this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards

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This is a community in the spirit of "Am I The Asshole" where people can post their own bans from lemmy or reddit or whatever and get some feedback from others whether the ban was justified or not.

Sometimes one just wants to be able to challenge the arguments some mod made and this could be the place for that.

Rules

Expect to receive feedback about your posts, they might even be negative.

Make sure you follow this instance's code of conduct. In other words we won't allow bellyaching about being sanctioned for hate speech or bigotry.


Some acronyms you might see.


Relevant comms

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OK peeps, I am seeing a lot of flamewars lately which go off-topic of this comm. I am also getting dozens of reports about people reporting each other for "rudeness" or "trolling". I don't want this comm to start becoming a drama haven, so I want to try and prevent people getting worked up like this.

What do you think about me starting to deploy strategic 1-day bans for people who I notice are getting into flamewars? If not, what else do you suggest to help people remain civil?

Don't just upvote/downvote. I won't take these into account, I want actual comments about this to better make a decision.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

I find it hilarious that every single time I've been admonished about civil conduct, it's because I'm reacting to a bunch of assclowns who somehow evade any oversight.

maybe start taking the reports as self indicators?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Yes please I need one πŸ™πŸ™πŸ™πŸ™

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The amount of trolling and debatemebros keep going up each thread and it looks like people are just trying to start drama here now rather than report actual mod abuse. I'm not sure how you could improve this, it seems like every one of these kinds of communities turn into drama communities with people at each other's throats each thread lol. I think temp bans would help for the most egregious offenders, but locking threads after a certain timeframe might be better? Considering the comment threads keep going on and on for some of them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

What would that timeframe be though? A week? A month? A day? Ultimately, what would that matter even - why is it bad to respond to something three months later, e.g. asking a follow-up question "was this matter ever resolved - did you manage to get in contact with the admin/mod and what did they say?"

The problem with that approach is that it penalizes people other than the offender (I assume here you mean locking the entire post, not just a comment chain underneath it?), e.g. if you take time to think about the scenario, read it thoroughly, go gather some additional references, type out a reply, and not even necessarily to the person inflaming the conflict but others who happened to respond more quickly, but then bam, your well thought out and crafted message is rejected, bc you did not deliver it quickly enough, and because while you were treating the matter seriously, a flame war was breaking out, but it's not like a chatroom where you can see the messages coming in live?

It makes sense for the people involved in spreading drama to be affected/penalized, but why discourage discourse elsewhere by others in the community? And all the more so the ones delivered more slowly, while allowing the most hot-headed quick replies to go through before the post can be locked.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I’m ok with a penalty box. Pointless bickering gets this sub off topic. It’s tough because people come here ready to air grievances so I think that pre-charges the atmosphere and makes it that much easier for things to get off the rails

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

It’s tough because people come here ready to air grievances so I think that pre-charges the atmosphere and makes it that much easier for things to get off the rails

You put in to words what I was struggling to find. People are often already a little charged up when they show up here, that's the nature of this kind of board.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Well, this is drama heaven because it's for users who aren't legible to post in fedidrama (because they're involved themselves) and then they end up here. And IMO the posts kind of set the tone. You often start out with a negative impression after reading the post, and then you're likely to be negative. And it doesn't help that other comments are negative or low quality as well... Then it's super easy to drop what's left and just shitpost.

I'm not sure if I want to continue reading anyways. It's several posts a day of people whining about something they brought upon themselves. Often something completely insignificant like one removed post/comment or a one day time-out from shitposting. And half the people don't listen or get anything, neither does OP, and the commenters just flame about arbitrary things, or attack each other for their strongly held opinions... I'd say a bit more moderation would be worth a try. But don't listen to me, I'm probably not the target audience of this community.

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

Is that a thing? That's what used to happen with SubredditDrama like 15 years ago. I wonder if it's the same people.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Short bans are like spritzing a cat in the face. It's Skinnerian conditioning. It works.

Just make sure the behavior you're conditioning for is the behavior you want. Trolling doesn't mean "harsh language." Trolling is the infuriating nonsense that makes reasonable people reach for harsh language. Sometimes, a rude response is entirely deserved.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

My suggestion is to warn the user first, and then if they don't comply a 3d ban. Because:

  • Cooperative users are quick to comply, even without punishment.
  • It helps to show other users the limit of what's considered acceptable in the community.
  • When people get really worked up, a single day is not enough.

Trolls are a different can of worms. I think that users who are blatantly trolling should be removed = permabanned; there's no place for those.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

[Replying to myself to avoid editing the above again.]

Ah, I propose an explicit rule for this comm: "off-topic is only tolerated if non-divisive, non-derailing, and in the comments". That gives people some room to chitchat, but would do a quick work of "ackshyually u don't have rules against flamewars right".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Do it. But please be self-aware and remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lets not get bogged down in analysis paralysis. Do it, gauge the feedback, adjust, iterate (the beatings will continue until morale improves).

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago

Yup. 100% a perfect tool for the situation.

And I say that as someone that has likely deserved a few of them here and there.

It won't stop report abuse, but it will reduce the in-thread drama.

Hell, it might reduce drama in general since the serious drama queens are going to get butthurt and not come back.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, I personally haven't seen any of these flame wars. And I'm not sure restricting engagement on a service already trying to increase engagement is productive even for a good reason.

If it's off topic or getting personal, sure. If not, I'm neutral on it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's what flame wars are. Getting personal or just exchanging insults

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

PTB. I should be allowed to be as mean as I want to whoever I want. But make sure you permanently ban everyone who is mean to me because that's bad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, I’m the only one that people shouldn’t be mean to.

(This is a joke if it wasn’t obvious >.>)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

If the only offense is that people are getting heated, a cool-off ban as a reminder to take a walk and come back later works wonders.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

banning people for reporting seems like a way to discourage reporting.

but banning for flaming and trolling sounds reasonable, especially if it's a short ban. even a 6 or 12 hour ban might send the right message.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Eh, you'd be amazed how many people use reports to say "I don't like this, and it's your problem" instead of it actually being a community rule violation. I don't moderate any busy lemmy C/s, but I did some high traffic reddit subs, and I'd even say that half of reports were just trying to get a mod to shut down the other person in a slap fight. Then they're amazed when you shut both parties down lol.

I definitely think that anything more than a one day ban for single reports is way over the line. And I'd prefer warnings with an explanation be the default.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (8 children)

banning people for reporting seems like a way to discourage reporting.

Is it if they're flooding your feed with nonsense reports? That stuff takes time to sort through, and the time spent sorting through it takes away from other moderation duties.

Besides, if you're only banning excessive reporters like that, aren't you only discouraging people who are actively abusing the report button?

EDIT: to be clear, I mean a temp ban, not permanent one

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Why can't people argue in peace? Why do you have to moderate that?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Does Lemmy provide a council/consensus type voting system on bans? How do you arbitrate it by yourself on what is or isn't "rudeness" or "trolling"?

Imo let downvotes and reports sort it out, instead of being proactive, until there is a multi-headed arbitration system in place.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

I think short cooling bans are a great idea. And I think they help prevent permanent bans by allowing people to cool off.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (6 children)

Didn't know about this community, just read the description to understand its title, and I immediately thought that it was going to be a trolling mess. So my first thinking is that you created a banquet for trolls, and now you're dealing with the consequences. Do you have the magic mental power to deal with this?
If yes, then I would make it very clear from the beginning in the rules that uncivil discussion will be moderated, that continuous incivility will lead to a 1-day ban and that attempts to bypass the temporary ban will lead to a permanent ban.
Get ready for motivated trolls spending days creating new accounts to harass your authority, or you, after they have been banned.

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