cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1119656
The !android@lemmy.world community on this instance thrived for a while and reached almost 19k subscribers very rapidly and it was very active.
Recently the Reddit mods of r/Android created another community with a few hundred members on another different instance where they are mods and that one was then astroturfed on c/android by a person seemingly unrelated to that community’s mods.
Apparently some discussions then took place between owners of both communities and the mods of !android@lemmy.world community then unilaterally closed the community, thus, according to their own sticky notice, succumbing to the flawed reasoning that the Reddit mods are “more experienced” and therefore the rightful representatives of an Android community.
I find this behavior sad and it just shouldn’t be allowed here for two reasons:
- this sets the precedent for more Reddit mods to just come and claim “ownership” of communities by bullying existing ones into closing;
- does not respect the almost 19k subscribers who didn’t even have a say in this, and especially those who had already expressed that they joined !android@lemmy.world because they did NOT want to be moderated by the old Reddit mods.
!android@lemmy.world needs to be reopened now and the mods removed since they expressed that they no longer want to moderate a community on lemmy.world.
Part of the beauty of Lemmy is that you can just start a new community on a new instance. I don’t like people referring to things as c/Something, because that community often exists on multiple instances. Sometimes very active on both/all. You can create a new community on another instance, with whatever rules you deem appropriate, and convince people to join you - which is what happened with !android@lemdro.id
Their logic seems pretty solid, though. The old Reddit mods didn’t just claim ownership - they reached out to the !android@lemmy.world mods and made their case. The mods at !android@lemmy.world were completely free to tell them to piss off, or welcome them in, or whatever else. They chose this path, and laid out their reasons (although they weren’t required to). You may not like it, or agree, but that’s generally how mods are handled.
In fact, I see giving you the mod permissions as a hostile takeover by you. You were not a mod, they made their decision, and now you want to takeover all of their work.
2 out of 19k people made the unilateral decision for those 19k to close the community in total disrespect of those users who were very active and kept the community alive. They also do NOT have the right to deprive this instance from the c/android community name, that is the SAME as community parking. They have the right to leave but they do NOT have the right to close it for everybody else.
So why not create your own? Or migrate to !android@lemmy.ml (already with 6k subs and very active), or !android@programming.dev (empty and dead). Why does it have to be the existing one?
Reddit was full of clone subs because of disagreeable mods. They had similar names (or at least recognizable names), but were run completely separate. You could also do that here, or start any name on (nearly) any instance you want.
Let me ask a different question - let’s say they had made a slightly different decision. Instead of moving to lemdr.id, let’s say the mods of !android@lemmy.world decided to bring on board all of the former r/Android mods. Instead of an announcement that it was being moved to a different location, it was announcing (and welcoming) all of their new mods.
Is there anything really different about that scenario?
It’s astonishing that you can’t see how 2 people closing down the community for 19k people on a whim is simply wrong and EXACTLY THE SAME as community name parking (I’d argue it’s even worse!). Community name parking is already NOT ALLOWED on lemmy.world.
And you consulted those 19k before attempting to take ownership?
Those 2 certainly didn’t and they have no claim on that community anymore. As it stands right now, that community officially has no moderators and yes even if you’d apparently be happy to see it forcibly die instead, I perfectly have the right to volunteer to reopen !android@lemmy.world and then recruit mods from there, this is only fair for the 19k who were robbed of this community.
Wait he just asked a valid question though.
You keep speaking for the 19k, but you’re wanting to make a move yourself without consulting them either.
Are you speaking for them or not?
I really think if we’re going to talk about the 19k, the idea of a vote is probably what should’ve been done in retrospect
The idea of a vote doesn’t even make sense, because the democratic way to handle this would have been to keep the community open without forcing anyone to move. Those who want then to move can do so, nothing changes for them.
The way you’re suggesting a vote here is analogous to a group of people voting to kill another group of people. That’s not democratic.
I’m not. I’m advocating for opening the community again, which as I said earlier is the most democratic option after it was robbed from the 19k members. And yes, as the community is officially unmoderated, since the mods cannot have any claim on it after officially abandoning it, I have the right to volunteer to mod, as have others too obviously, and the admins can then choose.