So I just had a mod out a harassment report I had made to the very people that have been harassing me, connect it with my username, and be dismissively mocking about it.
This is absolutely the kind of reddit behavior I left there to avoid.
Of course all of you will tell me “But itsn’t against any rules”, and I counter: It creates a hostile environment which is explicitly against the rules.
I’ve searched and scoured and the only thing I’ve found is to post to this community. That feels strange as this isn’t a technical issue.
Is there anything to be done about this or do I just leave Lemmy too?
Fuck “it isn’t against the rules” bullshit. I’ve been a mod on various forums for decades and most rule sets are made up by 1, 2 if you’re lucky, people just sitting around attempting to create their ideal community without looking at any other rules. They then think it’s some moral imperative to give endless slack to people who don’t explicitly break their rules. FUCK THAT NOISE.
Disruptive assholes love rules. They really love prescriptive rules. When you know the exact boundaries, you can cruise along them with impunity.
If you’re an asshole or disruptive you’re banned. Call me a power tripping mod or janny or whatever you want. I will never prioritize one bad faith asshole over the rest of the community that has trusted me to create a space for them that is in line with their values.
The communities i moderate love the way I do things. I’m not a saint, I can even be a little petty. But fuck you if you come into our home and wipe your dirty ass boots on our dinner table. None of us want to deal with your bullshit.
That’s literally the only metric that matters as a mod 95% of the time. Anyone who thinks otherwise is bad mod. Gauntlet thrown down, I’ll die on that hill.
I’ve been on the internet since before it had pictures and the ratio of good to bad mods and admins as far as fairness and justice goes, I can count the number of ‘good’ mods I’ve dealt with on the hand of a clumsy woodshop teacher.
Honestly my theory has been it’s because a lot of mods/mod teams try to reinvent the wheel more or less and there is a huge burnout rate. Most mods are not very experienced and don’t last long. Then the ones that do stick around are either smart enough to not take on more communities or become totally power tripping jannies and run tons of them.
I think its more that positions of power attract power abusers. I absolutely do NOT think that ‘mods turn shitty due to burnout’, most power abuser mods are shitty people before they attain the power, and actively seek the power to expand their ability to be shitty to others.
Without rigorous vetting, these slots will always be filled by the most eager sociopaths, and seeing as anyone can be a mod by making a community, there is literally zero vetting at all.
ALL of the admin interventions happen after a mod exposes their shitty behavior, and we know that sociopaths are ridiculously skilled at making themselves seem the victim when they are actually the aggressor.
Actual good mods see this and are disheartened, because what’s the point of working hard to support a community when their mod peers destroy their work with their sociopathy.
I didn’t say they turn shitty due to burnout. The ones who burnout leave. Shitty ones are a problem I fully acknowledged. Reread what I wrote.