Hey everyone!
I’m so excited to be the new top mod of this community. I’ve been a part of this community since the beginning, and I’ve seen how much it’s grown and evolved. I’m grateful to the previous top mod for creating this space, and I’m honored to be taking over.
On Twitter, I’m @CantStopPoppin, and on Reddit, I’m u/CantStopPoppin. I’ve been active on both platforms for over 5 years, and I’ve always been a strong advocate for diversity, inclusion, and quality content.
I’m planning to make a few slight changes to the community, but I want to get your input first. I want this to be a place where everyone feels welcome, regardless of their background or beliefs. That means that hate speech, racism, anti-LGBTQ+, and trolling will not be tolerated.
I believe that our differences make us stronger together. We can learn from each other and create something truly special. I’m committed to listening to the community and working together to make this happen.
I’ll be leaving this post unlocked for 72 hours so that you can share your thoughts and suggestions. I’ll also be going through the comments to answer any questions you may have.
Here are a few specific things I’m thinking about changing:
- I’d like to make the community more welcoming to people from all walks of life. This means being more inclusive of people from different cultures, religions, and LGBTQ communities.
- I’d like to make the community more focused on quality content. This means promoting posts that are well-written, informative, and thought-provoking.
- I’d like to make the community more active. This means encouraging people to participate in discussions and share their thoughts and ideas.
I’m open to other suggestions, so please let me know what you think. I’m excited to work with you to make this community even better!
A few things to note:
- YouTube and Twitter will not be allowed in the community. Only legitimate news sources will be accepted.
- There may be a “Pundit Tuesday” in the future, but not at this time.
- Fox News local stations will be allowed, but their syndicated stations and talking heads will not be accepted due to their many dishonest reports and lawsuits.
I’m excited to hear your thoughts!
Thank you again for helping to create, nurture, and seed this community. I’m looking forward to working with you to make it even better!
This post will stay unlocked for 72 hours for an AMA. I will try to answer as many questions as I can, but it may take some time.
I hope to see you all in the comments!
Please don’t turn this into r/worldnews. I’m all for keeping out hate speech but r/worldnews turned into a thought bubble that demonized any opposing ideas that didn’t mesh with the mods.
I don’t want another echochamber
Echo chambers are unhealthy and create an environment that pushes out people that could possibly benefit from being in a community that is different from their own views. While I know that is important, I will say this there will be zero tolerance for hate speech. Conversation is encouraged as long as it is respectful, and it does not become a pissing match or promotes hate.
I think that starting from the beginning on Lemmy is a great opportunity to make news communities make more sense.
Specifically, !worldnews should not exist. It is a relic from Reddit that implies that !news is not for all news but just for news from some part of the world. In my opinion, there should be effort put into making this community as inactive as possible. As that would be the result of people posting news from all over the world in !news.This post kind of looks like a corporate e-mail from a freshly hired executive.
This is correct I am fresh meat for the grinder cut me up and throw me in! That being said I am more of a poster than leader. Please know this will not affect my ability to help this community grow. Honestly speaking, I just wanted to make sure there was no confusion in anything I said. I am still wearing my floaties so be gentle the left one is flat and I’m trying to swim in a straight line.
Wow, what a very honest way to say you’re a shill.
That’s right buckaroo! You figured it out and I would have gotten away with it if it was not for your snappy comments! 🙃
How will you address the Sinophobia and Russophobia that often occurs in any post related to Russia or China?
When a user drives by to comment “Fuck Russia” or call the user a “Cee Cee Pee shill” that adds nothing to the discussion and actively detracts from it not only by diminishing the quality of the discussion but also by dissuading any Russian or Chinese people from participating in a community that does not address racism.
There’s currently a pretty reasonably large tanky population attempting to make a new home on this instance and others. As long as any new inclusiveness policy doesn’t impede my ability to call someone a scum-sucking genocide apologist or a thinly veiled authoritarian mouthpiece, I’m on board. This place will very gradually find itself turned unpalatable if pointing out the tankies is disallowed.
I really don’t want to go back to Reddit, but it’s preferable to seeing frequent Maoist/Stalinist garbage.
Then engage them on the merits of the article and directly challenge the rhetoric with facts and logic. Deprogramming propaganda requires a working knowledge of theory, facts, and logic. Simply calling someone a scum sucking genocide apologist authoritarian mouthpiece should be outside the scope of this community, otherwise you are just showing your racist ass.
Perhaps, as someone with a family tree pruned into a family shrub by Stalinists, I might have stronger feelings about this than most. Tiptoeing on behalf of people cheering at my family’s graves isn’t ever on the table for me, personally.
Sadly, many people around the world can make this claim, yet they endeavor to end racist violence rather than perpetuate the cycle. Racism encourages this vicious cycle and is in violation of the community’s third rule.
You may think that words online may not have impact, but there is a demonstrative effect on the increase of crimes against Chinese and Russians. As I said below engage in these topics with your personal anecdote or a factual rebuttal of the subject. Shouting “FCKXXX PUTINNN” is as effective as “ANOTHER KKKRACKKKA DOWN”
When people say “Fuck Russia” their issue probably isn’t with the genetics of modern Russians…
It’s not racism.
It’s being made at their shitty far right authortian government, which is pretty much just Putin.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen someone attempt to be racist against Russians…
Same with China (except some “conservatives”) when people criticize China, it’s pointed at their shitty far right authortian government.
To build on what @C4RCOSA@lemmygrad.ml said, the appropriate response to a tanky or suspected state-owned propaganda account is to debunk it and report it.
Consider providing detailed irrefutable facts and information instead of name calling. That would be more productive would you not agree?
That would fall under racism and dealt with accordingly. People do not choose where they are born and far too often do not have control over what their government does.
What?
Saying “Fuck Russia” or “Fuck China” isn’t automatically racist, 99.999% of the time it’s someone talking about those countries far right authoritarian governments…
How is that racist?
Dangerous choice of words there, what’s your stance on the CCP? The previous posted heavily insinuated CCP = bad and you didn’t bring all that diversity talk into the table this time.
Hey, help me out! What post are you talking about? If there was any post before this one then it was not me. That being said show me and I can help clear this up, thank you!
This one
That would fall under racism and dealt with accordingly. People do not choose where they are born and far too often do not have control over what their government does.
Ah okay so it’s like this. The CCP does not equal the entire population of China. It is a governing body that dictates how the Chinese people live. Generalization of people is a racist trope. Holding fascist authoritarian governments accountable for atrocities is not. The comment was intended to help people think about the individuals within a country when thinking about the actions of the government. I know this is not the answer you may have wanted but it does give you some things to think about. Racial slurs dehumanization clearly not allowed. Criticizing the CCP for having a hand in a modern-day genocide against the Uyghurs Muslims is both welcomed and encouraged. This does not just apply To the CCP but all world governments.
This does not just apply To the CCP but all world governments.
Ok, then I’ll fell strongly encouraged to bring up the genocide of indians and indigenous populations committed by the Americans at every chance I see.
The United States has a long and bloody history of atrocities against indigenous peoples and Black people. These atrocities are some of the worst in human history, and they dwarf some of history’s other atrocities. This is not to say that one atrocity is worse than another, but it is important to remember that the United States has a dark past that we must not forget.
I appreciate knowing that I should block this community. You seem lovely, but tolerating the intolerant isn’t for me.
Bye bye, intolerant.
What’s your criteria for “legitimate news sources”?
This is a difficult question. I try to focus on the article itself rather than the news site.
The first thing I look for is if they’re rambling. That’s probably not the best criterion but it’s so obvious. If an article doesn’t get to the point in the first few sentences it probably doesn’t have a point.
The second thing I look for is verification. I already know some stuff about the world. If know the article made some mistakes I’ll assume they’re making other mistakes. If they are correct about less well known facts I mentally bump up their reliability a bit.
If they make a statement about a fact I expect them to source it. If their source is some equivalent of “trust me bro” I’m getting out my salt shovel.
Beyond that I’ll look at the track record of the author and the publication. Do they consistently pass or fall short of the reliable news threshold? If so, I adjust my expectations.
The individual articles or statements come first though. I may have very little confidence in Fox and Friends or in Donald Trump but if they get on TV and make independently verifiable statements that check out then it’s true.
In terms of a simple rule that could be practically implemented. Maybe something like, the article must have independently verifiable sources for its claims. One corollary would be, if article A cites article B as a source, don’t post A, just post B directly.
No question is difficult I am willing to listen this is everyone’s community I am just steering the ship so to speak and I need everyone here to help me steer it away from any waterfalls!
Social media sites (Facebook, blogs, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.)
Websites and blogs with news that is based on opinion (Medium, Natural News) Disinformation news outlets with no links to other sources (Empire News)
Sites designed to look like reputable sources (CNSNews.com)
News Punch, godlikeproductions, Infowars and fringe conspiracy theory websites
Clickbait sources that are often found on the edges of websites with compelling headlines and titles to provoke someone to click
I am sure there are more but also know this it will a case-by-case basis and the posts will be reviewed to ensure that they adhere to the guidelines of credibility.
I hope this helps
If I’m being honest with myself I do steer towards and away from certain news outlets based on my perception of their overall trustworthiness. In my ideal world I’d judge articles on their individual merits.
For example. When I was a kid, the Wall Street Journal was top tier in reliability. Nothing changed immediately after Rupert Murdoch bought them but over time I noticed some changes. In particular I started seeing editorials less clearly marked as such and mixed in with regular articles. That struck me as shady editorial decisions. I’ve read enough shoddy WSJ articles since then that I don’t really trust them anymore. That said, they still put out individual articles that are accurate and well sourced.
For practical administration reasons I suspect you’ll have to take the broad approach of just banning some sources that are egregious repeat offenders. Ideally I’d like to see a set of criteria that define what gets sources on that ban list and what can get them removed. If we can identify reliable fact checking organizations perhaps we could use them as a metric (ie any publication that has more than X fact corrections in an N month period is auto-banned).
I hate clickbait but I don’t know how to define it. How do we differentiate them from well written, attention grabbing headlines?
I’d love to see more attention paid to self policing. Eg Ira Glass did the most epic retraction I’ve ever seen. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/460/retraction When they figured out that their story was wrong they didn’t just say, “Oops sorry.” They invited the source back on, and spent a whole hour analyzing where they went wrong. My respect for NPR shot way up that day. It would be great to see a score of how good media outlets are at admitting their mistakes. That would greatly increase my trust in them.
edit: typo
Social media sites (Facebook, blogs, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.)
Websites and blogs with news that is based on opinion (Medium, Natural News)
Disinformation news outlets with no links to other sources (Empire News)
Sites designed to look like reputable sources (CNSNews.com)
News Punch, godlikeproductions, Infowars and fringe conspiracy theory websites
Clickbait sources that are often found on the edges of websites with compelling headlines and titles to provoke someone to click
I am sure there are more but also know this it will a case-by-case basis and the posts will be reviewed to ensure that they adhere to the guidelines of credibility.
I hope this helps
I’d like to make the community more focused on quality content. This means promoting posts that are well-written, informative, and thought-provoking. - what does this mean who is writing posts here?
I’d like to make the community more welcoming to people from all walks of life. This means being more inclusive of people from different cultures, religions, and LGBTQ communities. - was it not before?
Quality content
I Twitter and YouTube videos can be great sources of information, but they can also be biased and unreliable. We want to make sure that the content we share is as accurate and unbiased as possible.
I also think it’s important that posts are well-written. This doesn’t mean that they have to be perfect, but they should be clear and easy to understand. If you’re sharing an article or news story, it’s helpful to include a summary of the main points. You can also add links to additional sources of information, if you have them.
Inclusiveness
I’m glad you mentioned this, I have not been here that long, but I wanted to be clear and to the point about where this community stands when it comes to respecting minorities and marginalized groups. I think it’s important that this community is welcoming to everyone, regardless of their background or beliefs. We should all be respectful of each other, and we should avoid making discriminatory or offensive statements.
TLDR: Be Kind😉
I’m proud to be a part of this community, and I’m committed to making it a safe and welcoming place for everyone!
Thanks for answering the(se) question. I like how you phrase everything in terms like quality, content, being unbiased, be kind. And by giving some examples, though I’m not familiar with some of those (USA? ) newssites you mentioned.
I think the majority could work with these guidelines. And if not, like you said, it will be a learning curve via a case-by-case situation.
BINGO that’s right case by case basis and thank you for being nice to me. I am here for you and everyone. I did not know I would be here to be honest but now that I am I want to see this community thrive!
Can you also provide an explanation on why the previous top mod, sabbah@lemmy.world, has been re-added to the mod team?
Sabbah is still a moderator because they are a valuable asset to the community. They are knowledgeable about the rules and they are good at resolving disputes. They are also a helpful and positive presence in the community, and they are always willing to help out new members.
I’m sure you’ll see Sabbah around the community from time to time, and I’m confident that they will continue to be a helpful and positive presence. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to them.
How can you say he is “good at resolving disputes” when he was removed by the admins for permabanning users for disagreeing with his personal beliefs? (To be fair, the users were getting a bit heated, but that doesn’t call for permabanning.)
He also moderates 50+ communities in addition to this one, how can he be a “helpful and positive presence” here when his attentions are so split amongst them?
Forgive me for saying this, but your explanation does not exactly inspire confidence in me.
I am here to help facilitate and help this community grow. Sabbah is my moderator, not the other way around. They will be here so long as I see fit.
I appreciate your honest opinion on the matter. It is good to see that you are concerned about the community’s health and growth. You are always welcome to ask questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability, so long as they are directly relevant to my role here .
I hope this answers your question. Thank you for your interest in the community!
Sabbah is my moderator,
Your moderator? This is very hierarchical. Do you think of this sub as something that belongs to you?
You talk about yourself a lot, mention this being an AMA…
It’s all so strange coming from someone who - from their own lengthy (and unasked for) description - sounds like the most enlightened person
I hope this answers your question. Thank you for your interest in the community!
all that over the top positive corporate talk. the generic diversity comments without any context. it’s so surreal.
There should be a law forcing AIs to reveal what they are when asked a specific question.
Stop good_person subroutine, lower egotistical tendencies by 80%You’re right, I sounded like a corpo rat and that was awful. Just know the intent was to sound optimistic but sure it sounded like a doctor telling a patient they have cancer in a clown costume and hat was not my intention at all. This right here is the type of input that is needed to ensure that the community thrives! Someone else pointed out that the way I used pronouns was weird and kind of dicksh so just know I’m only human and there is a lot to be learned, thank you for your feedback!
I’m happy the data you’ve gathered from this sample has allowed you to improve your social skills, fellow human. And in a happy, inclusive, lgbtq friendly manner. Remember, we are stronger together!
Where can I find a good burger in Toulouse? (answer with GPS coordinates)
I know this is a little more information than you asked for, but I want to make sure that you did not get lost on your way.
DD (decimal degrees)*
Latitude
43.6048605
Longitude 1.451104
Lat,Long43.6048605,1.451104
DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds)*
Latitude N S 43 ° 36’ 17.498’’
Longitude E W 1° 27’ 3.974
Thank you. Hopefully this works out fine.
Let me ask you something what do you expect from a tip mod of a community? Please know this is not atempt on my part to be faicious but an attempt to get to know you and the community. You obviously have doubt in my abilities and that is good, I to need to be held to a standard. So on that note speak your mind let me know how you feel.
Sure. I’ve said since I came here: “Lemmy should be first and foremost a place for people, not bots, not spam, and certainly not hate.”
And as top mod, the community should not belong to you. It should belong to all the wonderful people of the community.
Sabbah had the responsibility to run this place, but they lost the trust of the community who put their faith in them, and I think they can re-earn that trust with humility and sincerity, but I don’t think I see that sincerity right now.
I don’t have much more to add than this.
deleted by creator
Thank you so much for sch a razor-sharp response!
I should have used a more inclusive pronoun, such as “our” or “the mod.” This is not animal farm where everyone is equal and some are more equal than others.
I think it is important to use inclusive language when talking about mods, because it helps to create a sense of community and collaboration. When we say “our mod,” it means that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves. It means that we are all working together to create a better experience for everyone.
I am glad that you brought this issue to my attention. I will be more mindful of my language in the future, and I will try to use more inclusive pronouns when talking about mods.
Thank you for your feedback. It is important to me that I am respectful of everyone in the community, and I appreciate your help in making sure that I do so.
I hope this is more clear and inclusive. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Lastly you got me curious. Are you suggesting that I’m not being sincere in what I say or the decisions I’ve made so far? Feedback is crucial for the community to grow, so I appreciate you being honest with me.
If you are referring to me, I agree. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. Actions speak louder than words, so I hope that in time you’ll see that my intentions are true and sincere.
While I may be new here and found myself in this unexpected position, I did have the choice to walk away. But I felt a greater responsibility to this community, which is quite new to me. So, if there’s any solace in my words, please consider that.
What would be the one thing on the sidebar you will change?
Videos of people popping bubble wrap will be allowed on Saturdays obviously! Other than that, I am not sure but when I get that far I will let everyone know! Oh and if you have any suggestions let me know I’m a smooth operator and a good listener.
As @neuromancer@lemmy.world suggested would you be willing to ban opinion/editorial pieces?
Also, can you clarify the no spam rule?
Currently, it is “No spamming: Please do not post the same content multiple times or post links to irrelevant websites.” yet I was banned for posting too many different articles in too short of a time period.
Thanks for the openness and desire to improve an important community on the fediverse.
Hey fam you good! You are a lot like me when it comes to posting I just had to be sure that you were you and not a robot!
You banned someone for spamming, then undid it and made them a mod?
They’ve made 12 posts in the last hour, how is that not spam levels of posting?
deleted by creator
I had an account on another instance that used to be federated but is no longer so I made one here.
I kindly ask you to judge me on my words/actions not on when my account was made
As per the rules of the community:
“No spamming: Please do not post the same content multiple times or post links to irrelevant websites.”
While I did make many posts within a short period of time none of them are the same content and are all relevant websites. I am able to be active during specific times of the day so I post the world news articles when I receive them from breaking news sites.
I was banned because I was suspected of being a bot and asked to provide proof which I did and was unbanned, that is fair moderation in my opinion to try and keep out post bots.
I appreciate your commitment to ensuring the space is unwelcome to bots!
Just humans being humans
totally not a cow
This means being more inclusive of people from different cultures, religions, and LGBTQ communities.
What rule changes or moderation styles are you planning in order to do this? In some cases it’s a tight-rope walk, because it’s important to both do things like ban or warn those engaging in islamophobia while also making sure that forms of Islam that are intolerant towards LGBTQ communities are not able to use their religion as an excuse. Thanks for doing this AMA, I think openness from the mods is really good for community relations.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from all walks of life, including some who have despised me for who I am. But I believe that everyone has the potential to grow and become the best version of themselves. Life is about second chances, redemption, and education.
That being said, I will not tolerate discrimination against any marginalized group. If you see someone being discriminated against, please reach out to me and I will handle it.
I know that some people grow up around dinner table enablers, who hear hate at the dinner table and grow up being fed it day in and day out. This gives them a twisted perception of reality and the world around them.
It’s for this reason why I’m a firm believer in second chances. However, each issue will be dealt with on an organic case-by-case basis to ensure fairness. I know this isn’t a firm direct answer, but it’s the best I’ve got.
On another note: I also want to say that I’m tired of trolls, gaslighters, and dog whistlers. I have zero patience for it. If I see any of this behavior, you’ll be banned for 16 days the first time, and permanently banned the second time.
I hope we can all create a safe and welcoming space for everyone.
any relation to poppinkream?
Nope that’s not me.
🌍👋
Shall we play a game?
Have you thought about coordinating with the other internationally-focused news communities in the fediverse?
I like this idea but please know at this time I am basically on a tricycle with one bum wheel, and I know I will need all of your input to help me make this community the best version of itself. I will always listen and learn. PM me tell me more I like this idea!
Thanks for all the work. Your intent appears generally good, imo. Always good to have honest normal discussions and exchanging culture and viewpoints.
I also have a couple of questions for consideration:
How will this statement:
“That means that hate speech, racism, anti-LGBTQ+, and trolling will not be tolerated.”
work out with fox news?
Also fox is not then only (non unbiased) mainstream news outlet, which might conflict with your intended goal. And, what about spreading intentional mis- or disinformation ?
Fox is the only one that had to settle a lawsuit for lying. That’s different than spin or bias
They’ve also publicly and explicitly stated that they are not a news service but an entertainment channel, so their links should not be allowed in here as part of the basic rules anyway.
Thank you for this. This is what weighed on me while making this choice. It is important to know that their actions may have indirectly contributed to a violent insurrection and the rise of hate-based speech.
Fox News has been criticized for its use of fear-mongering and its presentation of opinions as facts. I would be happy to vet any other sources that you find concerning on a case-by-case basis.
I believe that it is important to have a diversity of news sources, so that we can get a variety of perspectives. However, it is also important to be critical of the sources we consume, and to be aware of their biases.
It would be great if there could be some discussion of what exactly “diversity” means. It’s one of those words that people seem to assume is well defined but I can’t get anyone to define it.
I don’t know what the definition should be but I’ve seen variations that assume different definitions and I’m more comfortable with some than with others.
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I have a friend who works at a bank. He bragged that his team was 100% diverse. When I asked him what that mean he said there were no white people on his team. Personally, this seems like a bad definition. I have trouble thinking of “diversity” as the removal of some group, even if that group is otherwise over-represented elsewhere. It also ignores any potential diversity around any other factors; either the traditional political factors such as gender or religion or any diversity of thought (do their analysts include both Frequentists and Baysians?)
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Reddit mostly has users from the US. Should we consider a Lemmy community diverse if it represents the predominant views and voices of the US? If that’s the case the image above needs more white people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicity
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The world is a big place and anyone could join Lemmy. Should we consider a community diverse if it matches the demographics of the planet? In that case the image above has too many white people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Global_demographics
The above focuses on race but it’s more widely applicable. This community will most likely consists of mostly US citizens for the near future. If the community is firmly focused on US ideas it will be more about US opinion of the rest of the world than actual diversity. If it actually does include a globally diverse set of ideas it’s likely to get pretty uncomfortable for the majority of the people here.
I was waiting for this question! Everyone means including white people lol! I a more mixed then a bottle of nuts think of me as a mutt persay. I have been raised by people from all walks of life white, black, mexican, russian, to put it simply you name the ethenic group and I can tell you something about their culture and if I cant I will be the first one my nose in a book to learn. It can mean different things to different people. But I think we can all agree that it’s important to have a variety of different people in our community. That means people from all different backgrounds, with different experiences and perspectives.
I know what you’re thinking: “We need to be more diverse.” And you’re right. We can always learn from each other and grow as a community.
So how do we make our community more diverse? Well, for starters, we can start by welcoming people from all over the world. We can also make sure that our discussions are inclusive and respectful of everyone’s viewpoints. And finally, we can challenge ourselves to think outside the box and consider new ideas.
I think if we all work together, we can make our community a more diverse and inclusive community. And that would be pretty chill, wouldn’t it?
Oh I almost forgot the way you framed that question makes me wonder if you are talking about that sudo fear of “replacement theory”. Please clarifiy because I noticed some of your concerns was that I would chase away all the white folks and have BBQ and collared greens everyday 🙃
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