Due to recent concerns surrounding feddit.uk's enforcement (or lack thereof) of policies against transphobia, and lemmy.blahaj.zone's unilateral defederation of that instance, it's clear we need to take action in order to protect our users.
For context, please see the following threads:
feddit.uk has been defederated (via blahaj)
Emperor (feddit.uk admin)'s response
Hexbear thread with further context and discussion
Seeing as the feddit moderation team's policies clearly do not align with our own stances on transphobia, bigotry, and reactionary rhetoric generally, we are considering two different options, with feedback requested for whichever route you would prefer (NOTE: we are primarily concerned with how trans users and other marginalized groups feel):
- Unilaterally defederate from feddit.uk due to lax enforcement of rules against transphobia and their admin citing the recent UK anti-trans court ruling as one of the reasons for this
- Remain federated with the instance at large while banning their admins, mods and any transphobic users, along with those who violate Hexbear CoC generally (the same way we handled issues with dbzero a while back)
We want to communicate these discussions we've been having behind the scenes to the userbase at large and allow those most impacted to give their input on how to proceed. Please give any feedback below.
Deeper Thoughts
I, personally, preferBut,
is probably the healthy direction for our corner of the fediverse. I want my comrades to feel safe and supported. I think that "we gotta consider how to interpret blatant government transphobia" is a disgusting response from the mods, and that attitude is rapidly gonna turn feddit into another nazi bar. While we can engage and oppose bigots, we cannot change another site's culture when it's being poisoned from the top. The dbzero move was funny, and correct, because that instance has an anarchist tendency, and their userbase's interests overlap with the hexbear mission. A site with an identity based on geographic happenstance does not share that overlap.
spoiler Deeper spicy problematic thoughts Honestly, props to
. I kinda want to refederate with them; give us a fresh batch of libs to spar with, encourage them to chase the chasers out, show their trans and anarchist users what real (as in honest, not as in world) solidarity can look and feel like. They like giving tankies shit, we like giving libs shit; but I think given the political realities of the world today it might be time for a slightly bigger tent.