this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
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Hi all, we have a new mod joining the team.

@[email protected] has been appointed as a mod of !newzealand, and will be starting to look at fleshing out the details of the community.

I know you’ll make them feel welcome :)

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[–] Albatr0ss 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Any chance you could state your views on "free speech" vs fostering civilised discourse?

Will you let bigoted, hateful, or nasty comments slide, if that means all views are being presented?

I'm not coming to this with any pre-formed opinions btw, I'm just wanting to see something stated clearly about how you intend to moderate, given the comments below :-)

Personally speaking, I'm not looking to hang out with people who got banned from other social media for spreading misinformation and hate. If this community is going to be a place where people like that are welcome, I will frankly feel unwelcome and would rather get out now.

I'm of the view that Reddit is currently hurtling itself towards becoming a far-right cesspool, and their recent changes will only exacerbate that. I'm trying to get away from that, I don't want to be part of another community that will do the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Absolutely!

I want to foster a community that values open, honest and civilised discussion. Civilised being the key word.

I do not want to see extreme views espoused here, on any axis of the political spectrum. "Treat others as they would like to be treated" is a slightly different wording of The Golden Rule that I like to live my life by, and that going to be my philosophy of moderation.

Disagreement is possible without resorting to personal attacks, and just because someone has a different point of view on a topic does not make them objectively wrong, or a bad person. Remember that anonymous user is a fully formed person with their own life, experiences, hopes, dreams and fears. They put their underwear on one leg at a time, just like you do.

I have no intention of allowing members of this community to spread misinformation or falsehoods.

I have no intention of allowing hate speech of any kind.

Ultimately, my ability to moderate relies on our users making use of the report function. I am only one person and I'm not always on here. So if you see something you don't like, please bring it to the attention of myself or Dave and we will deal with it in an impartial manner.

[–] Albatr0ss 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sounds good to me in that case. Thanks for the response!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You're very welcome!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are some examples of the extreme axis of the left spectrum that you and Dave are concerned about? The current sentiment really looks like the both-sides fallacy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Personally, the extreme left to me is "tankies", Marxism-Leninism. Socialism through dictatorship/authoritarianism.

If you're wanting to talk about providing a Universal Income or free electric cars to everyone (sorry, couldn't think of a good example) - then this is not what I'd consider "extreme left". Though I understand that terms are used differently by different people, so I am now trying to avoid the term "extreme left".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are the tankies actually left-wing? They're extremely heavy on the authoritarianism and militarism, along with indifference to suffering. A lot more in common with the right-wing, in terms of commenters - hell, most indications are that Russia drives a Lot of the right-wing discourse on social media.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, within the left-right wing paradigm both extreme ends are considered to become increasingly authoritarian and intolerant in support of their ends. Tankies are communists who defend Stalin and Mao using military violence against their own citizens with the justification that their protest/unrest was endangering the whole communist empire which was in a very real way of course under intense pressure, fighting for its existence against the capitalist world.

This is often represented it a parliamentary style seating layout by the horse shoe shape with the far extremes actually becoming closer to each other at the bottom of the horse shoe. It may seem a bit strange but its a good example I guess of how the left-right paradigm as description of political ideology has limitations and is in the end just an abstract model not a true and complete picture.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory#:~:text=In%20popular%20discourse%2C%20the%20horseshoe,a%20horseshoe%20are%20close%20together.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I honestly don't know. Wikipedia describes Marxism as left-wing. It also describes left wing as being for social equality, and right wing as believing there is an inherent natural hierarchy to the world.

So the extreme right is believing one race is better than another (e.g. Nazism).

Maxism-Leninism to me is like saying everyone is equal under comunism, except the dictator or small group running things. So sort of a merge between full socialism and Nazism? I guess politics isn't as straightforward as being able to put everything on a left/right spectrum, and I don't pretend to be an expert. I've learnt more about tankies and nazis the last week than in my whole life to that point.