Over the past months it has become increasingly apparent that the 196 moderation team has a member who does not align with the goals and values of the rest of the team.

196 has a very clear stance on tankies and other authoritarians. No authoritarian apologia of any kind is allowed in our space. It’s not our intent to tell leftists how to be leftist, but we’re not willing to allow somebody we so fundamentally disagree with to moderate our community.

Based on this stance we’ve decided to remove Kittenzrulz from the moderation team.

Why demote Kittenzrulz123?

Kittenzrulz has consistently been opposed to the condemnation of tankies and has made several worrying statements that show that there’s a deep ideological gulf between her and 196.

Furthermore it should be noted that kittenzrulz has not taken part in moderation decisions on lemmy for months, while she is only somewhat active on the matrix (as a mod). This will not be a major change in that sense.

The following is a list of screenshots that should help to showcase what we mean.

spoiler

This one is from yesterday

Demoting Kittenzrulz123

First to be clear we’re not banning her from the lemmy community or the matrix space and she is free to continue to interact with all of us. We still want her around as we think of her as a friend who we care about and want to see happy and healthy, though we understand this decision might cause kittenz some stress.

As of this moment kittenzrulz is no longer a mod of 196. A vote was held and all mods that voted voted in favor of demoderation, with a few mods abstaining (either due to not having an opinion on this or due to being inactive).

And just to make sure everybody is on the same page, this is not a condemnation of kittenz as a person. People can disagree on things and still get along, we’re just not comfortable letting her make decisions on our behalf and want to prevent any further problems we see as a likely outcome.

  • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneMEnglish
    6·
    10 days ago

    I haven’t been attacked directly, but I am aware that Kittenz has fled to Hexbear and of the anger on the Marxist side of Lemmy. However, I think it would be useless to escalate things any further and make this a bigger conflict.

    I can only speak for myself, but if there is one thing both Kittenz and I agree upon, it’s that queers and anarchists should avoid unnecessary conflict with Marxists. Liberals are hella scary right now, and I genuinely believe a red scare is on the horizon in American politics. Right now the fascists are fear mongering about us, but as their power wanes and liberals are favored by oligarchs for their stability, anti-communism is a narrative that can unite them both. This will be especially true if China takes Taiwan and dominates the chip market basically overnight; nationalism is a seductive force.

    I don’t believe being a pick-me could make us any safer. If liberals unite with the fascists to hunt tankies, we would only jeopardize our situation by helping them. They’ll target anyone who stands against them as traitors for China, demanding we give up any battle that makes them uncomfortable. We cannot side with such reactionary nonsense.

    However, avoiding conflict is not the same as compromising our principles for allies that will throw us under the bus when convenient. Just like with red baiting liberals, welcoming those who demand we ignore oppression and swear loyalty to empires will compromise our ability to advocate for ourselves.

    For any MLs who find this comment, these words are only my own; I do not speak for the mod team here. For you @eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com, I personally recommend against fighting with tankies on their home terf. People who earnestly believe we favor America and tolerate chasers will not listen to you, no matter how well you argue. I’m not saying this to help the narrative, but to save you time and stress.