Hello users of Hexbear, we wanted to inform you that we are going to be locking the_dunk_tank and dredge_tank communities. We have created two new communities /c/gossip and /c/counterpropaganda to serve a similar but clearly distinct purpose than the dunk/dredge tanks.

Not only is the dunk tank a term that has racist origins, but also many posts there were almost no effort and often times requiring later edits to show how they weren’t reactionary, not useful with regard to developing rhetoric and furthering dialectical analysis of that which we dunk upon.

To that end, we wish posts of reactionaries to be placed in !counterpropaganda@hexbear.net along with an accompanying explanation (as simple or complex as desired) with the intent of countering the reactionary propaganda in the post body, as of now comments are not subject to the same rhetorical rigor rule.

For the posts that are not "low-hanging fruit’ of notable people we ask that you use !gossip@hexbear.net .

These changes are mainly part of a continued effort to remove the racist and misogynistic elements from our community and grow.

Any moderators of the dunk tank or dredge tank that want to be a mod in the new communities let me know.

Any users with questions or comments please use this post, this change was made at the behest of the entire Hexbear mod and admin team. We will be looking for more moderators in an organized volunteer drive shortly, if you wish to submit an application you may send it to me via hexbear or matrix direct messages.

Use this post as a place for discussion to these changes. We will keep things as they are for 2 weeks and then reflect on the feedback, including this post: https://hexbear.net/post/3858346

As a personal addendum I am sorry if the closing of the tanks these changes removes a beloved space on the site and if you want to suggest a community to replace them you may do so at !commrequest@hexbear.net or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

Sitewide or community changes come from proposals put forth from the mod team, discussed, and voted on by the mod team.

Any users wanting to suggest a community to replace the tanks, may do so at !commrequest@hexbear.net current discussion is here https://hexbear.net/post/3858346 or submit a mod application to take a more active role in shaping the site.

You may also consider using !shitreactionariessay@lemmygrad.ml as a substitute for dunk/dredge tank posts as well

The mod statement can be found here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5613033

Application

What is your Hexbear username? Do you have any preferred pronouns? What are your thoughts on capitalism? What are your thoughts on imperialism? What are your thoughts on trans rights? What are your thoughts on racial justice? What do think about current and previous protests around the world? What are your thoughts on Veganism and Animal Liberation? Do you have any experience with other leftist online communities? What did those experiences teach you? What is your approach to moderation, and how do you work with teams? How do you deal with online drama and people who try to start things for the sake of it? What current comms would you be interested in moderating? Do you have any ideas for community engagement? What is your general time availability? (Time zone, amounts, common browsing times, etc)

  • TheSpectreOfGay [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    86·
    14 days ago

    gives off white cishet man vibes

    ??? im too autistic to understand “vibes”, but i feel like saying everyone who likes making fun of bigots and such are giving off white cishet man vibes is, kinda gross and weird?

    idk i do that with my afab friends a lot, we just call it “girl talk” instead of dunking.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      12·
      14 days ago

      Right? I would expect that comment to be removed and result in a ban. Coming from a mod is unexpected and upsetting. I did not ever expect a post signed by @CARCOSA@hexbear.net to include blatant racist and transphobic speech.

      What is even happening here? This whole situation is becoming increasingly bizarre.

      • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        57·
        14 days ago

        Ima be honest, that sounds like a crazy reach that is inspired by some personal thing than based in the reality of what is posted on the comms. I don’t even particularly care for the dunk tank and I don’t think I’ve posted there once or twice if even? But It’s literally just “this guy is wrong lol look how wrong he is guys?” almost every time I’ve seen anything there.

        Like before the answer to these kinds of tensions with badposting and other things was just block and move on but some how mods and people who have an issue with these comms can’t do that and have to reorient the site around their personal sensibilities? If you find shittalking inherently toxic, even if it’s against people who are literally reactionary/nazis/what have you, why not just block? What do you do outside of hexbear?

            • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
              56·
              14 days ago

              She hasn’t addressed any actual point once just reinforced her view as a problem and it should change but it’s also ok for her to be wildly toxic lol I’m not taking this as a good faith situation at this point tbh

              • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
                30·
                14 days ago

                I already went thru a whole discussion with her about this, so it’s just extra shitty of her to redo it from the get-go lol

                In this very thread even. But yeah, dunk_tank people are bad and toxic or whatever. This is the type of person who is just great for site culture lol

              • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
                12·
                14 days ago

                This appears to be a pattern with a couple of the mods who seem most aggressively for this decision and most against actually discussing it.

                I just shrugged and moved on when it was clear I wasn’t going to get a reasonable reply, but you’re right that many of these mod replies aren’t even close to being in good faith.

                At this point it really feels like a couple of mods here are just flinging shit because the majority don’t seem to agree with them and are annoyed at the disingenuous reasons given for this whole fuck up. It’s pretty embarrassing to be honest.

          • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
            39·
            14 days ago

            I suppose I just haven’t seen enough of that coming from the comms then. I don’t spend as much time as I used to here but it’s mostly been against people I wouldn’t exactly characterize as social disenfranchised, like I say mostly against libs and reactionaries. I also wouldn’t expect punching down to get a lot of support here, hb is pretty vocal about that kind of thing even if it isn’t perfect. We’ve had enough purges I feel safe in making that assertion.

          • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            37·
            14 days ago

            We’ve been thru this already, but your vagueposting about how the dunk tank targets ND people isn’t really grounded in the general observable reality of the content of the posts in the dunk tank. Responding, once again, with this claim is both unserious and exemplary of the toxic attitude that is leveled against the dunk tank.

          • KurtVonnegut [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            34·
            14 days ago

            the all too common man-activity of earning social validation by shitting on socially disenfranchised people

            I apologize for by bluntness, but don’t all human beings do this, not just men? Can you honestly tell me that you have never spoken to a woman or a group of women and heard them insult a social group lower than them on the conventional social hierarchy? For a current example, there are a certain number of women on Twitter right now talking about calling ICE to have the undocumented family members of their Trump-voting neighbors deported. I mean, men are making those posts too, but I have seen just as many women making the same posts. Anecdotally, I have personally known many Christian women who insult or are dismissive towards Muslim women, which also has a racial component to it.

            J. K. Rowling, specifically, is the world’s most famous hater of trans women. She holds events where groups of cis women get together to basically hate on trans women together. In my opinion, this is a way for her to earn “social validation.” Obviously this is toxic, as you say. But to claim that men do it far more often than women do, well, I have not seen any evidence of that in my personal life nor have I seen any data to support it. If you do have a book on the subject or a scientific study saying that men engage in this activity more than women do, I would be interested to read it and learn more about the issue. But I just think most human beings do it in specific social situations. Thank you for being open enough to have this discussion.

            • usa_suxxx [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
              24·
              14 days ago

              I apologize for by bluntness, but don’t all human beings do this, not just men? Can you honestly tell me that you have never spoken to a woman or a group of women and heard them insult a social group lower than them on the conventional social hierarchy?

              I worked in an office that was predominantly women with women in all leadership positions. Those women were mean. One of them leaves the room and the worst type of shit comes out their mouth about the woman who left the room. Really just subtext of gender essentialism going on in the anti dunk tank crowd

        • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          14 days ago

          Like before the answer to these kinds of tensions with badposting and other things was just block and move on but some how mods and people who have an issue with these comms can’t do that and have to reorient the site around their personal sensibilities?

          cant block them when they leak and we know containment doesn’t work from that study on reddit bans.

          the mods are definitely disconnected from the users but idk why people need dunk/dredge/badposting content when chapotraphouse is also low-effort but not infantile.

          bring back kerryposting i guess

          • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
            12·
            14 days ago

            ??

            Having subs dedicated to it obviously contains it more so than not, there’s people in this thread saying they blocked the subs and don’t want them to go bc it helped them not see it.

            the mods are definitely disconnected from the users but idk why people need dunk/dredge/badposting content when chapotraphouse is also low-effort but not infantile

            Well regardless people clearly seem to like it even if you don’t understand it and if you find it infantile you can block it. Like I said I found fake news and badposting infantile personally myself and blocked both so I didn’t have to see them

      • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        42·
        14 days ago

        it’s the weird “im special because other people suck” self congratulatory back patting

        I think you need to look inwards, because it seems like you just assume a lot about your fellow comrades on this site, which their written words do not support. You generally seem to be reaching about what people in the dunk tank think about themselves and the world.
        I do not share your experience of dunk tank posts, as we have thoroughly gone thru. Odd to see you’ve forgotten that somehow? Or you’ve decided to relitigate it for some reason?

        Consider just blocking the comm, if you dislike its’ content. Not everything has to be for you.