And for anyone asking "Why are we boycotting/blocking lemmy.ml?" Here's a quick recap:
Lemmy.ml is an instance run by admins who are hardcore tankies and will enforce their ideology on their instance through various means from allowing (and pushing it themselves) propaganda (Such as Russia being justified in some way to invade Ukraine) and known propaganda outlets (Like RT) to removing content on their instance critical of their favored authoritarian regimes such as Russia or China and even banning users for such speech or speech critical of them if it's off their instance (Just like the Reddit mods of ol!).
If it was just some random instance it would have been defederated from long ago like the rest of the "Tankie Triad" (Hexbear and Lemmygrad), but they've positioned lemmy.ml as the "flagship" instance and abused that position and influence to become large enough to keep other instances from defederating from them.
Which I believe is harmful to the Lemmy-verse's overall growth and outside reputation. I have seen it come up before on Reddit threads (and other testimonials from people who came back and tried it again) that "They tried Lemmy but it was a bunch of tankies and went back to Reddit"
I don't know about you, but I'd prefer Lemmy to not end up with the reputation for being "Tankie Central " or even worse "Voat 2.0".
So if you haven't joined the boycott yet, join today and help us foster a better healthier Lemmy-verse!
You can take a look around here on [email protected] for documentation of it or checkout this list of curated documentation
On bans and censorships:
https://lemmy.world/post/28480760
https://lemmy.world/post/28481615
https://lemmy.world/post/28482147
https://lemmy.world/post/28480936
https://lemmy.world/post/28482273
https://lemmy.world/post/28481272
https://lemmy.world/post/28481064
https://lemmy.world/post/27674360
https://lemmy.world/post/27674117
https://lemmy.world/post/27673934
https://lemmy.world/post/27673724
https://lemmy.world/post/27577337
https://lemmy.world/post/27378634
https://lemmy.world/post/27346630
https://lemmy.world/post/27341283
https://lemmy.world/post/27288224
https://lemmy.world/post/27156418
https://lemmy.world/post/27054157
https://lemmy.world/post/27008261
Allowing altered headlines and permitting known propaganda outlets:
https://lemmy.world/post/28275465
https://lemmy.world/post/27428838
https://lemmy.world/post/27416097
https://lemmy.world/post/27314050
https://lemmy.world/post/27288953
Spreading Russia talking points like the Ukraine invasion just being a "negotiating tactic" !https://lemmy.world/post/27012640
General negative sentiment to other instances who haven't "seen the way" yet: https://lemmy.world/post/27426510
Open declaration of support for Russia (direct from dessalines (head admin)) https://lemmy.world/post/27352415
"concentration camps were just reeducation camps and weren't that bad" https://lemmy.world/post/26985447
Haha ok. I would never be happy sitting behind some blockade on the fediverse, unable to even see what others are saying. Its funny that you are so afraid of their opinions that you have to lock yourself in the basement. But you do you. :)
Ignoring the misinformation, support for genocides and authoritarian regimes, no one is afraid of their 'opinions'.
It's just that most .ml users are absolute cancer to discuss with
Yes, "Mao was good actually" is terrifying to me. It's such a fresh, novel, and revolutionary concept that I feel my mind unraveling every time I see a brave ml warrior post it. Same with "war is bad so Ukraine is bad for defending against invasion." The sheer intellect required to achieve such a unique understanding of these concepts is truly intimidating.
No one is afraid of their opinions. Everyone who has been on the fedi for a while has heard them, over, and over, and over. The mods, and the portion of the users who are grouped in with them, are campists who will defend anything places like China do, even if it is the exact same shit as the western imperialists. They also tend to spout a lot of apologia for harsh, punitive, legal systems, and police states, as long as it calls itself socialist. Hell, don't even need to do that anymore, just have to be like "hey NATO imperialism bad!" and they will come to defend the honor of a country that is actively annexing, and colonizing, other states, because imperialism is acceptable when it isn't the west. It is just them defending themselves, and/or liberating oppressed people, just like the US claims every time it bombs somewhere into the dirt. I have witnessed multiple instances of .ml users automatically dismissing any data from any source "western", while claiming you aren't capable of having a good faith argument, if you dismiss information from the CCP, in kind.
I find that the large body of .ml users are not like this, but their mods, and a significant portion of the users, namely the most commonly seen names, are very much this way. There is no argument to be had, there is no fruitful discussion here. They are in their camp, and they can't seem to truly understand people can hate both camps, and actually not want what either offers. So why interact at this point?
There's a difference between a veteran Lemming making a conscious choice to "see the other side for themselves" and a tentative-ex-Redditor checking the vibes of a new unknown place.
Lol, no. I've read their opinions, debated them multiple times even, and have come to the conclusion that their "opinions" are as toxic and/or dangerous misinformation as far-right "opinions". Authoritarianism is authoritarianism whether it's right or left shaded.
If anything, I'm afraid of the potential damage it's doing to the Lemmy-verse.
Every person that comes here, is another person Reddit has lost and another notch against corporate social media. And that's a beautiful thing worth protecting IMO
100% agree with the last part. But misinformation is fought by having discussions about it, not by censoring it.
You say you are afraid of the potential damage its doing to the fediverse. Well, now you have removed your voice from the discussions. They will still be there, even if you are not looking at them. You just walked away from it.
You know when you "protect" kids by not talking about something, it only becomes more exciting to them? I dont know, I rather just talk to the kids about it. Have a laugh about how weird the world is together.
And I agree, debating them is not really worth doing. But state your opinion and walk away. I have some unpopular opinions too that Lemmy doesnt like. But I keep saying them. Because i still think im right about those things. But im not going to debate for long. Its not worth our time.
Fixed. Seriously just scroll this comm to see what kind of "discussion" they allow.
Its understandable that tankies may react that way. But im not a tankie and I think their response leads to complete ignorance about what the world actually is.
So maybe we shouldnt act like tankies ourselves, being members of the western world, with a more democratic view of what people deserve to have and be?
Nah, no civility-pill crap. Allowing an echo chamber so detached from reality to remain connected to the largest instance will only serve to alienate people who don't fellate a statue of Stalin every morning. If it were possible to actually have nuanced discussion there, I would feel different, but it isn't, so I don't.