The plain and simple of it is that I’m not a good moderator. I have no idea what I’m doing. I wanted a community where people could post conservative stuff without it getting overwhelmed by lefty stuff, and then you could have discussions/arguments in the comment section. Bring to light stories that wouldn’t normally be seen on lemmy. Since that didn’t exist on lemmy, I had to do it myself.

Right now, there’s a lot of toxicity, some straight up telling people to kill themselves. My whole moderation policy was basically “So long as it isn’t a straight up slur, you could comment it”.

You’d think it’d be simple, just ban those who do that. Well, what about those who defend baby murder? I know lefties genuinely believe it isn’t, but I do. How do you tell what is horrible shit, when lefties act like horror movie monsters?

What about those who I’m like 90% sure are arguing in bad faith? I want to encourage discussions and arguments, and if I’m wrong, what then?

Me doing keyword-based moderating was a bad idea, but I am at a loss of how to do better, without breaking what this sub was supposed to be about.

I need ideas.

How should I moderate this community?

  • No1RivenFucker
    21·
    1 year ago

    the only way it’s easy to “moderate on principle” is to rely on black and white either/or thinking, with no room for nuance or exception. If you say "The rule is the rule, there can be no interpretation other than the most literal meaning.

    I disagree. Moderating based on principle require the exact opposite. A firm understanding of both what and why the rules are, such that you can enforce them based not just on some moronic “technically broke the rules based on their phrasing”, but rather based on the values contained in the rules.