Summary:

  • @Cat@ponder.cat was posting at a high volume to !news@lemmy.world
  • there is no written rule on !news@lemmy.world about post volume
  • there is no written rule on ponder.cat about post volume
  • !news is the one single community Cat was this active in
  • !news has no ponder.cat mods
  • from my understanding, all rules Cat did break were unrelated to volume (correct me if I am wrong)
  • ponder.cat admin @PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat reaches out to Cat via comment and then DM essentially threatening account deletion if Cat doesn’t lower their activity level
  • Cat understandably deletes their account because who wants that

Of course, PhilipTheBucket had the right to do this, but I also think it’s exceedingly bad form and people have a right to know that this admin is willing to go above the community mods’ head like that.

Internet etiquette has dictates for dealing with undesirable yet not rule-breaking behavior that was just ignored here. Communication should be chosen before simple fist waving and threats.

I agree with this comment that this is a bait-provoked reaction. Next time I recommend:

  • at the instance/admin level, the creation of instance rules about volume
  • at the community level, advocacy for community rules about volume (i.e. “[Meta] Petition: Limit daily submissions to !news to ensure community quality”)
  • avoid personal slapfights to get your way
  • avoid escalation directly to account termination threats

Source: https://ponder.cat/post/1731587

  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    5 hours ago

    I was steadily getting reports about it.

    I just saw it. Yup, it changes the picture quite a bit since consistent behaviour justifies your intervention.

    The leftover matter is then just “telegraphing” to users that you don’t consider this acceptable, and you don’t want to see it from your instance. OP suggested a rule against posting volume, but perhaps this is too specific? This could be even handled through small tweaks of the description text of your instance:

    All are welcome to this instance. Please no illegal content, no personal attacks, no spam, no misinformation, no bigotry. Other than that, go nuts. Be productive, polite, and reasonable.

    or something like this.


    Half-related, from the other thread:

    I wasn’t expecting “making sure we make a safe space for the spammers by banning people who complain about spam” to be an important moderation duty, but I guess in the bizarro world that is !news@lemmy.world moderation philosophy, it makes perfect sense.

    LW in a nutshell: “if you complain about harmful behaviour, you’re the one getting screeched at”. It feels like they’re trying their hardest to transform Lemmy into Reddit 2: Electric Boogaloo.

    • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
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      5 hours ago

      All are welcome to this instance. Please no illegal content, no personal attacks, no spam, no misinformation, no bigotry. Other than that, go nuts. Be productive, polite, and reasonable.

      Done. I think it’s a good suggestion. I left “polite” out, since I am often impolite to people and I don’t think “you have to be friendly all the time” is a necessary rule for human life, but all the rest of it, I added.

      Maybe I am overcorrecting, since I’ve notice that my own interactions are markedly improved now that I am making a specific effort to be polite in my own interactions, but on the whole I really don’t like how on the modern internet you have to be “civil” in all interactions even if what the other person’s doing warrants a certain level of incivility. I think it’s fair game to say something like “what the fuck are you talking about” even if that is not strictly speaking all that polite a thing to say.

      LW in a nutshell: “if you complain about harmful behaviour, you’re the one getting screeched at”. It feels like they’re trying their hardest to transform Lemmy into Reddit 2: Electric Boogaloo.

      Yeah. Some people in the other thread were saying that they get the distinct impression that the mods are deliberately trying to make a space for propaganda, and I think it’s a pretty compelling argument TBH.