quick dual announcement
New Communities
we’ve tabulated the easiest part of the survey (other results coming later) and we’re pleased to announce that, in the future, we’ll be creating six new communities. these six choices can be stratified as:
most popular, community picks
- World News
- AskBeehaw
hand picked, also popular with our community
- Tabletop Gaming
- Anime and Manga
hand picked, base exists in our community for it and distinct enough to take a chance on
- Vegan and Vegetarian[1]
- Parenting
in the specific case of World News, the !news@beehaw.org community will be converted into the “World News” section, and a separate !usnews community will be spun off for US-centric news.
these communities will be created in batches of three. you’ll see WN+US news conversion/AB/TG first, then A&M/V&V/P about a week after that.
as for communities that didn’t make it, these are best fits for now:
- School & Education: !humanities@beehaw.org
- Camping & Hiking: !greenspace@beehaw.org or !environment@beehaw.org or !chat@beehaw.org
- Fitness: !chat@beehaw.org, occasionally !betterment@beehaw.org
- Photography: wherever it fits
- TIL: !chat@beehaw.org
- Travel: !chat@beehaw.org
- Spirituality: !chat@beehaw.org and !humanities@beehaw.org
- Health: wherever it fits
- Sustainability: can mostly go in !environment@beehaw.org
- AntiWork/WorkReform: !socialism@beehaw.org
- Retro: wherever it fits
Community Moderators
this also means we’re taking on new Community moderators. as with last time: this is not a full time job and we don’t want it to be, but this is also not a completely trivial commitment either, so please only apply if you’re comfortable with making that commitment. (if you think it’s becoming overwhelming or too much for you at a later point, that’s different and we can discuss that then.) our community mods haven’t had many issues though, so i doubt you will either.
What is expected of community moderators?
I’m sure you can surmise, but to be specific:
- Encourage and promote respectful and constructive discussions, and address any behaviour that goes against our community’s spirit to be(e) nice.
- Assist people by answering their questions, offering guidance, and helping them navigate the platform effectively, ensuring they feel heard.
- Where possible, give us and/or your fellow active mods concerns, improvements, or insights you have from your section of our community.
What powers do community moderators have?
You’d be expected to use these responsibly, obviously:
- The ability to remove or hide posts, comments, or other content that violate our community guidelines.
- The authority to issue warnings to users who breach our mantra, and in severe cases, temporarily suspend their accounts.
We generally encourage a compassionate approach to moderating, though. Unless someone is clearly unproductive, we encourage you as a mod to engage in constructive dialogue before banning. And if you don’t have the energy for this, you can flag a post to bring it to our (or another mod’s) attention.
Additionally: blatantly misusing these or using them maliciously will be instant grounds for demotion, and in the latter case likely permanent banning from the site. Do not do that, please and thank you.
If I’m selected, how can I report stuff to the admins?
On site, you can flag it and leave it for us to deliberate. You can also reach one of us by DM on here.
If you need to immediately contact us for mod stuff, our main hubs of operation are Discord (where we have a specific channel for community mod reports) and Matrix (which is pretty relaxed and easy to follow). You can also use a DM on Beehaw itself.
How will mods be selected?
Hand selection. In the future we may supplement hand picking mods with another method—any mods selected by that method would most likely serve on a temporary basis (and that would be made clear to them on appointing).
Applications can be made here.[2]
because i’ve already seen moderately concerning posts w/r/t to this: please do not make us regret this community. it is currently this grouping or nothing. ↩︎
we are working on a non-Google platform here but but our first alternative failed to materialize today and there are easily half a dozen other things we need to prioritize right now (including the big 0.18 update, which had its timing on here derailed by a crippling bug). we’ll get to an alternative when we do. if you do not want to use the form, DM me and we can arrange something. ↩︎
I actually volunteered to moderate that sub specifically for this reason. I’m hoping mods will be contacted before subs are created to discuss.
IMO ‘Vegetarian and Plant Based’ is probably a more fitting sub name/subject.
I don’t think Beehaw is ready for an honest conversation about veganism.
No, they showed they are not ready.
Which is very strange given that they cater to multiple ideologies, sexual inclinations, races, etc. But no, “there will be no discussion about veganism and you will enjoy what we are imposing, period”.
I’m shocked.
You could easily make the same arguments about nearly any community we have on this site and most especially about POC or LGBTQ, the difference is that these groups have chosen to be inclusive of similar identities rather than exclusionary.
I might be missing something, but is it the case that we won’t be able to discuss veganism? I’m vegan for ethical reasons so I do get where you’re coming from with this, but I think there might be perspectives you’re not seeing.
I became vegan something like six years ago and prior to that I was vegetarian for my entire life. I was vegetarian because I had a moral problem with killing things. I became vegan because I eventually ended up actually listening to vegans’ arguments for why dairy etc. aren’t hugely different morally speaking from meat. If you want to create more vegans - and thereby reduce suffering - vegetarians are probably some of the most receptive people to these points, assuming they don’t get alienated.
Assuming I’m not missing something and it is the case that we’d be able to have friendly discussions with people about why we believe veganism is a better moral choice, I don’t really see what’s so wrong here.
Yeah I went through basically the same pipeline as you (except I went vegetarian at ~11yo then vegan about 6 years ago) and to me vegetarianism was far more akin to a philosophy than “just” a diet - I just had some cognitive dissonance / wilful ignorance that I used as an excuse to continue eating cheese and eggs!
There’s a real argument to be made that a combined group is better for vegans, because it exposes them to the thought process.
I don’t think it’s strange.
Moderating online communities can be a lot of work. And Beehaw is really trying to maintain civili friendly discourse here.
Part of maintaining civility (without tons of moderating power) is limiting conversation topics where different members are passionately on different sides.
The philosophical implications of the word ‘veganism’ aren’t always obvious to those from outside vegan spaces, which is why I suggested ‘plant based’ as an alternative phrasing.
i think that plant based is maybe a better descriptor as well. more of a big tent than a specific philosophy.
I think that the “plant-based” phrasing would be a lot less vulnerable to this kind of philosophical debate, and it better captures the overlap.
Honestly, I joined beehaw knowing that the admins would run it like a benevolent dictatorship. It’s their instance, their servers, their time and effort, and I respect that.
Yep, if you want to make your own community your own way, there’s plenty of other instances that offer that.
They don’t, though. lgbtq_plus@beehaw.org and poc@beehaw.org are single communities that each represent several different minority groups. Combined, the LGBTQ+ and POC communities are probably a larger percentage of the world (and Beehaw) than people who don’t eat meat.
I am a vegan, and I understand that veganism is a philosophy. However, the reality is that we’re a small group, and we have a lot in common with vegetarians. We are either going to get a combined community for people who don’t eat meat, or no community at all.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Well, to weigh in here…I don’t think I saw anywhere about the admins saying it’s not a topic up for discussion. I believe what they were saying is that in order to organize the communities in a way that is feasible for members (of Beehaw or other) to be able to see/find communities in a broader sense.
While I am not vegan or vegetarian…I can understand the frustration. It’s like trying to combine (for lack of a better example) arts. Lets say they combined a Sci-Fi and Fantasy board. While they may be radically different at their core, they can still fall under the broader category of writing or arts. Even though they may contrast or not even be completely related… its the broader sense of organizing them into categories that can easily be digested. I know it may be a stretch, but this is how I choose to interpret these actions. It’s not a snub or a malicious intent behind the restructuring, just some house cleaning.
Now, I can’t speak for the mods and admins… but… with boards like this, just as categories can be combined, they can also be separated. Who is to say that this may not happen in the future as Beehaw continues to grow. It’s never said that this was meant to be permanent, so far as I can see. Again, can’t speak for the mods or admins but they could also make it go under one title and two separate boards under one heading. Names can easily be modified.
I’m certain that if we talk to the admins/mods, respectfully, as they have been with us, it’ll make it easier to co-operate.
Just my 2 cents. :)