For all your boycotting needs. I’m sure there’s some mods caught in lemmy.ml’s top 10 that are perfectly upstanding and reasonable people, my condolences for the cross-fire.

  1. !memes@lemmy.world and !memes@sopuli.xyz. Or of course communities that rule.
  2. !asklemmy@lemmy.world
  3. !linux@programming.dev. Quite small, plenty of more specific ones available. Also linux is inescapable on lemmy anyway :)
  4. !programmer_humor@programming.dev
  5. !world@lemmy.world
  6. !privacy@lemmy.world and maybe !privacyguides@lemmy.one, lemmy.one itself seems to be up in the air. !fedigrow@lemm.ee says !privacy@lemmy.ca. They really seem to be hiding even from another, those tinfoil hats :)
  7. !technology@lemmy.world
  8. Seems like !comicstrips@lemmy.world and !comicbooks@lemmy.world, various smaller comic-specifc communities as well as !eurographicnovels@lemm.ee
  9. !opensource@programming.dev
  10. !fuckcars@lemmy.world

(Out of the loop? Here’s a thread on lemmy.ml mods and their questionable behaviour)

      • shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol
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        5 months ago

        Criticizing China on lemmy.ml goes about as well as evangelizing crypto on awful.systems. Join an instance that shares your values or roll your own. Know your audience or get the hammer.

        It’s like a huge chunk of the population out here has never experienced a forum before.

        • OpenStars@discuss.online
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          5 months ago

          It is far more than just that. Removing comments is one thing, mass-banning from many communities at once despite never even having commented in them at all is another, but the real issue is using database manipulation to delete the log entries as to why the comments were removed after the fact.

          Even if unintentional, which strains credulity, this is some spez-level stuff going on, edit: where we have the option to either take what a single person (who does not seem inclined to follow their own stated rules) offers, or else we can leave. Many are choosing the latter, and like the Rexodus, making the situation known to others as well in the process.

          “Criticizing China” was merely the spark that lit the match, with the situation offering proof of what apparently people have been suspecting for some time now.

        • imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Agreed. But to be fair, there’s never been a forum like the fediverse before. People are still learning how to navigate this complex, multifaceted space. It’s not just one audience, it’s many different ones.

      • OpenStars@discuss.online
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        5 months ago

        I mentioned elsewhere but here’s a copy and paste:

        It is far more than just that. Removing comments is one thing, mass-banning from many communities at once despite never even having commented in them at all is another, but the real issue is using database manipulation to delete the log entries as to why the comments were removed after the fact.

        Even if unintentional, which strains credulity, this is some spez-level stuff going on, where we have the option to either take what a single person (who does not seem inclined to follow their own stated rules) offers, or else we can leave. Many are choosing the latter, and like the Rexodus, making the situation known to others as well in the process.

        “Criticizing China” was merely the spark that lit the match, with the situation offering proof of what apparently people have been suspecting for some time now.

      • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        to me it was more the straw that broke the camel’s back. every rude and unreasonable interaction i have in here is with someone from .ml. it’s not even about their politics or beliefs, they’re just not pleasant to have around.

        the second you try to engage then they throw the real arguments or for pedantry about definitions and using that to call people dumb instead of actually having meaningful discussion about ideas. they’re the worst kind of “it’s not my job to explain it to you, Google it” people too. like, i get the mindset, but it’s just not going to change anyone’s heart or mind. it’s not how you actually win an argument.

        every person on Lemmy.ml argues like an annoying 14 year old atheist that just discovered Internet arguments and the think whole Internet is Christian. they’re just shitty to be around and basically never add anything meaningful to a discussion other than “you’re wrong and dumb”

        • ZeroHora@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          Fair enough, is definitely not my experience and I have an account on .ml for about 1 year.

          I could argue that I see more trolls on lemmy.world than any other instance, but that obvious: is the larger instance but probably the ratio troll/normal people is more or less the same than any other instance.

          they’re the worst kind of “it’s not my job to explain it to you, Google it” people too.

          That’s a behaviour that I do not see ever on the communities that I participate(basically technology and linux)

          • stankmut@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I wonder if where you have your account affects how you notice where the trolls are from? Like I don’t notice trolls coming from .world much because I just see a username, where a troll from .ml is username@lemmy.ml.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          My experience has similarities and differences - I don’t find .ml users as a whole to be shitty, but if there’s a shitty user, chances are pretty good that they’re from .ml rather than one of the smaller instances, World, or Kbin. And they’re almost always evangelical in nature - as a former evangelical, I recognize the type. The preconception of ultimate and indisputable correctness - they’re often willing to explain and honestly discuss their views, but not acknowledge any serious possible fault or flaw in them. The scriptures are holy, after all.

          They swapped the opiate of the people for some synthetic Stalinist stuff.

      • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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        5 months ago

        To be fair I did have a decent run in with some mods on .ml as well and I am not a fan of their practices.

        I do however think the public shaming and calling for boycott is so wrong its not even funny. We‘re still talking about the people who made this here possible. Especially the derogatory use of the word „tankie“ is unacceptable imo.

        I‘d prefer if people started debates and tried to find common ground instead. For the reason of decentralization I would like less popular „versions“ of the communities to thrive.

        • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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          5 months ago

          But the mods don’t allow that kind of discourse, that’s the whole problem.

          Also, tankies are advocating for a society where I and those like me would be killed. If that’s not worthy of a derogatory term then what is?

          • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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            5 months ago

            If that’s not worthy of a derogatory term then what is?

            Nothing is. Shaming and harassing others is not the solution. Instead we should let them advocate for whatever their ideal is. The same we let nazis have their own little „reich“ in their own homes. If they start breaking rules they get the same backlash as anyone else. Dont make it about „identity“.

            Its dehumanizing and leads to hate and violence. Same as with psychopaths, narcissists, pedophiles, etc. These people are living creatures just as we are. Some of them are sick, some of them are dangerous. That does not mean they can be treated as lesser.

            • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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              5 months ago

              I acknowledge that tankies are humans with rights but I don’t acknowledge that those rights include not being called an accurate but slightly demeaning term that they don’t like. Particularly because their preferred terms for themselves are inaccurate.

              Like I’m not going to stop calling fascists by that name even if they prefer to be called freedom-loving patriots or something. And I personally see the two ideologies as having a lot of similarities.

              • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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                5 months ago

                I agree with you on both accounts. Their preferred choices arent the same as pronouns and I think both authoritarian ideologies are similar and dangerous.

                My point was solely that namecalling, derogatory words or slurs arent doing anything for anyone. They‘re just helping others hate us and us do unspeakable things to them and vice versa.

                Dehumanizing is a precursor for genocide for a reason and that is why I think its a bad idea. Of course its just my opinion and I‘m perfectly fine if you disagree with it.

                • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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                  5 months ago

                  No, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and I do not fully disagree. But I think context matters. I like tanky because it helps people understand the dangers of the ideology more than other alternatives like communist or Marxist-Leninist or whatever. Is there more danger of violence against tankies or that their ideology may grow and cause violence against others? Right now I perceive the latter to be a bigger issue, and I don’t see any real risk of harm coming to them, at least in the social circles where my words have influence.

                  If there was a movement that sought to do physical harm to them (outside of a defensive context) then I would weigh that appropriately in my language. The term is a tool of persuasion and I deem that persuasion more important than any risk of dehumanization, which I do oppose and recognize as harmful.

                  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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                    5 months ago

                    I can see your point. Sadly we have ample evidence that others have thought the same about such terms and they have a bad precedent.

                    So thanks for discussing this in good faith. I like the way we discussed this as it often isnt what happens with others.

                    Have a good one. :)

            • OpenStars@discuss.online
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              5 months ago

              But that’s what’s happening now? They broke their own rules - not merely removing comments, but also mass-banning from communities people have never commented in before, and then deleting the mod log entries afterwards. The former is not ideal but expected, the middle is… extremely excessive and warrants all of this right there alone, but the latter bumps the whole matter up significantly to be outright disingenuous, so that “that side” making its case is no longer expected to yield any results, given the not only manipulative but outright deceptive practices that have been (allegedly) proven.

              I do worry about the use of a pejorative term though. In thinking about it more, I waffle back and forth between it should never be done, vs. whether someone can “earn” that badge not by holding a belief but by their actions?

              We should definitely respect their contributions to the code and actually I would guess that they may legit believe that what they are doing (supporting China by suppression of alternate viewpoints, using any means necessary including ones that violate and abuse their own code of conduct) is right. But that does not make it so.

              • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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                5 months ago

                I agree that if that happened (which I dont have the time nor the nerve atm) its very scary.

                Most likely, as always on the internet, the truth is they have certain beliefs which are problematic and triggering, and they are programmers, not weathered social workers who can solve heated conflicts.

                And then comes the most important part: they have not engaged in these alleged practices all the time so it is likely that bad coincidences came together and brought on the perfect storm on them/us.

                I stand by my initial statement. We can condemn the actions, we can harshly disagree on ideology but we should refrain from dehumanizing them.

                Have a good one. :)

                • OpenStars@discuss.online
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                  5 months ago

                  Well, more to the point, it’s too late for us to test this all now. We’d have to spin up our own instances, watch all of the signals coming out, and compare those signals to what they used to be vs. then become. As someone did - with screenshots demonstrating the before vs. after. But we cannot now go back in time to confirm that particular instance, we’d have to catch a future occurrence.

                  Unless you meant the mass removals - but people have been complaining about that for quite awhile now iirc? This is not an isolated incident, by any means. For months now I have been defending Lemmy.ml to various random commenters across the Fediverse, citing how different it is from lemmygrad.ml and hexbear.net (and truthfully, the situation is quite different, here being isolated more if not exclusively to the admins), but lately I have given up b/c the collective weight of all of these actions seems indefensible to me now, as a pattern of behavior.

                  I actually have compassion for them - as you say they are programmers not social workers, and if they truly want their goals of FOSS acceptance and socialist world-views to be exported around the world, then they are working against their own goals but do not see that. Put another way, they may truly believe the local Chinese propaganda, but in order to export their ideals to a global audience, it needs to be tempered with a greater mix of acceptance that people exposed to more Western-style media are accustomed to (where we are allowed to watch things like videos rather than be forced to read state-sponsored bulletins telling us what to believe).

                  But anyway, the removal reason is far from the point - it is the manner of the removal that concerns us so greatly. But sure, start up a dialog with them if you wish - you sound like a good person to initiate such, since you go to lengths to understand their POV:-).

                  Btw do you have any suggestions as an alternative to “tankie”? I am not 100% convinced that it is fully “dehumanizing”, but I do see where it is somewhere along the spectrum towards that goal. Would “fascist” or “authoritarian” work better?

              • thoro@lemmy.ml
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                5 months ago

                not merely removing comments, but also mass-banning from communities people have never commented in before

                So moderating their instance?

                and then deleting the mod log entries afterwards

                Where’s the evidence for this? I didn’t see that in the original post.

        • barsoap@lemm.eeOP
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          5 months ago

          Especially the derogatory use of the word „tankie“ is unacceptable imo.

          There is no non-derogatory use of the word tankie. It’s been derogatory since the Prague and Hungarian uprisings, when it was coined.

          Even if one were to come up with a new term that does not have negative connotations it would immediately soak up such connotations because it refers to counter-revolutionaries.

        • ZeroHora@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          Yep, the mod got way overboard in the situation that started all this shit. Banning a user in almost all lemmy.ml communities is too much.

        • Blaze@reddthat.com
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          5 months ago

          Especially the derogatory use of the word „tankie“ is unacceptable imo.

          Not a fan either.

          I‘d prefer if people started debates and tried to find common ground instead. For the reason of decentralization I would like less popular „versions“ of the communities to thrive.

          Are you on !fedigrow@lemm.ee? That’s a topic we discuss quite often there