Screenshot shows three comments being removed from [email protected] (this community) by one of 196’s mods with the reason for removal being “.” (literally just a period).

I looked into this and discovered that the comments were just some fairly polite, if snarky, comments in response to the mod themselves. I could not identify a reason for comment removal per the site or community rules, so if there was one, “.” doesn’t cut it.

This is a callout post y’all. Do better. Start putting actual moderation reasons into the modlog for the benefit of you and other mods, otherwise what is the point of a transparent and federated platform?

As of now, it looks like the mod involved is just using their mod powers in a self-serving fashion. I am not making that accusation now, but that’s how it looks.

Please and thank you. Mods here do an excellent job keeping 196 on Lemmy a bearable place to be, and I know you are already struggling to staff the positions, but please also hold one another accountable when it comes to misuse of power. Thanks :)

  • MindTraveller
    5·
    7 months ago

    I’ve moderated a large online community before. It was easy as pie. I’m nonbinary and neurodivergent, so the things people yell at me to my face are twice as bad as anything I ever saw as a mod. And I got to sift through tons of drama and experience a feeling of empowerment at being able to actually fix things instead of just stewing in resentment when I see someone being treated horribly. It was like browsing the internet on easy mode. I went from being Louis Lane, who has to try really hard to solve any given injustice she sees and it’s still not a sure thing, to being Superman, who can just punch it.

    The only difficult part of the job was dealing with the drama aversion of superior mods in the hierarchy, who couldn’t stand the idea of visible conflict existing and wanted me to handle everything without any nuance so that they wouldn’t have to read discussions between myself and rule breaking users.

    I’d totally join your mod team and help you out, as long as you don’t have any drama averse mods.