Screenshot shows three comments being removed from !196@lemmy.blahaj.zone (this community) by one of 196’s mods with the reason for removal being “.” (literally just a period).

I looked into this and discovered that the comments were just some fairly polite, if snarky, comments in response to the mod themselves. I could not identify a reason for comment removal per the site or community rules, so if there was one, “.” doesn’t cut it.

This is a callout post y’all. Do better. Start putting actual moderation reasons into the modlog for the benefit of you and other mods, otherwise what is the point of a transparent and federated platform?

As of now, it looks like the mod involved is just using their mod powers in a self-serving fashion. I am not making that accusation now, but that’s how it looks.

Please and thank you. Mods here do an excellent job keeping 196 on Lemmy a bearable place to be, and I know you are already struggling to staff the positions, but please also hold one another accountable when it comes to misuse of power. Thanks :)

  •  Queue   ( @queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
    208•1 month ago

    Alright, I’ll try to do better. I will say that while this doesn’t defend my actions, I’ve been under a high amount of stress in the last 2 weeks. If people want, I will resign as mod without question.

    EDIT: Restored the posts with “Restored due to community feedback/me being a dick.”

    EDIT 2: I am going to do some shopping and chores, if the community wants me gone, I will remove myself when I am back, or have the mod team boot me.

    •  nickwitha_k (he/him)   ( @nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
      35•1 month ago

      I think that your willingness to self-examine, admit fault, and attempt to make amends speaks well of your character and suitability as a mod (if you desire to continue and it is healthy for you to do so). You come across as genuine and willing to try to listen and self-correct.

      We all have bad days/weeks/months/years. It’s unfortunately just part of being human. And we all do things that we may not think are necessarily right when reflecting on them, often because of emotional state, etc. That’s ok. Yeah, it may cause some hurt or upset, and damage that we do may not always be repairable but, that’s just life as a social being. As long as you try to do better, there’s nothing more anyone can legitimately ask of you. Personal growth and emotional health isn’t linear - don’t beat yourself up if you hit a rut. You’re human; screwing up is one of our species’ greatest talents.

      Please take care of yourself and see what you can do to address stressors in your life, where possible. Your well-being is more important and any moderation queue. If taking some time away is needed but you wish to continue, please coordinate with the other mods to get it.

    •  Catoblepas   ( @Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
      26•1 month ago

      I wasn’t involved in the post in question, but FWIW I appreciate you taking feedback into account and putting the posts back up. Everyone’s human and is going to make sub-optimal calls sometimes, being open to fixing it is basically the best that can be asked for.

      I don’t want you to resign over this or anything like that, but please do take care of yourself even if that means taking some time away. If internet modding is adding to your stress in an already stressed time, you gotta put on your own oxygen mask first before you assist others, you know?

      •  Queue   ( @queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
        18•1 month ago

        Fair enough, but I sometimes feel like “if no one will clean up the mess, who will?” in most things in life. Small and big, trivial and actual problems. From “if I don’t do the dishes, who will?” to “If there’s a flood of Mod requests, and everyone else is busy, I should deal with it.”

        Being an online moderator is simultaneous the most trival and easy task and “I can’t believe people say these things, why do I have to clean up the messes users leave with zero thinking behind them?”

        I recently left a role as a voted in admin of something since I grew tired of moderating my friends and the straw that broke the camels back was during the self-immolation protest a few months back

        spoiler

        Two people heavily implied if not directly said that if anyone in the server didn’t want to do it themselves, they are a false ally and why socialism never took root in America.

        Really was dumbfounded by such a take that I screenshot the chat logs for clarity, removed the chat, banned them, and resigned as admin and told my friends “If you wanna hang with me still, I’ll be here in this place, otherwise I’m done being here.”

        Sometimes people just say the dumbest things online, I’m one of those people sometimes.

        •  Catoblepas   ( @Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
          7•1 month ago

          Having modded internet forums in the past I totally get it, especially anything queer related is going to attract just the absolute trash of the internet. It’s legitimately distressing for many people to see that shit all day even if you’re getting paid for it, but on a volunteer basis? It’s basically a miracle anywhere is modded at all, much less in a timely manner.

          It sounds like there were some jackasses on that server. There’s probably someone smarter than me that’s explored the concept of forum moderation as emotional labor which is expected to be performed and devalued; but in lieu of that I’ll just say don’t discount the effort you put in. If it was so easy everyone could do it then there would never be a lack of mods or disagreement about modding (which, LMAO).

        •  jellyfish   ( @jellyfish@beehaw.org ) 
          6•1 month ago

          Geez no wonder you’re in a bit of a funk. It’s terrible having to moderate friends in general, and that’s a messy situation that will only lead to misunderstanding when done over text. Hope you take some time for you and check in with yourself.

    •  skulblaka   ( @skulblaka@startrek.website ) 
      19•1 month ago

      This statement by itself restores a ton of my faith in you. I have no weight to throw around here and ultimately my opinion is more or less meaningless, but in my meaningless opinion, if an actual effort is made to improve on this then I’m happy to have you stay. A simple apology, explanation and promise is more than I’ve gotten out of 99% of all other moderators I’ve ever interacted with.

  •  funky-rodent [he/him]   ( @funky_rodent@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) M
    76•1 month ago

    Thank you for that call out, we will discuss this with the other mods and make sure that removing and banning reasons are used transparently

    In the meantime I would love to remind y’all that we are moderating this forum in our free time as volunteers, it takes time and capacity. Sometimes it works better sometimes it doesn’t

    Feel free to write in the mod-application post if you feel like becoming a mod here would help.

    Best wishes and a good night from Germany Funky-rodent

    •  MindTraveller   ( @MindTraveller@lemmy.ca ) 
      0•1 month ago

      Meh. Y’all get more than enough applications every time. I don’t think it’s fair to complain about having a position of power over everyone else that you could ditch in a heartbeat if you wanted to. I don’t think users owe moderators patience. Rule following, yes. Patience, no.

  •  spujb   ( @spujb@lemmy.cafe ) OPEnglish
    38•1 month ago

    also found this comment got the user permabanned by the same mod for “corpoposting,” which is on the “will get your comment removed” list in the rules, not the “will get you banned” list. and yeah, user was banned after a discussion with our same friendly mod.

    will update this comment with more if i find it. i do want to reiterate that i’m not here out of spite, i just want to bring attention to nonconstructive behaviors. :)

    edit: ok ending my search as i tend to agree and am thankful for the rest of the mod’s recent actions

    •  Queue   ( @queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
      21•1 month ago

      I will attempt to do better, but if the community wishes, I will resign as moderator due to my real life getting stressful and being a moderator here isn’t going to solve real life issues.

      EDIT: I have restored the posts.

      EDIT 2: About the banned user IsThisAnAI @lemmy.world, they are constantly being reactionary and defending corporations at every given moment. It felt right to do it from my point of view. Right now they are complaining about “nanny state california” and that’s not something I personally want in this community.

      EDIT 3: I am going to do some shopping and chores, if the community wants me gone, I will remove myself when I am back, or have the mod team boot me.

      •  Moss   ( @moss@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
        12•1 month ago

        to be honest, I should be contributing to moderation more. it’s mostly my team that does the upkeep.

        I’m going to try to be more active in my management of my team members from now on in order to nip moderatorial issues like this in the bud, rather than allowing them to continue for months. it feels unfair for me or others to blame those who made poor calls of judgment when I wasn’t there to consult.

  •  Peachy [they/them]   ( @PeachyMcPeachface@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
    10•1 month ago

    Reminder that we have our email 196mods@protonmail.com

    Important tool for those who have been banned and feel it undeserved, etc. While it’s awesome that we have a small active community to double check the mod log and post any oddities right now, this may not always be the case. Hierarchies are wack and knowing the tools to hold people accountable is always a good thing. I do occasionally go back and check on our sent folder to see if anyone is being treated unfairly (which to be clear I haven’t seen anything on the email side).

    Thanks for the post ✌️

  •  yetAnotherUser   ( @yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca ) 
    6•1 month ago

    Edit: I kind of regret writing this instead of just talking with the mods, but I’ll leave this up so that the replies aren’t left without context.

    This kind of reminds me of that time someone looked at the mod logs and noticed that someone who got banned for allegedly being transphobic got unbanned and made a mod (the unbanning reason was something like “became a mod”). This was on the last call for mods. I mean, nothing against if the person regretted writing the thing that got them banned, but it’s fucking sus that the mods did this without talking with us about what was happening (and nobody fucking knows who the mods are because they never “presented” themselves as mods, they could’ve just said “hello, my name is X and I’m a new mod”, but they never did).

    •  Queue   ( @queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
      8•1 month ago

      So funny enough, I was the person who banned them like a week before, and it was due to me not following the chain of comments. If you want, I will share the discord mod log where I found out who and any, and double-checked the reality of the situation.

      Believe me I don’t want transphobes running the biggest community on a trans server. But if every mod saw no issues, and I did, I assumed I was weird. And I was.

      •  yetAnotherUser   ( @yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca ) 
        1•1 month ago

        Thank you for explaining. It did cross my mind whether or not one of the new mods had went rogue and started making banned accounts as mods. But honestly, I shoud’ve just talked about my concerns directly with the longtime mods instead of acting entitled and posting comments saying “they shoulduv explained even though no one asked them to explain >:((”. I’d like to apologize for it.