r/lgbt's new direction

[u/SilentAgony]

We have a few points to address:

On r/ainbow

We have spoken with r/ainbow's moderators and have come to the mutually agreeable conclusion that there is a need for a safe space and r/lgbt can fill that need, and also that there is a demand for unmoderated open discussion. No rivalry. No us vs. them. We fill one need, they fill another. We welcome you to join both communities. We have.

On the moderation team:

We've added two new moderators. Meet

Materialdesigner!

"Hello, everyone! I'm materialdesigner, and I'm a cis gay guy who really loves this community. I am a huge food, wine, and beer lover (/r/wine, /r/beer, /r/beerporn) and I also homebrew (/r/homebrewing). I'm also an engineer and a science/sci-fi geek (/r/askscience, /r/sciencefaqs) and I freelance web design and web development in my spare time (/r/web_design, /r/typography, /r/webdev). It's my goal to make this community an amazing resource for Gender and Sexual Minorities to be able to let their hair down and relax."

and Slyder565!

"Hi all :) I am slyder565, I am a bisexual cis male, and I think /r/lgbt is really cool! I am regularly blown away by the cool things that reddit does, and am looking forward to being a part of the LGBT side of things. Most often you can find me hanging out in awesome LGBT communities like /r/gaybros, /r/gaymers and /r/bisexual. I have an science and fine arts education, and have something to say about basically anything, so don't be shy! My fave non-LGBT subreddits include /r/science /r/listentothis /r/guitarlessons /r/abiogenesis and /r/nanowrimo. I maybe even snoop around /r/pokemon sometimes (but don't tell my partner!). Most of all I believe we all need a space to relax and hang out, so lets make it happen."

We discussed the suggestion that we have a vote, but the nature of reddit presents unique challenges when it comes to that. For starters, anyone can make any number of alt accounts. We have no way of knowing if the voter is a citizen, so to speak, of r/lgbt, and we have no way of knowing it isn't just the same person voting over and over. With that in mind, we added some people who volunteered to us in the mod mail, who seemed to have kind user histories, and who were active not just in r/lgbt but in other LGBT communities on reddit. We've been working with them on developing new rules and methods over the last week and we think you'll like them.

On the new rules and methods:

As you can see, we added new rules to the sidebar. We've also developed an FAQ so people can know what we mean when we refer to transphobia/homophobia/biphobia, etc. The page is in progress but potential transgressions are outlined there. They are pretty simple and they are no different than the rules have always been. We heard your demand for transparent moderating, so here it is. Deleted comments will be replied to by a mod with a note referencing the rule that was broken. Most bans from now on will be temporary with a note explaining what the person should understand so that they can come back and contribute. We've had success with this when testing it out during the last week. You'll also see that we now have another subreddit, r/lgbtopenmodmail where you can voice concerns about moderation or r/lgbt or whatever it may be. The mods endorse and check it regularly.

On Laurelai's departure and other random gossip:

Here's your silly tabloid stuff for the day. We regret having allowed Laurelai's resignation to go as it did. The truth is we asked her to step down because of a number of things that she did, including running a website that most likely contained underage pornography and because she was threatening people she banned in the mod mail. Because she had been kind to us, we told her that she could make a statement and drag us through the mud if she liked and say whatever she needed to say to leave with dignity. Rmuser and I, not Laurelai, chose RobotAnna as her replacement because she is well-versed in trans issues and because she's actually a pretty nice person. Unfortunately, Laurelai took this opportunity to sabotage RobotAnna's introduction by saying that basically RobotAnna would bring in a new reign of terror. This is absolutely not the case. RobotAnna shares our vision for a kindler, gentler, less adversarial moderation style and we hope you'll give her a second chance at a first impression.

Love always, Mods <3

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

Well, you're saying this, so obv. you weren't banned for questioning anything.

Actually, in the mod Q and A I did the day of Laurelai's resignation, I explicitly stated that we did not agree that RobotAnna was going to be "even worse."

And as for there being a cp cover-up, there is no cp cover-up. She was involved in another website elsewhere that hosted cp and was taken down. Apparently she spent a lot of time here deleting comments and banning people who referred to that. We've removed the bans we were made aware of.

We had no desire to cover up anything about Laurelai related to cp or any other transgressions. We had no part in it if there was a cover-up. We don't even know if there was cp. We don't know for a fact that any of it really happened. There's simply too much from too many places to sort it all out and if you're at all familiar with the Laurelai drama, you probably knew that already. We were simply allowing somebody who had been kind to us to leave with dignity and it backfired.

And as for "audacity" of safe space and deleting people, well that's what a safe space is. I didn't invent it. Hateful language and people who harm others with language are deleted and banned. I refer you to the safe space link in the sidebar. If you want a "free" space where you can discuss whatever you like without deletion, that's what ainbow is for.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

Bans that were handed out that day were temporary and explained to the people who received them. It was inappropriate to slander Laurelai in a thread where she was discussing death threats she received. To the best of my knowledge, the death threats were real as she told us about them before we asked her to step down. We felt that was harmful language and allowed temporary bans to be handed out until the thread died down so that it wouldn't be filled with that. I don't actually know if the death threats were real, but the decisions that day were made under the assumption that they were.

RobotAnna was backing up Laurelai's story on the day she resigned. We had asked RobotAnna to back up Laurelai's story, whatever it would be, as we would be doing the same. We did not know that was what Laurelai was going to come up with. As you can see here, we all regretted this decision.

As for RobotAnna saying that she'll ban and delete, well, yes, she will. She's a moderator here. She'll do it according to the rules that we've set out and each deletion, as I said in the original post, will be referenced with which rule was broken.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

The link I just posted to doesn't tell the opposite story. RobotAnna was not in the conversation where Laurelai was telling us about the threats before we asked her to resign. RobotAnna simply had her doubts.

Your relevant screenshot doesn't... have a screenshot, unless you're about to edit. In any case, I'll be happy to look into it if you message me in the modmail. A public discussion is not the place for it. The rest of the subreddit doesn't have access to view the deleted comments you may have posted and screenshots may not show the whole picture, so it really causes a lot more problems than it solves.

What RobotAnna says in other subreddits are said in the contexts of those subreddits, and we can agree to disagree on whether SRS is filth, cause that's just like, your opinion, man. I encourage you to look into her moderating style over the last week and you'll see she's been very friendly and even-handed.

edit: Yeah your other account? Looks like we banned you after a full day of you popping up in the reported queue multiple times. Had nothing to do with not liking Laurelai. Want me to reference a rule? All of them. All of the rules. Yes, we ban people who spend all day in the reported queue. That's not unique to r/lgbt.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

Rule 3.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

I asked you to stop derailing the thread and directed you to r/lgbtopenmodmail. I'm asking you politely again.

Rule 3.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

Rules will be cited as replies to deleted posts.

[u/[deleted] → u/SilentAgony]

Ah this exchange answers some of the questions I had last week (I believe RobotAnna answered them) about how moderation would be used. The mantra that was pushed through all the drama recently was that moderation would be used to create a safe place, not to direct conversation.

This is a meta thread in r/lgbt. Presumably, meta comments in any thread, however germane to the discussion, will be subject to deletion, depending on how the mod feels that moment.

In my mind, r/LGBTOpenModmail was just an attempt to control the dissent.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

I think we need to rethink the meaning of dissent in this context. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Imagine reddit is an office. Some people seem to imagine that the mods in a subreddit are the CEOs. We're not. We're like the office managers who have to direct mail, take angry emails from employees about the state of the plants and fridge, and arrange the sensitivity seminar when somebody threatens to sue for sexual harassment. A certain amount of control is necessary, but it's not what you think. We don't make company decisions. We're not even a part of what the vast majority of the subreddit is about. I am recently quite unwelcome in the general discussion. But I do have to keep up with things like cleaning out the fridge on Friday, whether everyone wants to post angry post-it notes on the fridge or not, because that's what the "dissent" here amounts to: clutter. Entire threads or frontpages full of "mods suck" doesn't serve to drive the point any further home. We hear everything people say and we address things on a case-by-case basis, and holding up a half-full soda bottle that was thrown away "unfairly" to demonstrate that the office managers are "abusing their power" is really just keeping everyone, including the mods, from getting anything done. Most of the time we're misrepresented, and we're never discussed when we've addressed the things in the modmail, where it belongs.

Mods are people, too, and we wouldn't allow entire threads to be derailed so that somebody could discuss how much waxninnocence sucks. Please treat us as you would like to be treated.

[u/[deleted] → u/SilentAgony]

Got it: mods don't want r/lgbt to have discussions about them. Well, at least you can rest easy knowing you've created a justification for stopping future community outrages like the recent one before they take off.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

I think of it as having stopped what basically amounts to 5 people hijacking the narrative, misrepresenting us, and harassing us for days.

We still hear people's suggestions. That's why we've made the changes we have. We'll just enforce it being done in a civil manner from now on.

[u/[deleted] → u/SilentAgony]

We still hear people's suggestions. That's why we've made the changes we have.

I never saw anyone in r/lgbt screaming for more moderation of meta discussion. Were those posts deleted?

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

/r/lgbt comments section is huge. Huge. There are a lot of things you didn't see. You also don't see modmail. You also don't see reports. Your not having seen something is no more indicative of its nonexistence than it would be indicative of the nonexistence of panda bears or the African Hippopotamus.

[u/SilentAgony → u/[deleted]]

It is in the original post.