196
Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
Moderator Guidelines
- Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
- Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
- When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
- Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
- Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
- Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
- Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
- Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
- Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
- Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
- Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
- Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
- First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
- Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
- No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
- Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
- Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.
view the rest of the comments
Someone I know was recently arrested in an African country where he lives. Someone had uncovered a major kickback scheme being run by a relative of a cabinet-level politician, and this person was caught in the crossfire. He wasn't involved in any real way, but he does some graphic design work and had made pamphlets or posters or something for a client that ended up being used as part of this crime. So, he and a lot of other people who were only peripherally involved like this were arrested. The politician didn't want this scandal in the news, so he made sure that the crime went away. But, that still left the guy I knew locked up in jail. Even though there was now no crime, the cops weren't going to release him from jail until they received a bribe. A family member of his wired money to Africa and then another family member hand carried that bribe to the police station so they would let him go.
Developing countries have situations where regular people get to, or have to bribe cops, officials, etc. just to get by day to day. But, it doesn't mean that that's where the corruption stops. They have all the same bribery of the president, prime minister, chief justice, etc. that you get in say the USA. But, there's also corruption all the way down. It's exhausting, and the rich people / corporations still always win.
Another way that low-level corruption hurts is that it's so inefficient. When you have to know the right person and give the right bribe just to import/export your goods on time, the economy of your entire country slows down.
Yep. Super inefficient and unpredictable. You might temporarily know the right person to bribe, but that might change, or the price might go up. And your suppliers have to negotiate the bribes too. And your customers have their own issues.
It's why the US is going to take a pounding from all the tariff BS. Not only are the tariffs high, nobody can guess from one month to the next what's going to happen, so many have to cancel orders and wait it out.