The plain and simple of it is that I’m not a good moderator. I have no idea what I’m doing. I wanted a community where people could post conservative stuff without it getting overwhelmed by lefty stuff, and then you could have discussions/arguments in the comment section. Bring to light stories that wouldn’t normally be seen on lemmy. Since that didn’t exist on lemmy, I had to do it myself.

Right now, there’s a lot of toxicity, some straight up telling people to kill themselves. My whole moderation policy was basically “So long as it isn’t a straight up slur, you could comment it”.

You’d think it’d be simple, just ban those who do that. Well, what about those who defend baby murder? I know lefties genuinely believe it isn’t, but I do. How do you tell what is horrible shit, when lefties act like horror movie monsters?

What about those who I’m like 90% sure are arguing in bad faith? I want to encourage discussions and arguments, and if I’m wrong, what then?

Me doing keyword-based moderating was a bad idea, but I am at a loss of how to do better, without breaking what this sub was supposed to be about.

I need ideas.

How should I moderate this community?

  • PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com
    1·
    1 year ago

    Right now, there’s a lot of toxicity, some straight up telling people to kill themselves. My whole moderation policy was basically “So long as it isn’t a straight up slur, you could comment it”.

    You’d think it’d be simple, just ban those who do that. Well, what about those who defend baby murder? I know lefties genuinely believe it isn’t, but I do. How do you tell what is horrible shit, when lefties act like horror movie monsters?

    What’s the purpose of telling people to kill themselves versus discussing abortion? In the case of the latter, you might see me argue in favor of abortion because it preserves a woman’s autonomy by denying her abusive partner yet another means of control. But in making that argument, I’m trying to demonstrate why I support abortion over banning it. It contributes to the discussion.

    Getting told to put a gun in my mouth won’t hurt my feelings, but it’s purely toxic. It adds absolutely no value to the discussion.

    What about those who I’m like 90% sure are arguing in bad faith? I want to encourage discussions and arguments, and if I’m wrong, what then?

    I’m 90% certain you’re talking about me and at least one other person that I know of. Frankly, I think we add to the argument half of discussions/arguments. I do not agree with conservative policies at all, but I’m still interested in how conservatives square the circle between reality and their beliefs. At best, with conservatives actually interested in arguing, we help them work out the weaknesses in their argument. I will readily admit a good point, even one I disagree with. At worst, it looks like we’re trolling because some conservative members don’t bother actually thinking through their beliefs and would rather resort to telling people to kill themselves.

    I don’t have any concrete recommendations, for you, honestly. If it were me, I’d focus on generating discussions and arguments about conservative news. I don’t think it’s enough to say “Don’t do X, Y, Z”. They have their place certainly, but wanting to talk about news content doesn’t automatically follow. Maybe if posters had to like…quote something from the article, or add their opinion as a comment or whatever. Idk, but actively encouraging what you want out of the community is better than merely discouraging what you don’t want, imho.

    I look forward to how you resolve the issue of upholding free speech while wanting to facilitate discussions and arguments.