Keep both but disallow off topic shitposting in news mega. On topic shitposting should be legal.

In typical western decadence hexbear has two liberal megathreads

Perhaps some perspective will help, because it is important to understand why we have the news megathread on Hexbear in the first place.

The news mega started off as Ukraine war daily megathread when Russia invaded Ukraine back in February 2022.

I don’t know if people still remember, but 2021 Hexbear was largely dominated by US-centric posts, many of which related to electoralism and soc dem related news in America (Bernie was still our socdem grandpa who got shoved by the DNC back then).

As the war in Ukraine dragged on beyond the first few weeks, people started to post about news and reactions from their respective countries in the Ukraine megathread, and the discussions that ensued attracted more international (non-US based) Hexbear users who gravitate towards non-US-centric news to congregate around the megathread and exchange their views.

Back then, if you post news or write up perspectives about left wing movements in your country, say Denmark, or South Africa, in any comm, you’d likely get very few engagements and would easily be drowned out by the rest of the US-centric posts. (This is still largely the case, today, I’d say, though the war in Ukraine has really forced a more international perspective on our American/Western comrades).

However, if you post them in the Ukraine megathread, people who are already interested in this kind of geopolitical affairs would be able to easily interact with them. You get a lot more engagements in the news mega than making separate posts in the news comm. It was then that people started to think we should probably turn the Ukraine megathread into a news megathread that provides a focus on non-US based global affairs (Comrade 72T was already posting tons of daily updates then, so the evolution of the megathread was completely natural at the time).

Since then, the news mega has grown into a niche enclave where the more international (read: non American) Hexbear users (and just based on vibes alone, a significant portion of them are non-white) congregate and hang out to share perspectives about their countries/regions. As familiarity and congeniality set in (I don’t recall even a single major struggle session occurring in the news mega since its very inception), it has cultivated a kind of sub-culture where some users understandably grew more comfortable expressing themselves in the news mega rather than the other places of the site, simply because of familiarity and the perceived safeness in the news mega.

What is happening in the news mega today (the memes and the shit-posting) is simply a natural progression of how the news mega came to being in Hexbear.

I am not saying it’s a good or a bad thing with respect to Hexbear in general, but it needs to be taken into considerations that some users may see the news mega as a space where they can safely express themselves, and most of the time without judgment or getting into arguments.

See, when you call one the News Megathread and the other the New Megathread I think you're doing it intentionally to confuse me specifically.

We should defederate with the News Megathread and have that be a seperate Hexbear.

Hexbear has been too unified these past few years and hasn't lead to an official splinter lemmy yet.

Hard disagree. The general megathread is mostly people microblogging while the news megathread is topical. Even the shitposting on the news megathread pertains to current events. Plus, I get the sense there's almost no overlap between the regulars of the two megathreads, so if shitposting gets banned in the news megathread, the regulars would just flood the_dunk_tank with posts shitting on Zionists. I don't see them posting their shitposts in the general megathread. So in a sense, the news megathread is also a containment area so the entire site doesn't get flooded with anti-Zionist memes.

slightly stricter moderation of the news mega would probably be good. but IMO the general mega should remain completely open to all topics, even ones that could go in the news mega as well

Death to America

As a newsmain regular, I've always liked how welcoming we've been when people get lost and post there, it's a good bit and nobody really gets bent out of shape over it. Understandable however if we want to breath some life into the other mega. I am torn comrades, each mega presents such unique value that their competition is regrettable :/ but perhaps I've just grown used to the status quo

Increased separation / moderation is the way to go IMO; with news-related shitposting being OK on the news megathread though (unless it eventually devolves into a majority of the content but that's far from the case right now).

Personal stuff, informal discussion, interest stuff, etc. in the general mega. Doubly so because venturing in the news mega means being exposed to really depressing stuff, and if the two ended up combined (organically or not) it'd become problematic.

The news mega must be protected from off-topic bloat and shitposting. A certain playful nature should be preserved if possible, but this is a secondary concern after sharing and discussing the news. Back when the news mega was often not pinned outside the news com, news was easier to gather and discuss on days where it wasn’t pinned.

I think news mega is great as is. Has its own sub-culture as someone else pointed out.

I go to the regular mega too but it’s like 50 percent gaming and anime references - cool if that’s your thing

News mega needs shitposting kept to a relevant minimum. Retvrn to general shitposting in the general mega

I think things are close to how they should be. Current events are consuming more of our attention and posting has shifted accordingly. Posts are mostly on topic, with the occasional person getting lost. I suppose when we escape the weeks where decades happen and return to the decades where weeks happen, the general megathread will return to normal activity.

As for tone, I like the topical memes in the news mega, but I support removing them if they become stale / reposts to reduce the noise a little.

This would result in the news megathread being more heavily moderated to actively remove comments that are a better fit for the general megathread or off topic.

good call

Yeah! That would be Main! We could get the general mega back to being a daily thing.

A bit more moderation in the news mega would be cool. Jokes or shit posts as a on topic reply to a comment are fun and we don't want the news mega to get too dry. I think top level shit posts in the news mega should be a no-no. ( jokes about squad aren't ever shit posts) Top level comments should be geo-political news and cometary only. Also reposts of the same links should be scrapped.

I don't really use the regular mega, I never really have, I doubt I ever really will, but I'd appreciate some heavier moderation in the news mega. It kinda sucks going to look for news/discussion/analysis only to have to collapse 17 threads commenting on the size of the thread or making a meme about something in their personal life or local streamer drama or discussing something that is not relevant to the news mega.

Also this sort of strikes me as relitigating the whole c/main drama from ages ago. There's a userbase on this site that aren't as interested in the megathread as it seems the modteam is, and that understanding leads to issues when we insist on making the mega into the main gathering spot. I'd urge you to just accept the mega ins't for everyone, and be happy instead that people are still using this site as a gathering spot.

I think the news shit posting should go in the general mega so we can get some news

The news mega can have little a shitposting, as a treat

This is a good idea. I always feel bad when I accidentally shit post in the news mega. How would you enforce it though? Comment removal seems like a lot of work. Maybe idk

As a regular, valued contributor to the news mega I think that the way the news mega is set up right now is totally fine, I wouldn't change a thing. In fact, please don't change a thing it's so perfect I read almost every post there (except the Scandinavian shit, who cares about those guys lol)

Regarding the general mega I read maybe half of the opening posts because they have an interesting topic. Don't read too much of the thread though, it's just too ephemeral. My only suggestion would be to spread the general mega over a couple of days, maybe 3 days for a try? That would make them stick around a little longer,which would be a good thing imo.

Thanks for setting up this debate, moderinos.

I don't mind how things currently are

Fuck the general mega it’s full of dweebs

The news mega is genuinely a better place I haven’t visited the mega in months

I'm for this, but I would advise caution with the heavier moderating, a "no off-topic" rule can be very toxic to a forum like this.

i have read the news mega almost every day for my stay here and i have personally found it a good bit more difficult to sift through all the comments to find the actual news in the last few months. i thought about bringing this up myself but didn't want to be a buzzkill.

i would appreciate if top level comments in the news mega were relevant to current news - doesn't have to be directly posting news but at least somehow related to current events. i think replies or sub-comments or whatever you call them are fine to be memes or joke responses or whatever and should be exempt - i don't want things to have to be serious in there and at least for me it's much easier to pass over the replies when looking for news than it is to search through the top level comments.

Simply make the general megathread into the general gigathread.

I don't think it's necessary to do anything.

Most posters understand the purpose of each megathread, other than the occasional accidental post.

Removing posts for reasons other than breaking site rules is kind of a lose lose IMO. More modding effort, more frustration for everyone involved. If people dont want to see non-news stuff in the general mega, stop upvoting it … many may be unaware that the news one is meant to be more news focused, so a PSA may suffice.

Is it caused by the thread size blowing up over palestine and will it return to norm without intervention when this is over? Hard to say.

Intervention might be better. I can't see a risk with intervening whereas not doing so risks death of the general mega.

If we’re going to have two they should be separated. Shitposting for the main and (semi) sound political analysis for the news mega

Sometimes the general mega of the day isn't pinned and I can't find it, which is when I (sometimes accidentally) shitpost on the news mega if it is pinned.

But I'd prefer to shitpost on the general mega, just keep it pinned nice and easy for like myself, ty.