this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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I'm just not really getting all the hate hate. These people started a community or worked their way into a mod spot. They had a specific set of rules for the community that was posted and reasonably fair. Their community got popular. They realized their site admin was modding their community according to rules that they didn't want to also enforce. They tried to move the community to a better fit instance as non-dramatically as they knew how.
That's all perfectly reasonable to me. Clearly they did a shit job at doing it non dramatically but they're communicating and adjusting their position to try and accommodate others and that alone should buy them a little good will. They are trying to figure out what to do, everyone is trying to figure out what to do. What's with all the hate?
From what I’ve seen it appears that (at least one of) the mods claim to “own” the community - which is a disturbing way of thinking about moderation, in my opinion.
I mean one of the things that I hated most about Reddit in my final days was that the admins removed and replaced mods that purposefully closed in protest.
If someone starts a sub they should be allowed to close and nuke it at will. If someone wants it back enough then they can make a clone.
I don’t disagree with your first paragraph but partly do with the second.
If it’s a unique channel-type community you started, produce most of the content for and actively moderate quickly and consistently then, for sure, you should have almost complete control… but 196 is/was none of those things.
I don’t think requiring a mod team to mod and create all the content is reasonable barrier for control of their sub.
It's like, imagine you’re renting a house with a few people and one of the people none of the housemates really like (they don’t follow the house rules everyone has agreed on) marches in and announces “We all, as a group, are moving to Florida!” And then moves out and takes the refrigerator and expects you to follow. No thanks, good riddance, we’re getting a new fridge and a better housemate.
They can do whatever they want with the space, paint it blue, burn it, close it, whatever. They shouldn't expect people to follow them.
I think this post and the reply highlight the tricky waters we are trying to navigate here in the Fediverse.
I've moderated web forums since there was a Web and usually, the final call is with whoever is paying the bills. Here that is more complicated because, although this instance is fully-funded by the users and I consider myself largely a caretaker in my Admin role (and, by extension, Mods don't "own" their communities they are looking after them for all of us), my name (and @[email protected]') is above the door and we do have legal responsibilities based on the laws in the jurisdictions we operate in.
On the other hand we have the ethos that came over from Reddit, that Mods have some degree if ownership over the communities and some instances tend to operate with that idea, to the point it can be difficult to get new Mode appointed if others have gone AWOL, leading to people starting duplicate communities on the same instance.
Where these two ways of thinking clash you can get some degree of drama, as we are seeing here. Ada and her team take a strong line on certain things, as you'd expect from their instance but the 196 Mods didn't appreciate what they see as interference in the running if "their" community.
This would be just another day in the Fediverse and an example of why it is wise to have a word with an Admin on an instance before starting what might be a large, potentially controversial, community in order to ensure the Admins and Mods are on the same page.