this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
195 points (80.6% liked)
Ye Power Trippin' Bastards
1105 readers
166 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.
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.
YTPB 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
founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
That is in fact generally exactly how it works.
If I host something on Substack called "Philip's News," and I publish Hossam Shabat's last article, it becomes hard to tell whether it's really his last article or if it's just what I am claiming is his last article. People on the internet sometimes do publish lies about things like this, and it really is a genuine problem. Once it's published by an organization with something to lose (which generally happens instantly for big news items like this, as it did for this), then it's vetted, and it's preferable to post it from that news source just so everyone knows it's reliable and there doesn't have to be a big argument about it every time.
I do think the policy could use some adjustment. There are some sources (Newsweek being a big one) that are "official" but have a track record of lying at this point, that shouldn't be used even though AFAIK they are allowed on /c/world. There are some people who are professional journalists who publish on Substack, and I think that should be allowed as long as they are published professionals. But the rule is not some crazy conspiracy to silence the truth.
You could have spent your whining time just posting the article that Jordan already sent you a link to. You could spend your downvotes to my comments, instead on upvotes for the article I posted on your behalf. You seem like you're more into the idea of a performative snit that you are in posting this news. Well, good luck with it. I hope your snit goes well. You seem like you're enjoying it, so I encourage you to continue.
I want the power tripping bastard to update the rules to be more clear. If you think that is whining, then you still don't understand that 'only news articles' is a shitty fucking rule when it isn't clear what that means.
Especially when a source that would have been considered a news aite in the past is being questioned.
I don't doubt they are shit! But how would anyone know they don't count as news if the mod decides they don't count at some point in the future?
The rules will never be clear enough for people who refuse to actually read them.
I took a look and I see their point. Rule 3 sounds like there's effectively a black list of known unreliable sources. And even then, it sounds like there would be exceptions based on the mods' discretion. I wouldn't expect a blanket ban on blogs from reading that.
Personally, I think requiring a reputable source for an article is a good policy for the community, at least when one is available, as in this case. And it does sound like it is being enforced objectively. We are in an age where information is weaponized and fake news and engagement is manufactured maliciously. It makes sense to be skeptical of sources with no reputation on the line.
But I do think the requirement should be clarified in the rules better to match what it means de facto. If nothing else, it would simplify things when someone complains again in the future. And including a list of repeat offender sites could be helpful so long as it's clear that it is not exhaustive. Just mentioning that MBFC is used to judge sources could reduce the amount of unreliable posts in the first place.
For reference, these are the rules I see:
Rules:
Be civil. Disagreements happen, that does not give you the right to personally insult each other.
No racism or bigotry.
Posts from sources that aren't known to be incredibly biased for either side of the spectrum are preferred. If this is not an option, you may post from whatever source you have as long as it is relevant to this community.
Post titles should be the same as the article title.
No spam, self-promotion, or trolling.
Instance-wide rules always apply.