Exploding-heads.com is another instance on Lemmy where alt-right MAGA types tend to reside. Some people on this server want us to defederate from them immediately, some people want to save defederation as a last resort. They have 104 active users (more stats below).

It seems that exploding-heads has also experienced a recent botswarm invasion. This is obviously another point in favor of defederating them, assuming you are worried about botswarms, which is currently being discussed here.

My advice to you all is please try to discuss this in a civil manner, we need not allow them to create divisive conflict inside our communities. No matter how the vote turns out, you’re not going to be able to defederate from your fellow sh.itheads so be nice.

I’ve linked many of the previous discussions below so people who are out of the loop can get a general sense of the situation.

https://sh.itjust.works/post/216888 https://sh.itjust.works/post/225714 https://sh.itjust.works/post/281126 https://sh.itjust.works/post/410325

Lemmy.world just recently defederated them.

https://lemmy.world/post/747912

https://lemmy.world/post/577526

Although this could be considered a point in favor of defederation, it actually means even if we vote to remain federated, people have a great alternative in lemmy.world where they can still participate in our communities and simultaneously be protected from exploding-heads.

Ensuring diversity of servers is beneficial to the platform as a whole, but it is also not our responsibility to bear that burden.

TLDR, just wrap up any last points in this thread before we open the vote tomorrow. Please be civil.

EDIT: To clarify, this isn’t the official vote, this is the final discussion. The vote thread will be posted tomorrow and you will only be allowed to make a single comment saying Aye or Nay.

EDIT2: Vote thread is up, this thread is now locked. Very lively discussion thread sh.itheads. Please try to be more respectful next time.

  • @Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
    0•1 year ago

    Even though I don’t agree with what seems to be the general sentiment there, I still say Nay.

    Lemmy is pretty fresh for the most of us still, and is in an incredible growing phase that could amplify in two days when the Reddit API goes down for third party apps.
    Still, too many posts these days are about defederating left and right. All communities here are fresh and trying to find their footing, ours included. If we shut the door on all instances that have issues this fast, we’re sabotaging the potential growth of this platform, in my opinion.

    I’m not saying that anything should go, but let’s not allow a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

    If they keep allowing the horseshit to flow, I am very open to changing my vote.

    • socialjusticewizard
      1•1 year ago

      let’s not allow a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

      That’s the saying though. A few bad apples spoil the bunch. That’s why you remove the bad apples. That’s literally what that saying is about.

      • @Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
        0•1 year ago

        The bunch is the instance.
        You want to throw the whole bowl out with the good apples in it.

        I’m saying let’s not shut the door at the first sign of trouble. Let’s investigate the trouble and give the people in the room a chance to fix it first.
        We’re still learning and this eagernes to ban could be hurtful in the long run.

        • @Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
          1•1 year ago

          While I generally agree with the sentiment and I was very amenable to this argument originally, I have since seen enough and read enough that I now believe that a free speech absolutist instance that allows very close to anything will just cause any new users to see the communities with bigoted content and walk away. We will be left only with those that are ok with bigoted content. This will degrade our instance.

          • @imaqtpie@sh.itjust.worksOPM
            0•1 year ago

            Well, all of us have seen the content by now, and we’re still here.

            However, you do make a good point. The limitations of this platform are quite grating at the moment. The solution would be a blocklist of communities and users that would be immediately applied to new accounts, and they could turn it off if they wanted.

            It’s hard to argue that having each new user potentially encounter bigoted content is worth it. The question still remains how much of that content actually pops up in their feed.

              • KaynA
                2•1 year ago

                That’s also what the admin of exploding-heads insists on: “Just block those two communities and you’ll be fine”

                But then problematic exploding-heads users will just create new communities that admins then have to remove, like this one: https://exploding-heads.com/c/positive (CW: transgender slur)

                It’s a lot less hassle to just block the instance that willingly harbors these individuals.

    • @FlagonOfMe@sh.itjust.works
      0•1 year ago

      Their admins are bad apples, though. Are you hoping they will ban themselves from the instance? Have you even looked at their instance and see who is saying what?