cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26300715
Pugjesus, I'm not directing this at you, it's more an opportunity to express this stuff when it isn't coming up in a community where this discussion isn't disruptive. This C/ is usually okay with discussion about the subject of a meme, so I'm taking the shot while it's fresh in my mind.
Look, in an ideal setting, this wouldn't be an issue because blahaj could wall itself off and be the trans dedicated space it needs to be.
Unfortunately, lemmy is not only difficult to use that way, but there's still a need to interact with outsiders because there's a war on. They need allies to have access, the users to be able to interact with other instances, and for trans people on other instances to be able to interact there.
They're going to fuck up because there's no way to make all of that work without admin oversight being high. There's always going to be human error, biases, and outright moments of emotional decisions. It happens everywhere.
But we gotta be realistic here. When blahaj admins fuck up, they're fucking up because they represent a populace that's under attack from the outside and the inside. There's a dozen topics that simply aren't one sided, which means any of those topics needs judgement calls.
Those of us that aren't blahaj users can STFU and mind our own when it comes right down to it, because it isn't our space. That goes for me too, if I end up banned for something I say elsewhere. Our trans compatriots fucking deserve a space where they can work this kind of thing out, even if that means a lot of mistakes along the way.
And the admins of blahaj are making mistakes. So are some of the users. The questions are, what are those mistakes, which users, and how can there be an objective decision as to what's the best path? I sure don't have a right to decide those things for blahaj, so my opinions are essentially farting in the wind. All I can do is support the trans community as a whole, and hope that blahaj finds a balance that allows the users and admins to have a space that is as free of interference and hate as is possible in this fucked up world.
Now, while preemptive bans are a damn difficult tool to use well, they are a valid tool. I personally wouldn't have used them in every case that's shown up on the various C/s about mod/admin actions, but I also don't have access to everything an admin would. There may be reasons I can't see. But I would have used it in a few of those cases. I prefer preemptives to be a scalpel rather than a scythe, but sometimes you have to cut.
One of these days, I'll finish up my thinking on the whole xenogender aspect of things, and maybe what I end up with as an opinion will get me banned from blahaj if/when I share it somewhere. If that's the case, I'll be sad because I genuinely love the people there, and I love the community. But if that's what's needed to keep that society community and those people able to have their own space in a world that's trying to literally eradicate them, so be it.
Wars never happen without harm to real people, and a lot of the war against trans people is a war waged with words and ideas. So neutering the words of war being able to besiege the instance seems like a worthy strategy to me.
