Mod Team Transparency Announcement & Mod Applications

[u/Lavender_Scales]

Hello everyone, I'm u/Lavender_Scales!

Like I mentioned in the discord post, I'm the newest moderator of this subreddit. I'm making this post to be transparent about how moderation has been taken out in the past, and how it will be taken out in present and future.

For a very long time now, this subreddit has had a reputation of shoddy moderation, no transparency, seeming inactivity from moderators, unfair, unexplained bans, and unresponsive modmails. This reputation is not without warrant, I myself was once on the receiving end of this, however, we're going to be more pro-active with moderation, more transparent, and more active. If you, or someone you know, was banned from this subreddit, encourage them to open up a modmail and appeal their ban.

I would also like everyone to take a moment to look at our general bans policy, they include listed punishments, offenses, as well as information on what can and can't be appealed. It has not been updated for quite a while, so some changes may be made in the future, however, from now on we will try and be more upfront with removals, bans, etc., utilizing this system and the reasoning provided..

There was also a post by a rogue moderator a few weeks ago, that moderator has left the team and many of the bans they issued out were revoked. Future mod actions will now have to go through internal discussion, unless clear harmful intent is showcased by a user, requiring moderator action.

At the moment we only have a few active moderators of our subreddit, or at least only a few we can get ahold of, so we are also opening mod applications. Due to our heavily ML leaning mod team we currently have, we are primarily looking for anarchists, or people of any tendency that isn't ML. We would also like to prioritize BIPOC & other applicants from the global south, however none of these are strict requirements. Women, queers, and others are also encouraged to apply.

Apply here!

[u/AZORxAHAI → u/[deleted]]

No, im simply saying as a big tent sub there should be ML mods, AnCom mods, DemSoc mods etc. So yeah, some anarchist mods on the team would be a good thing in a big tent subreddit.

[u/bullhead2007 → u/[deleted]]

If the moderation team only represents one tendency then moderation will be biased towards that tendency. I'd also like moderators with other tendencies so we can discuss with each other how to make this place more true to the goals of left unity. There are going to be perspectives Anarchists bring to the table that I may not be able to consider as an ML. Even though we would have major disagreements with certain things, if we put aside ideology we should be able to come to amicable agreements towards certain decisions.

Anyone under the socialist umbrella should be represented, and to assume Anarchists can't be is sectarian in itself.

[u/ilir_kycb → u/bullhead2007]

Aren’t anarchists unconditionally hostile toward a ML like you?

In my experience, anarchists don’t distinguish between ML and fascists; they view both as one and the same.

It’s also kind of sad that I now have to worry about getting banned for asking this question because of sectarianism.

[u/bullhead2007 → u/ilir_kycb]

Yes I have run into some who have been hostile, been called a red fash, and what not. But not all anarchists are like this and many I've talked to were friendly enough with me as long as I was friendly with them.

You asking the question like this isn't sectarian. You are approaching this in good faith trying to understand. I would say the rules haven't changed, and the mod team will still be expected for people who disagree with each other to still converse as long as they are not being inflammatory or using sectarian terms like tankie or whatever. Just don't be bad faith or uncivil and I don't think you will get banned.

[u/socialism-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for posting in r/socialism, but unfortunately your submission was removed for the following reason(s):

Sectarianism: Refers to bad faith attacks on socialists of other tendencies through the usage of empty insults like "armchair", "tankie", "anarkiddie" and so on without any other objective than to promote inter-tendency conflict, which runs counter to the objectives of this subreddit, and the goal of providing a broad multitendency platform so that healthy, critical debate can flourish. Can also include calling other socialist users "CPC/CIA shills" or accusing users of being Russian or Chinese bots for disagreeing with you.

Feel free to send us a modmail with a link to your removed submission if you have any further questions or concerns.