Publicly shaming or calling for uprisings against admins/moderators isn’t helpful or kind. We’re volunteers trying to keep everyone safe, not monsters. And, yet, we get targeted. Sometimes personally. That’s not okay.
Many of our moderation decisions are cut and dry. But many are also complicated. Often we receive reports that don’t violate our rules and are simply a matter of a difference of opinion. We aren’t argument referees. Unless that argument becomes harassment or discrimination.
Consider what’s happening in Palestine. We’ve received hundreds of reports about posts on this topic. Someone’s critical of Israel and gets reported for being anti-semitic. If we leave the post, we’re nazis. If we remove it, we’re imperialists. Someone’s supportive of Israel and gets reported for promoting genocide. The opposite becomes our reality. We don’t moderate opinions; we moderate explicit hate, harassment, disinformation, and violence. But people make assumptions and attack.
@jbhughes@dolmen you said nothing wrong in the first place. Your sentiment was lovely and welcomed. I literally didn’t think twice about it. It’s just an expression.
Our team has spent hours debating where we draw the line on Palestine/Israel. We consider the context and language in each post reported. And we make a decision based on our rules, ethics, and context. We study other activity by the reported account. We take many things into consideration. Most of the time we get it right. Most of the time we’re spat upon and called out for being this or that.
The truth is, we care about people and we care about Mastodon. We believe in equality and kindness. And we believe in doing this with integrity. We volunteer our time to do this. We’re not monsters or fascists or terrorists. We don’t deserve the vile treatment we receive.
Just don’t be an asshole, and you won’t get moderated. And if you disagree with our rules/decisions, there are myriad other Mastodon instances. Even if they’re poorly moderated or not moderated at all.
@markwyner Thanks to you and the other moderators for keeping this a great 💯 place to be. I used to moderate conferences with rules and know how SOME people don't think rules apply to them.
@markwyner
thank you. reminds me also once again not to report someone / a post before i tried to manage the conflicting topic by myself - as far as i can.
@Rhabarberbaer we don’t mind helping folks when things cross a line. It’s interesting how many people send a report because they simply don’t like what someone said. But if someone is abusive, don’t hesitate to let it be known.
@markwyner as a fellow admin: no you’re not getting shit right, stop crying about being oppressed because people have the guts to tell you you suck at moderation
volunteer or not, being a jannie is not a free pass to do what you want. seems like you aren’t cut out for the job, so maybe consider stepping down and either be a regular user or make a single-user instance? it’s okay, not everyone has to be the emperor of a giant hub
@markwyner
You have a tough job (unpaid yes, but still a job), and we don't have to imagine some of the trash you see because o0nce in a while we see it as well. I can't imagine the trauma you must feel after a few hours of moderating.
Thank you for sheilding us from the hate and violence.
You are appreciated.
Y’all are pretty awesome. I feel the love today. Community can be delightful. And after a really dark period I had a few weeks ago, this is quite the welcomed contrast. Keep on being the badasses that you are. 🙌🏻❤️🔥
@markwyner Thanks for a look at the behind-the-scenes of content moderation and how many factors must be taken into account and how much effort is put into making the right call.
@Schrank@markwyner@tynstar@ramsey There's a much larger mod team than just us two, which fortunately works out for the types of reports that we tend to get. Having multiple folks on each side of the Atlantic means spam tends not to last long once reported.
@ian@Schrank@tynstar@ramsey yeah, our small team comprises people in multiple countries across many time zones. Discussions can be challenging, of course, but we have many time zones covered.
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