Hey, everyone. Hope this post finds you all well! A few days ago, PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS opened a comm request thread to name the community formerly known as The Dredge Tank. Now that it’s been about 4 days and the votes seem pretty steady, we’re rea-

angry-place “STOP THE COUNT!!!”

top-cop “Mr. President, she’s talking.”

As I was saying, we’re ready to call the vote. Nobody’s been happy with counterpropaganda, and we’ve heard you loud and clear. I’m excited to announce that Slop. is now open for all the posts you’d have previously posted to The Dredge Tank.

El Chisme continues to remain the new space for posts that would have been at home in The Dunk Tank.

In case anyone’s confused about this, I’m gonna give a really quick explanation so everyone’s on the same page with what’s going on with the Tanks. The names of The Dunk Tank and The Dredge Tank have racist origins. The moderators of those communities agreed that the names of these communities should be changed. Unfortunately, while Lemmy allows the display names of communities to be changed, it does not currently allow the actual comm names to be changed. In order to change the names of these communities, we would have to shut them down and re-open new comms under new names. The mods of the dunk tank and dredge tank requested the name c/gossip. While there are some legitimate arguments being made relating to misogynistic societal perceptions of that word, the mods include women and enbies who disagree and specifically requested this name. I feel that this situation parallels the initial pushback that was experienced with disabled in which users voiced concerns that this name could be ableist, but the moderators of that community are themselves disabled and specifically requested that comm name, verbatim. Along with this name change, the mods felt that slightly expanding the scope of the community and simultaneously lowering the bar for the previous Rule 8 would allow users to post about more minor public figures as well as more major ones. This was seen as an expansion of the community’s role, allowing posts to the new Dredge Tank replacement (counterpropaganda) to become a little more focused. We communicated this poorly, but the intention was to have users offer a sentence or two countering the reactionary take shown in the screenshot. Given how things spiraled from there, we’ve taken a step back from changing any of the rules during the switchover from The Dredge tank to Slop. We’re trying to take time to let everyone breathe without changing too many things too quickly, but we also want to actually make sure people can get back to posting. Hopefully you’re all okay with this pacing, lemme know below.

In upcoming admin updates:

  • I’ll post some analysis of mistakes and missteps that were made in recent days, including some of the context that led up to those errors.

  • I’ll offer a clearer and more complete explanation and description of the ongoing site culture issues that have been previously mentioned. These were poorly communicated before, but I’ll do my best to explain both the issues at hand as well as the importance of dealing with them.

The last few days have been really confusing and frustrating for a lot of people and a lot has happened. This is not an appropriate place to reopen, re-litigate, or rehash the struggle session. I will not be debating either the struggle session or the subjects of the upcoming admin update posts here. Please refrain from doing so as well.

trump-feed “Folks, we’re feeding the fish their slop, they’re tremendously hungry, incredibly famished. And look: I get to feed them. They say: Mr President, please feed the koi fish, its din din time, and it is! I get to do the little shaka-shaka with the can, and they’re happy, they’re eating -they’re eating- out of the palm of my hand, and they’re getting so big and so strong. Look at all these koi fish! I bet they won’t have any issues finding -finding- a special someone. And it’s wonderful, it’s great. Greydon Carter could never be a tremendously effective keeper of fish. His party is not so hot, and all of his betta fishes are dying! But Lyudmila’s letting me feed them, and I’m doing a tremendously great job, and a looot better than what Sleepy Joe would do!”

  • yoink [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    56·
    1 month ago

    I wasn’t going to relitigate this, because I’m tired boss, but I still have to say, even translated to another language, I still don’t agree with renaming it to gossip or any equivalent. In addition, this:

    While there are some legitimate arguments being made relating to misogynistic societal perceptions of that word, the mods include women and enbies who disagree and specifically requested this name. I feel that this situation parallels the initial pushback that was experienced with disabled in which users voiced concerns that this name could be ableist, but the moderators of that community are themselves disabled and specifically requested that comm name, verbatim.

    is exactly why this should have been put to a vote. Why do their voices and preferences matter more than mine? Especially considering at least one of the mods has already admitted they don’t even like the thing they’re in charge of? Not to mention that, whether intentionally or not, all users are relegated again to some mass of people, while the mods get the nuance of being part of these minority groups - why isn’t it noted that the ‘legitimate arguments’ were also coming from women and enby users? And this parallel you’re trying to draw comes off as essentially ‘anybody arguing against this is clearly not informed or from the minority group affected’, again whether you intend it to or not. Not to mention, if you accept them as legitimate arguments, why are they being cast aside for the personal preference of a handful of mods?

    I really think yall have a lot of learning to do.

    Editting to add: the more I think on this, the more this whole thing is baffling. We’re seriously going to replace ‘dunk tank’ because of it’s racial connotations, and we’re going to rename it some variation of ‘gossip’ in spite of it’s sexist connotations. What are we doing here?

    • ratboy [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      21·
      1 month ago

      I’m with you. I’m not a fan of the gossip name but it’s not something I’d want to fight for myself. That doesn’t change that it IS something that many women/femmes do want say in though, and while I think Lyudmila has done a much much better job at moderating this it still feels kinda like the post is falling short.

      However, I know Carcosa DID mention creating a Matrix chat where there can be a lot more user participation. Idk where the comment is, but hopefully they are just taking one step at a time and will address these issues one by one once the admin/mods have their feet beneath them

    • ourtimewillcome [none/use name, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      12·
      1 month ago

      preach!

      i know that the mod team means it well and i am thankful for the volunteer work they put into this place, but they seem to be overlooking the potential harm and negative connotations associated with using a term that has sexist or misogynistic roots, even if some of its supporters are women or genderqueer individuals.