Hello I’m not a person who is affected by this community moderator but I’m posting on behalf of people who are, since they don’t seem to know of this community yet. I attempted to reach some via DM but I’m not sure they’ll respond. So I’m making this post since I feel this needs to be addressed.

Recently I was made aware of a community that appeared randomly on Lemmy.world. It seems to be a troll community given the type of content, but the reason I’m posting about it here specifically is that this mod seems to be banning anyone who points this out or goes against his narrative. Furthermore he is only using the autoremove on ban function, not removing any content the users have posted, which I believe is deliberate in attempt to prevent the content from showing up under the modlog and revealing the hypocrisy.


Some samples of comments:

Comment from: @glimse@lemmy.world

Everything else you posted has been pretty cringe but what he fuck is up with this one, dude lol

comment from: @rain_worl@lemmy.world

free software is SLOWING DOWN tech advancement??? WHAT???

comment from: @rain_worl@lemmy.world

i genuinely do not understand your point

comment from: @the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world

First off, nice new community. I look forward to days of quality posts such as this./s

Second, how many Linux distros have this level of data collection, and what is their estimated market share?

Original comment link


All of these were retrieved from the API, even though they aren’t included in the modlogs, I could’ve included more but it’s kind of a time consuming process to look for them and retrieve them. Viewing removed comments is easier on Lemmy than it is on Reddit but it still isn’t easy.

What do you guys think, does this seem like power-tripping? Also does this person’s content seem like blatant troll content?

CC: @glimse@lemmy.world @rain_worl@lemmy.world @the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world

People who’s comments I mentioned, I CCed them so they know I did this on their behalf

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-8 points
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Certainly. But I never felt that way.

Technically, they were banned for: “constant attacks on other users, sealioning and general bad faith discussions and baseless accusations” which might be adjacent to trolling but I think is a more fair and objective description of their behavior.

The problem with trolling is that it’s usually not possible to identify with certainty because it depends on a person’s intent and state of mind. In your judgment Linkerbaan was trolling. In mine they weren’t. But who is right? There’s no way to be certain, it’s just a guess based on their behavior. That’s why I don’t think it should be used in moderation decisions. It’s just too subjective.

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9 points
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A user who constantly accuses anyone who disagrees with them of holding horrifying offensive views is a troll in my book. I think that’s pretty reasonable.

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-4 points

But that’s not what trolling means. Frankly, I’m starting to think this term is doing more harm than good in building more positive, informed, and respectful online communities. Trolling can theoretically be any type of behavior that another user doesn’t like–but it has to be intended to cause those feelings. But as I said, we can’t know each others intentions, and of course, bad actors are likely to lie about them. It’s better to describe things in terms of objective actions a user took. The description you give here is a fine basis for a ban–but it’s still not possible to say it was trolling.

The reason this bothers me is that many tightly regulated echo chambers, including some highlighted on this community, accusations of trolling are levied against anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. Presentation of inconvenient or disliked facts may cause a negative emotional reaction–but that’s not trolling unless the emotional reaction was the purpose of the interaction. I think at least some of the backlash against Linkeraan was due to their treatment of other users. But at least some was also because they were not willing to let people ignore the complicity of the US and the Democratic Party in the mass killings in Gaza. I think that’s an important truth that risks being drowned out or silenced, but obviously it should be voiced in a way that is more respectful.

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7 points

You cannot force me to adopt your definition of trolling, not that it would even matter what you called it.

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-14 points
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Great points. Many Lemmy users think I’m a troll, because I have advocated for third parties in this year’s election. And well, I get accused of being a “russian bot” a lot too. lol

They say I post in bad faith. But I actually voted third party (socialist) and sent in my ballot this past weekend, I created and mod two socialist communities, and most of my posts skew socialist topics.

So if I believe what I am saying and posting, am I really arguing in bad faith or trolling just because the majority of Lemmy doesn’t agree with me?!

Is it really “bad faith” just because Lemmy tried, yet didn’t change my mind?

So many lately are quick to shout “Troll!” or “Sealioning” when it’s really just because the comment or post is an opinion not shared by a majority here.

In my opinion, what makes Lemmy better that Reddit (so far!), is that it’s NOT an echo chamber.

For the record, I had some comments removed for “sealioning” and I legit had never heard the term before Lemmy and I had to look it up to even understand it. And I’m still not sure what it has to do with sealion or why that term was chosen.

In fact, me saying I didn’t understand it, was the very comment that got removed for sealioning. lmao

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9 points

There are so much drastically dishonest and untrue things in this comment, I’m not even sure where to start. No one cares what you share, they care about your obvious dishonesty in saying why you do it.

I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, I tried to have a real dialogue, and you just double down on the trolling.

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-12 points
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No one cares what you share, they care about your obvious dishonesty in saying why you do it.

Such as? What is the obvious dishonesty?

Let me guess; me asking that question is “sealioning,” right? Is this where you are gonna reply with the sea lion comic?

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12 points

In the seventy days since this account was created it has made five thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight submissions to Lemmy.

That averages out to once every seventeen minutes and thirty seconds, twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

If they spend eight hours a day on Lemmy Monday to Friday that’s a a submission every four minutes and ten seconds.

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0 points

I can’t tell if this is a weird joke or if you’re seeing something I’m not. When I click their profile I see a few hundred posts.

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2 points

It’s from a webcomic so yeah if you haven’t seen it then the connection seems strange. It’s just a random placeholder for a certain type of behavior, it has nothing to do with real sea lions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning

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4 points

I’ve linked the definition for him before and he got a temp ban for it. He knows the definition.

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-12 points
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Ok, I didn’t add onto my previous reply, because wasn’t sure if you have seen it or not.

So in another thread, someone is accusing me of sealioning right now. But I don’t think this is the proper use of it. This doesn’t seem to be what it is. I’m literally asking someone for proof of an accusation. And they aren’t giving it and I get this cartoon instead.

So are people just gonna say ‘sealioning’ anytime someone asks for proof or links now?!

Seems a misuse of the term as I know it. https://lemmy.world/comment/12941934

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-12 points
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So I am reading it, and I guess I am dull, but the description sounds like just “trolling” would work. And I look at the cartoon, and I don’t see the sea lion as being ingenious. I mean, the dude brought it up, the sea lion is calling him out on it.

So the fact I don’t get it, even after the toon, explains how I got in trouble for sealioning because the comic doesn’t seem like the seal is the bad guy. But the description is just trolling. So I don’t know the reason for the new term. I think trolling suffices.

EDIT: Fuck. Now everyone is going to think I’m sealioning because of this comment, aren’t they? lol sigh…

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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards

!yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Create post

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.

Rules

  • Post only about bans or other sanctions from mod(s).
  • Provide the cause of the sanction (e.g. the text of the comment).
  • Provide the reason given by the mods for the sanction.
  • 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.

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.


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.
  • 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.

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