Recently, we merry mods have been noticing many-a-comments being in the report queue for perceived negativity (the aim of the community being to provide “a break from the incessant negativity and rage”). What actions should we do about these, if any? Do we need a newsome another-rule for this?
Here’s what I think: Some skepticism and scrutiny is always quite needed knowledge—especially against information that’s actually untrue/misleading—and any bars I can think of for removing negative comments would apply to reasonable skepticism as well. Thus, the mod team is asking y’all to drop some bars!
Edit
Assorted examples of reported comments
Actually, you’ve missed the mark. It’s not whining about an advancement, it’s legitimate criticism of the US health industry. He’s just saying what we all know to be true which is that regardless of technological improvements, lifesaving care will continue to be ruinously expensive for those that are able to access it and gatekept from many others.
If you have a problem with comments like these undermining celebration of scientific progress, then maybe you should think about the structural political issues that lead people to disillusionment and cynicism rather than labeling people as conspiracy theorists.
You know “big red“ voted for Trump. It’s a cute story, but I hope he gets what he voted for In the end
It’s too bad that curing patients is not a sustainable business model. Even if this did work we would only ever see it developed if you had to take it twice a month for the rest of your life in order to survive.
Edit: sorry, I just noticed this is in Uplifting News. So, let’s be optimistic. Maybe global capitalism will collapse and governments will start trying to take care of people.
Nobody said anything about ICE, we’re talking about the military known for bombing weddings in multiple middle eastern countries and then bombing ambulances when they respond.
If you have the money to commit atrocities in a dozen countries at once, you have money to spare.
That’s .world for you; complaining about Reddit while trying to recreate it exactly
It’s very sad to see hype like this. They only had 30 enrolled, this was just a safety study, and while the data looks promising, there is certainly not enough statistical power, which is why there is no approval yet.
Shame on the BBC. If you are going to quote invesigators, you should state that they have paid consultancy deals with UniQure. The same two people were equally excited about a Roche therapy years ago…
But UniCure stock went up 200% today, which is the point.
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echoing the sentiment of fellow mod Aatube (they also made a comment, but i can not mark their comment as “Distinguish as moderator comment”, so just linking and copying the statement) - we are not discussing insta bans or perma bans. we would have warnings and temporary bans. perma bans are extremely rare.
I think it’s a valiant idea, but a lotta people don’t necessarily look at the community before engaging to even take specific community rules into account. Especially if the post title is inflammatory in one way or another.
Rules about how you must behave that extend beyond generally not being a bad actor just confuse newcomers and may turn them off entirely to the idea, even though the intention is not bad.
True, and upvoted btw, but then all the more reason to remove comments and ultimately even ban people if need be (for repeated and/or more egregious offences), not out of any unfriendliness and rather our of a desire to fulfill the very intent of this community, even when people just passing by refuse to bother to read the rules.
This is a sanctuary for those seeking a break from the incessant negativity and rage (e.g. schadenfreude) often found in today’s news cycle.
If people are turned off by enforced positivity, they are welcome to block the community, but less welcomed to ignore the needs of any community that simply wants to exist in peace.
Similarly there are women-only spaces, and LGBTQIA+ spaces, etc. where the needs of people just passing by are treated as being of considerably less value than those inside of it, who just want a moment to breathe without having to justify their existence to someone else who refuses to understand, or even someone who is legitimately “just asking questions”, but like… do that at another time, in some other place, you know?
(I can’t see the report queue so am speaking entirely theoretically here and could be missing something from that context. We both seem to be in agreement that it is good to be kind, just differing on how to enact that i.e. who needs it more, in this space.)
Enforcement is the bigger issue than the rule, too. Immediate removal/banishment is too heavy handed. I personally rather dislike how uncommon it is for a written warning to be given for a first time minor offense. A polite reminder of the rules (maybe as a pinned comment on bigger, active posts) is better than immediate mod action that generally also comes with zero communication. And if you do a removal, telling the user why goes a long way.
Also good to keep in mind that there’s a lotta anarchists here on Lemmy and I can only assume they, like I do, don’t really like authority so even a simple and justified mod action can be perceived harsher here. Shit, just look at all the mod drama comms! 🤣
In the end, I just want what everyone, users and mods, would agree is fair.
Immediate banishment does sound fairly harsh, but I thought was not even under discussion. Immediate removal is another thing, which I perceive more neutrally. If the offence is egregious enough that the person flagrantly violating the rules is practically daring the mods to ban them (this does happen, OFTEN!) then I can definitely see scenarios where this is warranted. Otoh even a casual string of comments that are negatively oriented might rather be dealt with via a message (DM? public reply to one of the comments?) - it all depends on their severity, and on the maturity of the mods, and how resilient the community is. This community seeking to provide a safe haven… yeah, this one I could see immediate removal being far more common than usual.
Of course, Lemmy does not notify anyone of comments being removed, so that’s another wrinkle in all of this. Someone finding out months to years later that some of their content was removed has a different feel to it than receiving a notification, especially if an explanation is offered along with that. Lemmy really is so primitive in so very many ways (though I don’t think that either PieFed or Mbin offer such notifications either, so this is more an issue affecting the entire Threadiverse), that what would be most ideal typically very much takes a backseat to what the tools will allow to be done.
“Don’t comply in advance” is advice that I hear a lot these days. I really don’t think that a community called “Uplifting News” is going to end up in e.g. yepowertrippingbastards for daring to remove - gasp! - comments that contain strong negativity? If that is what the rules of the community asks for, then it is functioning as advertised, leaving people entirely free to either participate or not, and someone who does not even so much as bother to read the rules may feel put out, but should not really expect much sympathy from the Threadiverse community at large when it is they that violated the rules, and the mods who upheld exactly what they said (in advance!) they would do?
Anarchy does not mean that there are never any rules anywhere, and in fact afaik quite the opposite in promoting for people to be more rather than less cognizant about their behavior and in particular how it affects others… even if only out of a selfish desire to not have any potential consequences wrap back around to affect themselves?
I come here for respite from the cynicism and darkness and would rather not see those kinds of comments. But I don’t know about them being entirely removed in case they contain clarifications or context.
I think commenters should make more of an effort to reflect the tone of the community if they do feel the need to criticise the post and I think mods should put these kind of comments behind a filter like for nsfw posts.
I think a filter would be perfect…if stuff gets flagged enough, behind the filter it goes. Everyone’s happier and it sorts out the microdebating about where the line is about what’s helpful context and what isn’t.
Remove. It’s already unwelcome per the community info.
Furthermore, political and “orphan crushing machine” type posts should also be removed.
do you mean posts that are an “orphan crushing machine” or comments that say the post is an “orphan crushing machine”?
these seem like serious discussions that should be had in either way. one person going “I know it when I see it” is going to be highly inaccurate and if commenters can’t talk it out nobody can give the info that would be needed to make a decision.
I’m not a regular or anything. Just don’t want lose my comment priveledges if I pop in and go “hey guys I know there’s a darker side to this particular good news”
I’m not a regular or anything. Just don’t want lose my comment priveledges if I pop in and go “hey guys I know there’s a darker side to this particular good news”
But… genuinely, why?
Have you taken a look at the rules for this community? (Or were you just popping in now to comment?)
This is a sanctuary for those seeking a break from the incessant negativity and rage (e.g. schadenfreude) often found in today’s news cycle. From acts of everyday kindness to large-scale philanthropic efforts, from individual achievements to community triumphs, we bring you news—in text form or otherwise—that gives hope, fosters empathy, and strengthens the belief in humanity’s capacity for good
How does “hey guys I know there’s a darker side to this particular good news” help to foster that goal? In fact, how does that not work against that goal? If it is closer to the latter than the former, then perhaps you have a genuine difference in opinion where you disagree (strongly?) with the very premise of this community’s existence? At which point why not simply block it and move on to others that are more worth your time, to have the kinds of discussions that you would enjoy more, and cause less friction that neither you nor the people that this community will attract seemingly want?
let me tell you by example of my country. we have a authoritarian leader, and big news media is very much in their pockets. if you go on news channel, it is either all positive stuff, or partisanal/communal shit.
Thing is that, the postive stuff does not feel positive, when you completely ignore reality. according to them, we should celebrate opening of a new highway, where majority of aour road network is fucked. we should ignore floods, or other disasters, and also ignore the corruption done in making highway, just to celebrate it.
Good does not have a meaning in a vacuum. it is a relative thing. if all we do is allow hopeful hippy yipee stuff, it eventually becomes cope.
Because I do actually enjoy having this on my main feed. I like positive content, I just really don’t like when negative content is repackaged to be hope-porn. Makes me feel more dismal than if I hadn’t seen it at all. Unfortunately I don’t usually have positive things to add verbally, and if you say that’s a Me problem then I say: Fair. I want to be better.
For adding context to a post, it helps to have the viewpoints of somebody who might be closer to a topic? I’d rather hear a sad correction from somebody who knows than be fed bullshit. Pretty sure most people would. And that’s not even the pessimist in me talking. I’m just pretty certain there’s enough legit good things in the world to report on that we shouldn’t have to lie.
All this to stress that I don’t think I’m the arbiter of truth or not. Rereading my comment I definitely was talking like I was. Which was stupid. But I would rather encounter this community under conditions where somebody can say “hey this is complicated or bad actually”. If it looks like that’s not on the table, I’m sure I will block it and you will have lost nothing. But keeping this sub in my feed is worth leaving my 2 cents and risking sounding like an asshole
Something similar happened to !cooking@lemmy.world a few months ago and the mods ended up sending an announcement that included this:
Reporting posts that are on topic for being off topic will result in no moderation.
Here’s the link: https://threadiverse.link/lemmy.world/post/32937669
You’re the one who’s going to moderate the community, if you don’t want to remove comments or permaban anybody then don’t. There are plenty of us here that will support you and the community regardless of your decision.
However, please make the rules clear, e.g. three strikes and you’re banned for a month or for fifty years. It’s impossible to make everyone happy and FWIW I appreciate what you’re doing.
@sad_detective_man likes having Uplifting News on his feed, as do I; @OpenStars, @Kolanaki and @oeuf made very good points regarding enforcement, respite and sanctuary; I echo @frongt and @chiocciola’s comments about removal and personal attacks; @CrazM13 and @Sh00Fly made a valid point about sympathy and empathy but unfortunately not everyone is capable of empathy which is partially how we got here; I do like this: “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That covers a lot of ground…
I don’t frequent this community, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, but I’m not seeing many bars/criteria which is what is being requested so I’ll throw in my two cents.
\1. If it is reasonable context or updates the average person would want/need, then it should be allowed.
Examples:
“It’s great the old lady recovered from her fall down the stairs, but unfortunately, a few hours after this article, she fell down again : (”
“She fell down the stairs because the step height was inconsistent, that needs to be fixed ASAP.”
\2. If it is pointed, hostile, or drumming up anger, it should NOT be allowed.
Examples:
“It’s the Radical Escalator Group that weakened stair legislation!”
“She should have been more careful. This is clearly on the old lady.”
\3. If it is dismissive of the good news or tries to make people feel bad for enjoying the good news, it should NOT be allowed.
Examples:
“Sure SHE recovered, but what about the hundreds of stair fall victims who don’t?”
“How does this help anyone?”
“If you don’t check the stairs you use and report bad stairs, this is your fault, and you shouldn’t be celebrating her recovery.”
\4. General negativity that does not needlessly effect others should be allowed.
Examples:
“My grandma fell down the stairs too. Hoping for a recovery”
“My stairs are all messed up too, but sadly I rent, so I can’t fix them…”
“This will likely happen again. We should make sure the needed resources for recovery are available, or the next one might not end so happily.”
I do think the only punishment should be removal and a warning, but I do not mod, so I’ll leave that discussion to the experts.
Edit: formatting x2
