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Ada @lemmy.blahaj.zone

Blahaj Lemmy state of the shark - Our goals, politics and recent events

Whilst this is not a local only post/community, it is primarily intended for blahaj lemmy members. Top level replies from non blahaj accounts will be removed.

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I want to take the moment to clarify the Blahaj Lemmy position on things, given recent events and the fallout that has followed. This will give people the chance to decide for themselves if blahaj zone lemmy is the right space for them, or if it doesn't meet their needs.

First and foremost, blahaj zone lemmy exists to give a space for queer folk to exist, with their needs explicitly protected as the highest priority, and with a particular focus on the needs of gender diverse folk. Most lemmy instances are not run by trans folk, and whilst many are still inclusive, they don't always prioritise our needs. Others barely consider trans folk, and react only to the most blatant of bigotry.

We are not a political instance, however political communities have a space here, as does any community that is actively protective of the needs of queer and gender diverse folk. Given the impact of politics on gender diverse folk, that means lots of dialogue and strong opinions exist, and as long as those opinions are honestly held, and not bigoted or exclusive, people are welcome to have and express those opinions here.

For what it's worth, I am a member of the Greens Party in Australia. I have no time for the middle ground politics of the Australian Labor party, let alone the right wing beliefs of the Australian Liberal party. Yet a community of queer Labor Party aligned folk would fit on blahaj lemmy, because the parties ideologies, are not explicitly anti queer. A community aligned with the Australian Liberal party likely would not have a place here, unless the goal of the community was to work at actively challenging the anti queer policies of the party.

That being said, political communities (or any other communities) that exist solely to target and take aim at other queer folk have no place here either. The goal of blahaj lemmy is queer inclusion, and a community whose sole goal is division, will be removed.

The downside to this is that as we assume good faith in members and we don't gatekeep or deny access to people because of their pronouns or gender identity, (even when those identities are challenging to many) it is possible for bad faith actors to take advantage of our inclusive policies. Unfortunately, that's just something we are going to have to navigate as it occurs, because I won't let bad faith folk push this instance to defaulting to exclusion or gatekeeping the validity of someone's identity. I will respect a trolls pronouns even as I ban them, because to not do so, normalises the idea that pronouns are something that are earned by good behaviour, or that other people have a say in the validity of another person's identity and pronouns.

So that's where we stand. Hopefully this will help people decide for themselves whether or not this is the right instance for them.

77 comments

  • Many thanks to Ada here for the wisdom and patience it takes to navigate these challenges. Running an instance is hard enough; throwing user politics into the mix (especially those around trans identities) makes things down right treacherous.

    I'd support policies aligned with expected user behaviors and punishments for violations. Bad faith actors are going to try to burrow their way in here, and they're going to make themselves known by testing boundaries and creeping up on the lines of what counts as unacceptable behavior. I'm comfortable with those kinds of edging-trolls being shown the door.

  • i 100% agreed with the respecting a trolls pronouns thing, until i came here. i still do, with the notable exception that i will not respect someone's pronouns when those pronouns make me feel sexually exploited - and when those pronouns have absolutely nothing to do with gender and are more about making a mockery of trans people and playing out a power fantasy over other people.

    ban me for this if you want but i haven't spoken directly about this situation on this instance precisely because i expect to be banned for doing so, and it's simply not the same as any other situation with pronouns. the pronouns themselves are the issue. i'm a discord mod and sometimes i have to ban trolls with obviously racist, transphobic, or nazi pronouns - i don't respect those either. i can't see this situation as any different when the pronouns themselves genuinely make some people feel unsafe.

    i would also add that you cannot have an instance without politics. trying to do so is making a political decision, and it is one that ultimately invites fascism. i would love it if all trans people had politics that were safe to be around. but they don't.

    • when those pronouns have absolutely nothing to do with gender and are more about making a mockery of trans people and playing out a power fantasy over other people.

      If and when you can demonstrate evidence that that is what was happening, I will act on it, but until then, as I stated, I'm not willing to gatekeep people's identities on my personal assessment of their validity. That's not going to change.

      I can and will moderate on behaviour however, but in the case of the person I believe you are referring to, after a moderation chat I've seen no evidence of continuing behaviour at odds with our instance guidelines.

      i can't see this situation as any different when the pronouns themselves genuinely make some people feel unsafe.

      If someone's pronouns make you feel unsafe, that's more of an issue you need to work on than anything else IMO. I know I've struggled with "it" as a pronoun, because it's historically a slur that has been targeted against our community. Seeing people use it made me deeply uncomfortable, and when I first heard it, I assumed, as you're assuming, that the people using it were doing it in bad faith. I've since come to understand that my assumptions were incorrect, and that my discomfort is my issue to work through, not something I get to force on to others.

      And until such time as we find a way of reading people's minds to determine their intentions, all we can do is respect what they tell us about who they are, and respond to their behaviour.

      If you disagree with that approach, then you're likely to find your experience here frustrating.

      i would also add that you cannot have an instance without politics

      Of course not. As I said in the post that you're replying to, political communities are welcome here. This is especially true, because of the impact that politics has on our lives as queer folk.

  • As a spectator with no stake in what happened, except of course wanting people to feel comfortable, I feel like two things were still left unaddressed:

    • It looked like the owner of the affected community was driven out by something that almost resembled a witch hunt, with accusations that appeared to be unfounded or even maliciously pushed by people opposing the views or moderation style of the community.
    • There was a particular user who stood out to me because they tried to respond to as many posts as possible, seemingly fueling the drama, or at least actively pushing their opinion on everyone. I feel like this is not the appropriate way to interact in such a forum, nor healthy for that individual.

    What did the admins do or are planning to do in regards to these concerns?

    • It looked like the owner of the affected community was driven out by something that almost resembled a witch hunt, with accusations that appeared to be unfounded or even maliciously pushed by people opposing the views or moderation style of the community.

      That's not something I can speak to from an admin perspective. I wasn't active in the community, and unless it was reported or otherwise brought to my attention, I saw very little of it, so I don't really have a great sense of Links specific reasons for departing.

      What I do know, is that Links left on good terms with me, and expressed thanks for the blahaj community.

      There was a particular user who stood out to me because they tried to respond to as many posts as possible, seemingly fueling the drama, or at least actively pushing their opinion on everyone

      There were two users at the center of much of the recent drama. One has recently been banned and their communities removed, after it became clear that their goals were divisive and targeted.

      I've spoken to the other user privately, and addressed some of the issues that arose, and since then, I've seen no indication that the problems have re-surfaced.

      That's as much detail as I'm willing to go in to on moderation of individuals.

      • I'm from lemm.ee (because of its anti-defederation stance; I want the whole firehose of as many Lemmy instances as possible) but I've always felt especially comfortable seeing and interacting with content and users from your instance.

        And I'm incredibly grateful that you are actually trying to accommodate it/its identities, because I definitely am one. I recognize difficulty in actually asking others to refer to me as such because they're used to "it" being disrespectful and cruel, or if they're the kind of person who would call someone an "it" to insult them, I'd be outing myself as the kind of being they don't want to talk to. But when I see you making an effort... It means the world to me 💜

        The friends of mine have gotten used to that aspect of me... Every time they refer to me this way, I feel so... Just .... Good? Good! Seen, heard, acknowledged, understood, known. It matters :3

        Thank you for running blåhaj zone. It's my favorite by far. Maybe I might even switch instances, but it'd be more convenient if it didn't come to that.

        edit: is there a donation link? I must be lost in plain sight. I'd like to contribute a little material support...
        Edit again: FOUND IT! :D

      • Regarding what I called a "witch hunt", it seemed like some users quickly jumped on board accusing the previous owner of the libertyhub community of intentionally misgendering a user, when it appeared to be a singular slip up ("you" instead of "You"), that he quickly apologized for and fixed. Maybe there were valid concerns regarding the moderation of that community and it was indeed the right choice for the owner to step down – I am totally missing the context for this – but I felt like there was a large focus on the wrong issue that might've driven him away from Lemmy.

  • the only good bad actors are those in my theatre group. :3

    thank you for the instance i love it here <3

  • I am a blahaj member. The AusGreens have shown when I was a member that they are not afraid to dance the transphobic tango. AusLabor is pro trans and transphobia is much rarer. Don't pretend like the greens are some knights of Australian Leftists.

    • The greens inability to deal with their internal TERFs is a huge problem. It's the main reason I'm not terribly active with them despite being a member.

      My issues with Labor are bigger than their trans policy though

      • Yeah unfortunately it seems like TERFs hide well there, as when I attended meetings as a member, there was about 2-3 people wearing TERF/similar shirts and things, and the topic came up once or twice. I reported this, to never get a reply.

    • No doubt that the Australian Greens have had, and continue to have, issues with transphobia. However, I think it's disingenuous to say they are definitively a transphobic party. For example, Samantha Ratnam, the leader of the Victorian Greens, has been incredibly vocal in her support of trans members, as has Senator Janet Rice, as has federal party leader Adam Bandt.

      This is a pretty typical M.O. for TERFs, to specifically target progressive social movements from within and turn them against transgender persons. Are you suggesting that we roll over and give up, and just let the TERFs takeover the party? Like, I'm sorry, but I'm not a single issue voter. I care strongly about things like climate change, drug decriminalisation & harm reduction, reduction of the police force, sex worker rights and healthcare. Victorian Labor are very pro-cop for example, and I try hard to acknowledge my privilege as white by considering how that affects my queer PoC siblings first and foremost.

      This comment feels like you're trolling honestly, especially because you say you're a Blahaj member instead of just commenting with your Blahaj account...

      • I should say, the reason I did not comment using my account was because I was accidentally banned in a wave, which has now been reversed. No need to have a tanty over it. Yeah another thing, I'm Trans and Indigenous, not just some white dude commenting. One more, I'm not rolling over, it's just I have reported the TERFs and been ignored by the greens. And while I am replying, I think that the police need a massive chunk of reform, but we need to stop pretending like cops/rule enforcement isn't somehow necessary. No matter what society, there will always be people who do vile, disgusting and horrible things and unfortunately I live in an area with that happening a lot, so please know I don't live in some rich place with no crime and no reason to have cops. I care a lot about healthcare as someone who has conditions regularly requiring help, aswell as climate change as a young person. I don't think the whole Greens are TERFS, just it has a serious issue with it.

77 comments