this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards
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111 users here now
This is a community in the spirit of "Am I The Asshole" where people can post their own bans from lemmy or reddit or whatever and get some feedback from others whether the ban was justified or not.
Sometimes one just wants to be able to challenge the arguments some mod made and this could be the place for that.
Posting Guidelines
All posts should follow this basic structure:
- Which mods/admins were being Power Tripping Bastards?
- What sanction did they impose (e.g. community ban, instance ban, removed comment)?
- Provide a screenshot of the relevant modlog entry (don’t de-obfuscate mod names).
- Provide a screenshot and explanation of the cause of the sanction (e.g. the post/comment that was removed, or got you banned).
- Explain why you think its unfair and how you would like the situation to be remedied.
Rules
- Post only about bans or other sanctions that you have received from a mod or admin.
- Don’t use private communications to prove your point. We can’t verify them and they can be faked easily.
- Don’t deobfuscate mod names from the modlog with admin powers.
- Don’t harass mods or brigade comms. Don’t word your posts in a way that would trigger such harassment and brigades.
- Do not downvote posts if you think they deserved it. Use the comment votes (see below) for that.
- You can post about power trippin’ in any social media, not just lemmy. Feel free to post about reddit or a forum etc.
- If you are the accused PTB, while you are welcome to respond, please do so within the relevant post.
- Keep the comments in YPTB posts about the moderation action itself, not about the general topic in which the moderation took place.
Expect to receive feedback about your posts, they might even be negative.
Make sure you follow this instance's code of conduct. In other words we won't allow bellyaching about being sanctioned for hate speech or bigotry.
YPTB matrix channel: For real-time discussions about bastards or to appeal mod actions in YPTB itself.
Some acronyms you might see.
- PTB - Power-Tripping Bastard: The commenter agrees with you this was a PTB mod.
- YDI - You Deserved It: The commenter thinks you deserved that mod action.
- YDM new - You Deserved More: The commenter thinks you got off too lightly.
- BPR - Bait-Provoked Reaction: That mod probably overreacted in charged situation, or due to being baited.
- CLM - Clueless Mod: The mod probably just doesn't understand how their software works.
Relevant comms
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I mean, in a sense, forcing people who didn't ask for mod powers to suddenly be mods because of very minor criticism and then bailing seems like power tripping to me. "If you don't like the way I do it, do it yourself!" Where the power tripping is taking their ball and going home because people don't like how they're doing it.
More like a tantrum than a power trip. Newly appointed mods also have no obligation to moderate.
They didn't take their ball and go home though. They left their ball there with the complainers and went home without the ball.
Even leaving the mod tram apparently gets you hate
"Their ball" in this instance would be the way they handled moderation, and they took their moderation with them.
Would you think any different if they removed themselves and everyone else as moderators, leaving it purposely unmoderated? Because he didn't even ask if the people he modded wanted or were up to the task. What if they weren't and the community spirals without moderation. Seems like taking something away to me.
I'm not a mod of anything, but your comment kinda upsets me in how you think.
Being a mod is unpaid slave work which can be gruelling. If a mod gets burnt out and has just had enough, they can leave whenever they want and "take their moderation with them."
Their time was not compensated for, they are doing it for the passion they have/had for their community. If that is now gone because of whatever accumulation of stress, then that's 100% fine.
That's very obviously a completely different thing. They're free to leave.. obviously removing others forcefully is not good.. but that isn't happening here.
This just makes you sound like a child, no offence, this person on the internet doesn't owe anyone anything. If they want to stop modding, they can at any time.
https://lem.lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/20802768
Meh, they can remove themselves as mods too. Or just ignore it. It's not like it's some huge responsibility they are stuck with now. lol
The argument was that the mod in question didn't take his ball and go home. I just pointed out that by removing himself from the moderating team, he removed an active moderator, which very much is taking your ball and going home, especially if the new mods that didn't get asked if they wanted to be do just that, remove themselves and move on.
Fair point!
Nobody owes you their time to moderate your community. If people aren't happy with how their work is appreciated, then it's their choice to leave.
And I think it makes a good point to give it to the complainers. They can leave too, and it's up to them too. It's as hard as hitting a button. Maybe they'll keep their fucking mouths shut next time.
Jesus Christ... I feel like you don't socialize much if this you think is a normal response to the most absolute mild and gentle ways to say "hey, might be worth letting a bit more discussion flourish while the community is small."
Yeah I know what subs I'm not interacting with any time soon now lmao.
I guarantee you this person you're responding to is a power tripping bastard when it comes to their own communities, based on their attitude alone.
You seem upset at being criticized for expecting people to do free work for you.
Were you going to doxx me next?
lmao, oh bless your heart.
I've actually come around. I think it might be that forced arbitrary conscription might be the only way to get mods that are not insane.
Oh fuck was that the goal???
I should probably quit too.
Actually, I've seen MetaFilter be fairly successful at rolling out as a legal non-profit entity with elections and interviews to be admins/moderators. What is the draw? These people are all paid, they are not doing the work for free. It's now literally their day job and pays them enough to support themselves doing that as their job.
I know a lot of people don't actually want to explore that, but I think that would instantly alleviate the complaints of people being expected to do labor for free. I don't actually think it should be free, but as it is, Lemmy instances are not well funded enough for that, especially with the ability to create endless communities. MetaFilter has different sections, but nobody can just arbitrarily make a new section that needs new mods. So part of it here is how Lemmy is designed, and it's base design reflects the assumption that moderators work for free.
So anyway, put me in the basket of "we should pay admins and moderators (as well as vote for them), and this would solve so many problems."
Sure nobody owes their time, but they signed up for it. The idea that you'll never get anyone with even the tiniest complaint (and genuinely, it was an incredibly small complaint) and to just throw your hands and give up when you do is childish. The first person to bring it up even said they just thought the moderator was working too hard, not that they were doing anything wrong, and that they even understood and respect the philosophy behind it. They weren't being rude, there's almost no better way to present constructive criticism than how the OP brought it up to begin with. If that's worth crashing out over, you're not fit to be a fucking mod anyway, imho.
Yet in here a few people have written off as complainers instead of active members of a community who are giving community feedback.
I would get it if the users were being rude, but they clearly weren't, the first person to bring it up especially was incredibly understanding and not rude at all. Losing it over constructive criticism is power tripping baby bitch shit.
Biggest problem honestly is that I can't deal with making a Lemmy.world account today, not home and not dealing with the link on the go. Maybe in the morning if they are sticking with leaving.
Why would I keep my mouth shut?
Nah, keep talking. We need to free our communities of mods.
He's not forcing them to be mods, they can remove themselves and/or make other people mods.
I can't think of a better response.
If enforcing the established rules isn't popular, then let's make new rules. Wait; YOU make them, as I'm not a good fit to this sub and shouldn't be running it.
Be careful what you wish for.