This community is committed to centering the perspectives and voices of the Global South. As such, all posts and comments must demonstrate respect for this fundamental principle.
This is not a platform for imperialist or colonialist mindsets. Users seeking a forum for such views will find ample accommodation across Silicon Valley platforms and numerous other Fediverse instances. That is not the purpose of this space.
Here, we consciously prioritize the voices of the global majority—those routinely oppressed and silenced elsewhere. Our moderation and enforcement policies exist explicitly to uphold this mission. If you are accustomed to norms prevalent on mainstream Western platforms, please understand that you are now participating in a community where those norms do not apply.
Before posting or commenting, especially if you reside in a first world Western nation, we urge you to:
- Inform yourself on the issues at hand.
- Consider how your words might be received by those from the regions you discuss.
- If unsure, choose to listen rather than speak.
This reminder is prompted by recent global political events. Should you face moderation, the reason will be visible in the modlog. Contact the moderators only if you genuinely believe an error was made. Otherwise, please understand that an action likely felt permissible to you—based on your experience elsewhere on the internet—may contradict the core values of this community.
The modlog can omit the original comment and may not include a substantive reason for removal. That means moderators can remove content while leaving little or no trace of what was removed or why, effectively enabling silent unaccountable censorship.
If the modlog is incomplete by design (or even buggy), it should be described honestly.
If the original comment is not present, it’s because it was deemed offensive, you don’t want slurs being showed in public. You know what you posted or commented, reasons are always given, so you know when to ask a moderator or admin for a possible mistake or if you actually erred.
Just to be clear, yes, we are in favour of censoring content that’s deemed offensive or discriminating, or that promotes right wing ideologies. It is not silent, or unaccountable, though.
I understand not showing slurs publicly. My point is that if the original content can be hidden and the reason can be vague, then “the modlog will show the reason” isn’t meaningfully accountability … it’s closer to “trust us.” If you’re moderating based on moderator discretion (eg. “deemed offensive” or “right-wing ideology”) in addition to the written rules, it’d be more transparent to state that explicitly in the rules or policy.
The nice thing about the fediverse is people can choose communities whose moderation philosophy matches them … but only if it’s clearly documented up-front.
how do you think moderation happens if it is not “based on moderator discretion”? There is no rule that fits all scenarios, you always need a human to decide that…
I’m not arguing against moderator discretion, I’m saying this community would benefit from stating the discretion boundary explicitly.
You’re already doing it in practice (“deemed offensive,” “promotes right-wing ideologies”), and that’s your right. But between what’s been stated in this post and the current written rules, it’s easy for users to assume a level of consistency and auditability that the tooling doesn’t really provide.
Maybe something like this would help:
That would make expectations crystal clear and avoid confusion.
I think some of those are superseded by the instance’s rules, so communities generally avoid stating the same rules twice. E.g.: the instance’s rules and the community’s rules. I’ll message and admin and ask their opinion, though.