transnationalmaoist

Is there a specific actionable policy change (or several) the admins could make to fix this issue?

Yes I already suggested it in my original comment: make those low effort comms invisible by default (i.e. opt-in) so that people who are just lurking/logged out/newcomers don't get bombarded by them.

On #2, again, they aren’t “drowning out” other posts just because there’s sometimes a lot of them, they also have to get upvotes and comments to be featured, and they all decay in the rankings in the same way, it’s all going through the same simplistic sort algorithm. This case could be made about any of our posts not just the most frivolous ones. Don’t post or upvote or comment on anything even remotely unserious, because other things are more important? Is that the kind of site we want to be, or what brought people here?

They are, they absolutely are. This didn't happen a year ago, or two years ago. The number of super low effort "shit" posts has absolutely increased. And making it a "personal responsibility" thing by saying "just don't upvote" is very patronizing. We don't tolerate that when it comes to racist/misogynist/etc. stuff by saying "just ignore that stuff don't upvote it." That's some reddit shit.

On #3, don’t you think it’s cruel to call out specific people for having an “addiction” in your words, and using the site to cope?

I'm just calling it as I see it. I've seen users describe other users as XYZ/whatever based on their comments so why am I not allowed that same right?

I nor the mod team are at the place of giving up on trying to resolve the contradiction without ceding to one side or the other as i would encourage anyone who doesn’t like the shitposting side to make a lemmygrad account.

So I already explained what should be done (make those comms invisible by default, i.e. make them op-in) and I explained why this must be done: because it causes direct harm to comrades looking for mutual aid by drowning out their posts. AND THE MUTUAL AID COMM IS ON HEXBEAR, NOT LEMMYGRAD FFS. If the mods can take certain stances on certain topics, for ex luigi lionizing, then they can certainly take a stand on dumb shit like these low effort comms.

We have in the code of conduct that we are not a mental health service, but I think that a safe space to open up about the silly, non-serious sides of ourselves is a healthy thing, besides if you don’t like it you can block the community or use the subscribed view this allows people to see what hexbear is about at first look and then curate to their tastes if need be.

Again I explained that many, possibly most, people who browse the site are not logged in and thus are forced to see this shit (sometimes posts about literal shit). Did you actually read what I wrote?

Also the whole "actually iF YoU reAD the COde of ConDUCT" thing reminds me of how libs would defend Biden/Kamala by saying "actually if you read the policy proposal on the web site you would see that they are very committed to XYZ." In other words, please don't insult us with this cop out "if you read the manual" answer. Who reads that? Please think about this seriously and don't use the lib "read the fine print" shit. It's insulting.

badposting and power-posters are a part of the site culture and I personally would rather keep that than give that up for the sake of more people

And if this site culture actually does harm? As I explained before? I surely can't think of other times the "culture" of a place hasn't harmed ppl (/s). You literally posted this thread as a meta to air grievances, and when I pointed out that some of them are basically hand-waved away, you then proceeded to do exactly that. SMH.

I would say based on the popularity of badposting that most people on the site would disagree but I’m open to being wrong.

Yeah I mean McDonald's, right wing podcasts, and a whole slew of toxic shit is "popular" so it disappoints me to see this being used as a justification. And I know for a fact that the mods will shut down "popular" discussion if it goes against what they believe in (again look at the luigi struggle session)

I must say I'm disappointed by your response. It seems like the mods and power posters are indeed one big clique and if you're not in it, then you're an outsider who has to justify their grievances (only to be shit on). Sad indeed.

EDIT/UPDATE: It's clear that this is a lost cause, so I'm out.

Oh boy, so much to say

1. The "Schrodiner's Hexbear" Problem

There's still an unresolved contradiction between "this is just a shitposting site" and "this is a place where comrades are serious and feel safe, etc." The worst part is that both these statements are used almost arbitrarily in a weaponized way. What I mean is, if someone raises a concern (but that concern doesn't really strike the mods/power posters as important), then they'll be dismissed with the "tHiS iS jUsT a ShItPoStInG obscure internet forum, dID YoU rEaLlY eXPecT a SeRIOuS DiSCUssION hurrrr durrrr." But on the other hand, if it's a topic that the mods/power posters are personally interested in dealing with, then all of a sudden it becomes "all hands on deck! this is Defcon 9000! We need to make sure we have a huge struggle session!" It's a weird Motte and Bailey that's used to basically gaslight people to only care about certain concerns over others. Very harmful.

Which is sort of tied with the next thing:

2. The badposting, fakenews, slop, communities NEED TO BE HIDDEN BY DEFAULT

There are soooo many low-effort posts that it is ACTUALLY HARMFUL TO COMRADES. What do I mean by this? I mean that there are so many posts that it drowns out actual mutual aid posts for comrades either in the West and sadly, those who ask for help in Gaza. It also drowns out good discussions and insteads puts another "BIT IDEA: what if I stick a pineapple up my ass and then shit it out? Would I get a chocolate bloody mary pina colada?!? BEANIS BEANIS BEANIS" at the top of the feed. I'd be willing to bet that most people aren't logged in when they browse the site. I'm certainly not gonna log in from my phone if I'm away from a computer (for obvious op-sec reasons) so no, I can't just "disable those communities."

Which is connected to my next point:

3. Hexbear is not a place to therapy-dump (I'm looking at you powerposters).

You know who I'm talking about, the KochHandLieutenants, DustVultures, etc. The power posters that sometimes post MULTIPLE THREADS PER DAY. And honestly, most of them are the low effort types of topics I posted about above in #2. I can't help but think that they are suffering from some kind of social media "like" dopamine hit addiction and every time they post and get responses the cycle continues. And often these posts are super low effort beanis posts or posts about literal shit/farts. Or sometimes they are weird nostalgia-bait posts that are super specific: elder-millenials that are in a mid-life crisis and are looking for somebody to commiserate with. E.g. "Hey remember 2D Sonic from the 90s? GEX GEX GEX! (member berries, member berries, member berries) I'm living in the past as a way to cope and I'm using the hexbear community as my own personal therapy session!!" I get it, therapy is expensive, but this is not a place to get your dopamine hits and drown out mutual aid posts (which I have noticed an uptick of recently, indicating that people are really suffering out there). Also think about how this looks and reflects on us. There was a recent influx of BlueSky people and others. Do we really want to tell them "hey this is a great community, just ignore all those posts about farting in a car and how hot-boxing it is a great bit idea!" I think I've said enough about this particular topic.

For now that's what I got off the top of my head. Others have already hit on things like arbitrary moderation so I won't repeat it. If there's anything else that comes to mind I'll post it below.

No one’s saying that this is going to bring about communism.

Yeah but they certainly behave like it. There's this strange euphoria going on right now (which I believe will die down relatively soon) that rednote will "bring about class consciousness" etc. etc.

I think in an attempt to critique the toxic ppl online, innocent bystanders do get hit with the crossfire. There are definitely actual involuntary celibates that get hurt when someone says "man fuck those stupid incels they're so toxic." I 100% believe this.

People use it, the same way liberals were calling Trump and Putin the F-slur (e.g. "yeah I bet Putin effs trump in the A") in order to attack Trump as being a Russian asset or whatever.

Most likely, XHS will be banned in the US, making your entire post moot.

Yeah I think this is what will most likely happen. That and/or the Chinese userbase will be walled off from the western one by the CPC for various reasons.

I’m quoting actual data instead of just vague hand-waving. 1 million users leaving (actually deleting their accounts) and more simply not using the app anymore is not nothing. DAU is down, revenue is down, … people leaving matters.

You didn't cite anything specifically or provide a source, but I'll assume you're right. But you overlooked the total userbase of twitter, which is around 400 million (https://www.statista.com/topics/737/twitter/#topicOverview). So what does a 1 million user deletion actually mean? I mentioned that in my initial response to you but you failed to engage with it. It seems like you're the one doing the hand-waving my friend.

Nobody thought buying twitter was gonna hurt him politically

People absolutely thought this. Remember when he initially backed out and then was forced to continue the purchase deal? All sorts of talk about how this was bad for him. That and other things, like how he handled twitter at the beginning of his reign. There are plenty of articles, etc. on this and they're not hard to find.

is pretty indicative of American “fuck you” culture. One of the strongest narratives that is threaded through American culture is that of the rebel. When this rebellious nature is coupled with a lack of principals, well, you get this. People hear “We don’t want you to be on the China App”, and go “Well, I’m just going to do it harder to spite you!”.

I don't really buy this kind of Streisand Effect thing. If that were true, why didn't people rebel when Netflix banned password sharing? (Seems like Netflix is still alive and well). Or during the whole Gamestop/RobinHood stock thing? (they immediately folded). There are countless other examples where people said "oh yeah! we'll rebel/leave/find another platform" and nothing came of it. Also, this "rebel" culture thing is weirdly associated with patriotic socialism and maga communism. I don't know, I don't think it's an appropriate analysis.

That's what separates lemmygrad from hexbear tbh. It's not full or garbage, low effort shit with powerposters (who sometimes post multiple threads a day) posing absolute trash posts like "if i eat beanis will i shit out of my ass????" Honestly I think they are crying out for help/attention/etc. with all that shit. What's sad is that those posts flood out real posts, especially comrades looking for mutual aid.

The platform has lost over 1 million users and global active users has gone down.

I dunno ppl have been saying that for a while now and honestly it sounds like cope to me. And 1 million users lost? Out of how many? Hundreds of millions? Are you joking or being serious?