28 points 3 weeks ago

I'm honestly impressed they thought the changes would be well received. Aren't those communities the nost active in the site?

[-] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago
[-] NewOldGuard@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Feels like the admin/mod team is trying to tank the site ffs. Just making completely out of touch incoherent decisions behind closed doors, getting mad that people push back on popular communities being closed and just calling us all cis white chauvinists for wanting these comms, and then mass banning people for criticizing them and making jokes of the bans to obfuscate what they’re doing. It’s exhausting, I just want my cozy leftist social space but instead I’m at the whimsy of power tripping internet mods who think they’re reforming our shitposts into the vanguard one top down decision at a time

Edit: it seems like things are settling but good lord some of the admins were on some fuck shit. Such a small disagreement turned into such a huge blow up with weird cross instance admin intrigue and transphobic adjacent shit. I thought I was terminally online…

[-] NeelixBiederman@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago

i-spil-my-jice

No mods no masters

[-] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Oh now we're cookin with gas

EDIT 4: I'm locking the thread. I tried my best to give some decent paths forward amidst the chaos. Someone else can deal with this.

It will blow over soon enough, it always does

[-] Gribbli@lemmygrad.ml 22 points 3 weeks ago

Not sure if I saw many paths forward being presented lol, but ok. I'll be interested to see how it shakes out...from a safe distance I think

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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2024
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Comradeship // Freechat

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