this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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hexbear

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Hexbear Proposals chapo.chat matrix room.

This will be a place for site proposals and discussion before implementation on the site.
Every proposal will also be mirrored into a pinned post on the hexbear community.

Any other ideas for helping to integrate the two spaces are welcome to be commented here or messaged to me directly.

Within Hexbear Proposals you can see the history of all site proposals and react to them, indicating a vote for or against a proposal.

Sending messages will be restricted to verified and active hexbear accounts older than 1 month with their matrix id in their hexbear user profile.

All top level messages within the channel must be a Proposals (idea for changing the site), Feedback (regarding non-technical aspects of the site, for technical please use https://hexbear.net/c/feedback), or Appeals (regarding admin/moderator actions).

Discussion regarding these will be within nested threads under the post.

To gain matrix verification, all you need to do is navigate to my hexbear userprofile and click the send a secure private message including your hexbear username.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hello users of hexbear:

Due to recent meta posts in our mutual aid community we wanted to open up discussion about the community [email protected]

We will never require explanation or justification from a user asking for aid in the community, and the mod and admin team continue to commit to not featuring an individual's mutual aid request to prevent unfair exposure.

In addition, we will maintain a strict "No critical comments or meta comments" on a mutual aid post.

This post is to discuss the mutual aid community's rule of allowing meta posts: mutual aid as a community, those making posts in it and those commenting on posts.

We are considering removing the exception allowing meta posts but wanted to involve the userbase before committing to a change.

Please comment with any thoughts, feelings, or suggestions regarding this change.

Thank you

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 14 hours ago (57 children)

Wanted to update what the considered changes to the community are in summary:

  • users can post 3 times a week, asks no more than 100$ each post
  • display name is changed to "emergency aid"
  • users communicate if they are open to non monetary resources (local aid groups, etc.)
  • user requests aid, amount requested in title using [$0/$x] format
  • users donate and report the post with the amount donated, mods note it or report it with a message indicating they donated so a mod can comment
  • user updates title with amount received and the thread is locked when the goal is met
  • meta posts are no longer permitted

We will do a follow up post where voting on keeping the community as is or changing it will occur.

If you want to propose changes to this summary please answer in a comment below this one.

  • do you think there should be a weekly limit on amount requested?
  • do you think there should be a weekly limit on amount of posts?
  • do you think mods should keep track of amounts received via user reports after donating?
  • do you think we change the name from mutual_aid to emergency aid?
  • do you think we should allow meta posts?
[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I was just reading and upvoting occasionally up to this point, but I am strongly opposed to a $100 limit (or any financial limit for that matter) and feel I need to directly say so.

There was a time a few years ago where my wife and I were very close to homelessness. We asked in a mutual aid channel of a discord server I sometimes participated in (similar vibe to here, effectively anonymous, mostly just people asking for cash if they need it and giving cash when they can), and thanks to a few very generous people we were able to raise $600. She’s immunocompromised and diabetic, it would have been the two of us and a cat with no car, unable to find work, no way to store insulin, no way to buy insulin, almost certainly unable to mask effectively during a pandemic, and with no friends or family we could turn to. We needed every penny of that money and, through sheer luck and several close calls, managed to avoid the worst case scenario and have now gotten back to a fairly stable living situation.

If there had been a $100 asking limit I am certain that reality would have come to pass and we would not be where we are now. I cannot see any way in which any limit on how much people can ask for will actually, provably help anyone, but I can easily imagine a scenario where a limit endangers or kills people, our comrades and our loved ones.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think the theory is that a limit to how much each person could ask for allows for more people to use the comms for help, as most donators will have a limited amount to give each week. I agree it's just too rigid in practice to be a useful change though, especially since the admins couldn't give exceptions without effectively endorsing the fundraiser, which they understandably don't want to do.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago

I see people saying this but without evidence that proves putting a limit on fundraising would actually allow more people to be helped overall, we are just deciding what to do based off of vibes/what sounds right. Personally, I don’t think that’s good enough when considering such a serious rule change.

especially since the admins couldn't give exceptions without effectively endorsing the fundraiser, which they understandably don't want to do.

For sure, it seems pretty far out of scope to expect mods here to decide who is and who isn’t entitled to extra help. I know leaving it up to the discretion of those giving poses it’s own problems, but I think it’s better (or at least more manageable) overall.

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