I saw this discussion brought up on a different thread and I though I’d get some more opinions on the matter.

The Beehaw community guidelines describe a place that’s meant to be safe, friendly and encourages people to discuss their ideas in good faith. For the most part I feel like this community lives up to that; users of this instance are generally thoughtful with their responses. However, I don’t feel like that level of quality extends to the users who post from other instances. Responses from those users are more likely to pendantic, overly argumentative, and unhelpful.

Now I may just be an elitist fuck so I’d like to hear your opinions on this. Does Beehaw benefit from federation? Do the community guidelines even matter if they don’t apply to many of the people who engage with this instance? Am I just looking for a reason to complain?

EDIT: This post isn’t a request for Beehaw to defederate btw. I just wanted to discuss the negatives of federation and what we can do to alleviate them :)

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    29·
    1 year ago

    Elitist in his ivory instance over here. (Kidding). But a little offense with me and my Taylor Swift community over here, other instances aren’t bad by any means, and the more federation the more communities.

    Nah I like what beehaw is doing, and defederation should always be the last line of defense. However the middle ground is good moderation and enforcement of the rules. Mods are overworked on beehaw, maybe it’s time for others to stand up and offer to take on some of the mantle.

    • bijuice@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
      14·
      1 year ago

      I’m sure you Swifties are lovely people :')

      I don’t think this is a moderation issue and I’ll give you an example to highlight why. Someone recently posted to the gaming community asking for advice on a something very basic but easily overlooked. The highest rated comments were basically mocking the poster. Not direct insults or anything ban-worthy but they were unhelpful. I don’t think that’s the type of engagement that people who signed up for this instance would like to see here.

      • Gaywallet (they/it)@beehaw.orgEnglish
        25·
        1 year ago

        Did you report the offending comments? Reply to them and ask them to be nice? We aren’t running a panopticon here and the reality is that many people who register here, even when they explicitly say they will be nice, occasionally exhibit not nice behavior. I don’t think defederating will solve the problem, but rather more aggressive reporting, more people stepping up to help moderate, and perhaps most importantly people nicely reminding each other to be nice and steering conversations in the right direction are the only levers we have at our disposal.

        • bijuice@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
          11·
          1 year ago

          I didn’t, and you’re right about people needing to step up. I’ll try to do so on my end :)

          This post wasn’t a request to defederate Beehaw btw. I just wanted to discuss ways we can deal with some of the negatives of federation.

          • Gaywallet (they/it)@beehaw.orgEnglish
            10·
            1 year ago

            And I appreciate you bringing it up! It shows that you care about the community 🥰 let’s work together to make it awesome 💜💜

      • jcg@halubilo.socialEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        I remember that thread. First time I saw a Beehaw post that didn’t feel quite right. Top comment was a passive aggressive “oh so we’re doing the whole ask before even trying thing now huh,” like why do some people just feel the need to talk shit? And if there is a legitimate criticism it shouldn’t be difficult to voice it in a constructive way - and if it is difficult for you then you shouldn’t comment and further spread your negative feelings.

      • Chloyster [she/her]@beehaw.orgEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        As gaywallet already mentioned, please report comments you think to be mean, unhelpful, or in bad faith. We did get reports on some comments in that thread and took action. I personally am a fan of federating with other instances. We do definitely see outside users often being instigators, but not all users are like that, so being able to mod effectively is key for us

    • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.mlEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      maybe it’s time for others to stand up and offer to take on some of the mantle.

      As the fediverse matures, succession plans and processes are getting more and more important IMO. Burnout is real, so it’s necessary for any modicum of sustainability. Plus, it’s good to have an admin/mod team that’s actually networked in with the users with organic channels of communication and induction, which is well facilitated by having an established process for recruiting and training from the user base.

      I have no idea where any instances are up to with this, but beehaw seems like the sort of place that would be interested in getting this sort of thing right as well as benefiting from it the most.

    • itsgallus@beehaw.orgEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      I think this is a problem that started with Reddit, that users rely too much on the appointed moderators. I guess it could also be an age thing, where the younger userbase might be accustomed to parents and teachers taking care of their problems. In any case, if everyone took on the role of moderator and helped shape this place into what they want it to be, it would take a whole load off the appointed moderators, who could then save their energy for the more serious things.

    • magnetosphere @beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Irrelevant comment: there’s an insurance commercial (or something) where one of the outfits she wears is her circus ringmaster getup, top hat and all. That’s my favorite. It’s silly, but somehow she makes it work.