What are your stories of moderator overreach on Lemmy?

Woland@lemm.ee to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 38 points –
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There was a post the other day about a "powermod" from reddit who was doing the same thing with lemmy communities - snatching up dozens of names and squatting on them. Folks are rightly asking for restrictions on the number of communities any one person can mod, along with other safeguards to prevent power-tripping.

The problem was that mod was doing it on lemmy.world, which was the default instance for a lot of users.

It isn't as valuable to do here as someone can create a new sub on a different instance, but it was still annoying.

Can moderators of a sub ban people from the instance or is there just an overlap between moderators of that sub and moderators of the instance?

My understanding is that sub moderators are technically different positions from instance admins, but I would expect some collaboration.

However, I don't think there is a way to ban a person from an instance yet. I'm not sure, though.

Is there any incentive other than showing who's boss on the internet? I struggle to see how the amount of time and energy involved in moderating just one community, let alone multiple ones, are worth it just to get a power high. It seems exhausting.

It's an influence game like anything else online now that the Internet is commoditized. Corporations and political influence campaigns can and do pay for control of high-traffic accounts and communities to nudge discussions to benefit whatever they're selling.

Is this what leads to “you’ve commented in so we’re gonna ban you from ”?

I've never encountered that myself. What communities are you commenting in that you're getting banned elsewhere for it?

I know a lot of the parenting subs would ban you if you commented in r/childfree. Albeit, childfree is a toxic sub and a lot of the people there would subscribe to parenting subs just to troll them.

Happened a couple of times on Reddit. For example, banned from r/Stepparents for participation in r/AmITheDevil. Just randomly messaged and told.

Mods on the Star Trek communities on StarTrek.world will delete (and ban you) for even the slightest negative opinion about the show Star Trek Discovery. Even if you say that you dislike the show, or that you think the writing is sub-par, or anything slightly minor and inoffensive, poof! Your comment is gone, and you’re banned.

It’s not a rule in the sidebar, which is most frustrating, too. All you get is “not constructive”, even though there are plenty of complaints about other things, some pretty abrasive. But one unadoring word about Discovery, and you and your comment vanish without warning.

It’s because that sub was basically moved from Reddit to the fediverse and resides on the actual Star Trek website. Just proves the rumor that CBS/Paramount has been influencing it all along.

The nice thing about the fediverse is you can start a separate uncensored star trek sub and they can’t do anything about it (unlike how they got alternatives shut down on Reddit).

Check it: !startrek@lemmy.ml

it’s not a new community, but I just joined the mod team and I’ve updated the community guidelines in this Community Update post. It’s more permissive and, I think, much more reasonable and transparent. Coe on over, and help revitalize the community!

Live long and prosper! 🖖

That's why I unsubbed from r/startrek on Reddit. I wasn't banned but I've seen many threads deleted that had genuine criticism of Discovery.

I didn't stick around long enough to see if they behaved the same way with Picard, but my guess is yes.

The stupid thing is that the criticism is entirely valid. The fact that Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks are so good, basically proves that it isn't a problem with new trek, just their stupid "gritty" interpretation of it.

Although in fairness Picard gets better when it just becomes more TNG. But you have this weird slog to get through before you get there, where for some reason Jean-Luc Picard is hanging out in some universe that's got nothing to do with Star Trek and feels like Mass Effect the TV show or something with all its melodrama.

Check it: !startrek@lemmy.ml

it’s not a new community, but I just joined the mod team and I’ve updated the community guidelines in this Community Update post. It’s more permissive and, I think, much more reasonable and transparent. Coe on over, and help revitalize the community!

Live long and prosper! 🖖

Good news!

I’ve just been added t the mod team over at !startrek@lemmy.ml and have posted a Community Update with new community guidelines that outline a more open policy on discussions that includes the ability to express criticism without fear of your comments vanishing or being capriciously banned without warning.

However, there are (as outlined in the post) some guidelines about how those discussions should go. We don’t want unhinged rants about how you hate X that just devolve into toxic threads. If you’re going to be critical, make it constructive criticism that fosters civil discussion, and keep it relevant to the post you’re commenting on. Irrelevant tangents and a lot of toxicity will be curtailed. But, otherwise, we feel it would be disingenuous and dishonest to outright ban all dissenting opinions and the discussion of when Trek sometimes fails to hit its mark.

Rules are in the sidebar, and if you have any questions or comments, you can comment on the Community Update post, reply to this comment, or contact me!

Live long and prosper! 🖖

Oh, now that is good news! It looks like the community has been quiet/mostly inactive for a while, but has 3x the subscriber count as that other community! I’ve subscribed, and I’ll see what I can do about helping to make it more active!

woohoo!

We come to serve

Mods at !nostupidquestions@lemmy.world will remove posts that even slightly hint that you have depression, even though their rules state that they will not remove mental health related posts. It's a really fucked up thing to do to someone that needs help. Society loves to say "seek help" "talk to someone" "we're always here for you", but the moment you seek advice, they want you to go away. Oh you know the community they keep telling you to go to !mentalhealth@lemmy.world? You aren't allowed to express any suicidal thoughts.

A depressed person: "I'm feeling sad and don't really have the energy to keep going anymore... Can I talk to someone here?"

Mods: Nope go away you crazy suicidal maniac, we don't want to talk to you.

Looks like we need a new community. There are definitely two communities for depression. Try those

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Some instances censor incoming and outgoing swear words, I was surprised to learn.

In my experience, they censor slurs of all varieties but you can still say "fuck" "shit" and "piss" as much as you wish.

Unless you’re quoting, I have no problems with slurs being removed. If you wanna be like that, X will love you.

Honestly, even quoting is suspect. Unless the quote is to prove someone else said it, it doesn't seem to me to benefit anything at all.

I don’t want to rule it out totally in case context matters in some case….