Hi there.

A short introduction: This is an alt account. I’m a moderator here who has been unhappy with the state of news/political discussions here for a long time. The admins have kindly given me the opportunity to see if we can make some improvement the community here.

We will be doing some major revision of the rules left by the previous moderators and will use discussions in this thread as feedback on the direction we should take our community.

This will be an open discussion on the state of our community, the rules and our moderation practices. Feel free to give your inputs.

My goal is to foster thoughtful discussion in our community, and not let this place be a replica of r/politics.

First order of business, immediate rule change.

On !politics@lemmy.world, effectively immediately, we will no longer restrict political discussion to the politics of the United States of America. Discussion regarding of the state of politics from around the world is now welcome.

I will leave this pinned for 1-2 weeks for our team to take feedback and make our proposals then.

  • APassenger@lemmy.world
    2·
    10 months ago

    I see thoughtful, factual comments with double digit negative scores.

    I see short, factually incorrect comments highly rewarded for asserting as facts, things that are unlikely and unproven.

    I don’t know how this has become the pattern, but it now appears to be a culture problem within many communities - this one being high among them.

    Mistakes happen and people will be wrong, but I see no avenue to correct growing misbeliefs on topics. There would have to be an article or some kind of other pressure to bring things back to facts.

    I’m solidly on the left and my post history reflects that. I’m not saying anything fringe in my posts. I’m just applying the classic rules of critical thought seasoned with skepticism.

    I’m tired of the down votes. Not for me, but for what they represent for lemmy at large and for this community. A whole lot of Lemmings are being poorly served by the siren’s song of glib half-bites.

    Can you help with that?

    At present, I’m mostly talking about the “human trafficking” assertion that arrives on migrant bussing threads.

    That’s one specific example.

    • Might Be@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      10 months ago

      I see thoughtful, factual comments with double digit negative scores.

      I see short, factually incorrect comments highly rewarded for asserting as facts, things that are unlikely and unproven

      Unfortunately, this is really a community cultural issue inherited from the old site. Karma isn’t a thing here, but I do believe the habits formed from having karma to be the root of many toxic behaviors here.

      There is no user scoring system here, if your views are unpopular but reasonable, I don’t see the need to remove it; the opposite is true, if your comment is upvoted but breaks our community rules, then they will be removed.

      I am a strong believer in democracy, but I don’t believe in mob rule, so the above is the principle I go by.

      • APassenger@lemmy.world
        2·
        10 months ago

        I’ve never seen down votes not used to punish people with messages that others disagree with.

        I mean, if someone posts a racist angry opinion, Im likely to down vote. Even if this was their carefully considered opinion.

        But when people are liberal in their use, it suppresses discourse and creates the echo chambers we say we hate (when other people do it).

        I’m not sure lemmy provides mod tools that would help move the needle, but I’m in your corner for changing/expanding the discourse.

        I’m here to learn. Sounds like what you’re proposing would help that.

        Best of luck and thank you for the reply.