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@politics on kbin.social is a magazine to share and discuss current events news, opinion/analysis, videos, or other informative content related to politicians, politics, or policy-making at all levels of governance (federal, state, local), both domestic and international. Members of all political perspectives are welcome here, though we run a tight ship. Community guidelines and submission rules were co-created between the Mod Team and early members of @politics. Please read all community guidelines and submission rules carefully before engaging our magazine.

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Speak up now: What should our community guidelines be? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by HandsHurtLoL@kbin.social to c/politics@kbin.social

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Hello everyone! If you have not yet seen it, @ernest has handed over moderation to @Drusas @Entropywins @ Frog-Brawler (the tag system consistently messes up the link to FB's username lol) and myself here in !politics.

First order of business is for you all to weigh in on the community guidelines that you would like to see here. As the mod team, we will weigh all suggestions and then add them to the side bar as magazine/community rules. I'm going to give about 48 hours for users to see this thread and add a comment or discuss.

Please know that the goal is not to create an echo chamber here in !politics, but we want to ensure that there is not an encroachment of rage bait and toxicity. It brings down the quality of the magazine and it discourages community engagement.

For the time being, the mod tools are pretty sparse, so I want to manage expectations about the scope of moderation we're able to do right now. For now, our touch will be light. Expect increased functionality as time progresses, though. We have 3 weeks of reports on file, so please know we see them. Give us some time to establish how to handle those before you start to see any movement.

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[–] EffectivelyHidden@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

My first question is always going to be, what is the moderation policy for Nazi's/white supremacists/fascists?

Are you adopting a zero tolerance policy for that sort of rabble rousing trash, the iamragesparkle method, or are you going to say your hands are tied unless they blatantly violate the community guidelines?

(transcribed from a series of tweets) - @iamragesparkle

I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, "no. get out."

And the dude next to me says, "hey i'm not doing anything, i'm a paying customer." and the bartender reaches under the counter for a bat or something and says, "out. now." and the dude leaves, kind of yelling. And he was dressed in a punk uniform, I noticed

Anyway, I asked what that was about and the bartender was like, "you didn't see his vest but it was all nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them."

And i was like, ohok and he continues.

"you have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it's always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don't want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too.

And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it's too late because they're entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down.

And i was like, 'oh damn.' and he said "yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."

And then he went back to ignoring me. But I haven't forgotten that at all.

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This sort of question is why this thread was created. I'm in favor of a zero tolerance policy for fascism, bigotry, and anything that is clearly misinformation. But that's my personal opinion and we'll all be working together to decide on what the community wants and what works best. Rules can also be altered as we grow, of course, if our initial guidelines aren't sufficient.

[–] HandsHurtLoL@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

I'm all in on the punch a Nazi approach here.

[–] EffectivelyHidden@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Obviously I'm 100% in the camp of "you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."

Sadly I joined this conversation late, so we will see if others filter in.

I'm very curious as to what sort of community the fedaverse as a whole has cultivated after the reddit exodus.

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't disagree, based on the harm that is being done. You may see me comment in that regard, but if moderation rules end up being more lenient than I am personally, based on feedback, that's what I'll do as a moderator. It's about what the community wants and needs in order for genuine discussion to thrive.

[–] Machinist3359@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your decisions shape the community, though ;). Too lenient you'll be reporting to trolls who demand more leniency.

I'm team zero-fash tolerance. It's the fediverse, they can go kick rocks in gabbit or whatever they spin up.

[–] HandsHurtLoL@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

I'm quite positively bolstered by the number of users advocating for a zero-tolerance policy regarding fascism in the magazine.

I have added preliminary community guidelines into the side bar and have made an overt stance regarding neo-nazism, white supremacy, and fascism.

Thanks for weighing in!

[–] HandsHurtLoL@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have seen enough users actively combat alt-right content here that I'm happy to swing the ban hammer on neo-Nazi and pro-white supremacy content.

What I don't want to create is an echo chamber that only permits the views of people I agree with.

I say this with all sincerity: as a progressive, we need genuine and legitimate leadership to step up and start governing again in the GOP. We don't need people who were once too awful to embrace getting a redemption arc (a la Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney style), but real and serious political leaders. I would like this magazine to be a place to stay informed about the moves and leadership on the right that are worth building bridges with.

And as much as I hate the entire MAGA crowd, we still need to be informed of their movements and goings on. So I'm not willing to draw the line at no right wing content from right wing sources ever. But I happily draw the line at no neo-Nazi or white supremacy sympathizing.

[–] Machinist3359@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I'm for a fair amount of leniency when everyone is being civil, but the line needs to be a bit left of card carrying Nazi.

Anyone advocating against human rights should be banned, because such debates are not fruitful. For example, some of the rhetoric around exterminating the homeless in Fox news has no place here.

Fwiw, I think the fediverse gives bans far less weight. A safe and informative community with a range of opinions on how to improve things should be the goal, and mods should be bam happy to get there.

[–] EffectivelyHidden@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What I don't want to create is an echo chamber that only permits the views of people I agree with.

I'm confused.

Do you think I was asking for that?

If so, why?

But I happily draw the line at no neo-Nazi or white supremacy sympathizing.

We seem to be in the same ballpark, I just use stronger language about it.

[–] Frog-Brawler@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I meant to reply yesterday but I got distracted. I have a pretty large bias against nazis / white supremacists and fascists. Unfortunately, on the fediverse, we're not going to be able to "out now!" them at the door, simply because we're not going to be able to tell if they're sitting behind their keyboard (or phone) wearing a vest with iron crosses, nor will we be able to tell if they have either red or white laces in their Doc Martens.

I think that posting content (or in support of content) that falls into the categories you mentioned should equate to getting the boot though.